WWE Money In The Bank 2017

WWE Money In The Bank 2017

St. Louis, Missouri - June 2017

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Jinder Mahal comes into tonight's show as the (unexpected) reigning WWE Champion, the United States Championship is held by Kevin Owens, the SmackDown Tag Team Champions are The Uso Brothers, and the SmackDown Women's Champion is Naomi. 

COMMENTATORS: JBL, Byron Saxton, and Tom Phillips

Money in the Bank began with a 5-woman ladder match to start things off - Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina vs. Carmella vs. Natalya. Before the match begins we got an inexplicable video showcasing the history of Womens' Championship that would've actually been nice before the competitors entered the ring, but whatever. Tamina clears house early but shows no urgency in climbing the ladder because the match is scheduled to go longer than 28 seconds, I guess. Becky was the most over babyface, which makes sense because Natalya is essentially a Big Show-style tweener after all the years she's been in the company and Charlotte, even if she's not technically a heel now, spent all of 2016 as RAW's most consistently despised villain. Tamina looked dangerous at times, just totally unprepared for a match that required expert timing and spacing. Charlotte, Lynch, and Natalya held their own, but there were still some ugly spots and at least one legit head-scratcher (Charlotte doing a ridiculous front flip splash to the outside, essentially costing herself an opportunity to win the match, for basically no apparent reason). The finish was disappointing in execution, but in the long run, its smart booking to put the briefcase in the hands of someone who desperately needs it to remain relevant. I'm not sure the "This is Awesome" chant that broke out halfway through was earned, but this wasn't too bad. (2.5/5)

The SmackDown Tag Team Championships were on the line next and an unfortunate pattern of screwy finishes emerged, this time The Usos accepting a count-out loss to The New Day after a hard-fought, very good match. The Usos are excellent as heels and easily the best foil the New Day have had in quite some time. Speaking of the New Day, as much as I'm tired of the pre-match schtick, I must give credit to the seemingly bottomless reservoir of in-ring creativity they put on display in their bigger matches. On this night, Kofi did a fine job of working as the face-in-peril for a stretch, taking a big bump to the outside from some Uso trickery, and then later, hit maybe the spot of the night with a Trust Fall splash (I'm not sure if he's used it before, but it was new to me). Big E botched a Big Ending spot, but aside from that, the timing throughout the contest was quite good. A really good match that I may have even given 4-stars with a better finish. (3/5)

Naomi defended her SmackDown Womens' Championship against Lana next. Considering this is Lana's first major singles match, she wasn't Torrie Wilson/Stacy Kiebler-level of terrible, but I also wouldn't expect her to get many more spotlight matches in the near future. Between her incessant screaming and telegraphing, Lana definitely showed she needs more time in developmental before her in-ring skills will match her respectable, heat-garnerning mic skills. Naomi held up her end of the match and remains a tad underrated by the many who believe only the "Four Horsewomen of NXT" are worthy of any sort of respect as performers. Bonus half-point for Carmella's briefcase tease. Sure, we've seen an identical scenario hundreds of times before, but in this match, it worked well as a nice late-in-the-match pop to keep the audience engaged and guessing. (2/5)

A Fashion Vice sketch followed. I really enjoy Fandago and Breeze's backstage segment.

Wow, Mike and Maria Kanellis debuted and they actually got instant heat from the crowd. I loved their Michael Bolton-esque theme song so much I'm going to award it a bonus point. Really great idea to parody shows like The Bachelor almost a decade after the point. (+1)

In a bit of a surprise, the WWE World Championship match followed - Jinder Mahal defending the strap against Randy Orton. Prior to the match, a number of "St. Louis Legends" (I could've sworn the Gagnes and Hennigs came from Minnesota) were introduced to the crowd - I much preferred this brief trip down memory lane over WCW's endless Night of Legends ceremonies from the early 90s' Slamboree shows. Mahal arrived first to huge boos, unsurprising considered his opponent was the hometown hero. Orton came out swinging, nearly locking in the RKO early before Mahal escaped to the outside. From here, Orton and Mahal had a pretty back-and-forth contest that I'd consider a vast improvement from the match they had last month. The crowd was certainly hotter, but Mahal also looked considerably more confident getting to play "defense" rather than fight from underneath as the challenger in the previous bout. Orton, meanwhile, looked about as motivated as ever, definitely enjoying himself in front of a crowd that was thoroughly behind him (unlike the sometimes 70/30 crowds he wrestles in front of in other cities). Orton connected with an RKO towards the end of the match but the Singh Brothers pulled Mahal's leg over the rope to break the count. The Singhs were then ejected while Orton, for no reason I could infer, began selling knee damage. Before they were willing to leave, though, the Singhs went after the legends, inciting Orton to violence as he took to the outside and took out Mahal's henchmen. All the while, Mahal was able to recover, telegraphing his crowd-killing victory (the third disappointment of the night - unless you count Lana's wrestling, which was also shitty). (3/5)

The Fashion Police made their way down the aisle next to find out which two Superstars had been destroying their office over the past few weeks on SmackDown. The mystery team was (dun! dun! duuunnn!) The Ascension. Konnor has size, but that may be the only positive I can say about the galoot. As good as the Fashion Police's backstage segments may be, there is a wide gulf between successfully providing clever, Saturday Night Live-esque humor and delivering big, broad, crowd-pleasing wrestling matches and the team has not yet bridged that gap. The reaction for Breeze's roll-up win was non-existent. (.5/5)

Main event time - AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn in a Money In The Bank Ladder Match. Before the match could begin, Corbin took out Nakamura on the entrance ramp - again, in terms of getting heat onto Corbin, it was the right move, but the execution was lacking. In a match where guys are going to get hit, thrown off, and put through multiple ladders multiple times, a simple sneak attack and camera-bashing isn't enough to put someone out of commission for 20 minutes. Once the action began, the crowd let the bookers hear it too, chanting "Nakamura" instantly and then not really responding to anything for the next few minutes. Zayn tried to wake the crowd up with a dive onto Owens on the outside and Corbin got a decent reaction for a Deep Six on the arena floor, but even should've-been-big moments like Styles and Owens squaring off didn't excite. Zayn launching Owens off the top rope into a ladder was a positive, but the crowd died back down by the time Dolph Ziggler got his showcase minutes. Anyone who believes Zayn can be "the next Daniel Bryan" need to look no further than this match for proof that he still has a ways to go in terms of crowd adoration before he deserves that sort of push. As good as he is, the crowd response for him compared to AJ Styles and Nakamura (who was taken out of the match before it even started) was undeniably lesser. Speaking of Styles, ever the innovator, there was one point where he stood on the support of the ladder (rather than either leg) but was knocked off and, immediately after, Zayn hit a sunset flip powerbomb from the top of the ladder onto Ziggler in one of the most ridiculous bumps of recent memory. That's the type of move that believably puts someone out for 20 minutes. Owens tried to take advantage of a tired Zayn from here, but Zayn countered his "apron-bomb" attempt and hit a ridiculous half-nelson suplex on the apron. Still, the "Ole" chants as Zayn began his ascent on the ladder were cut off by the larger pop for AJ Styles hitting a Phenomenal Forearm to knock him back to the mat. Corbin and Styles became the focus of their match, their sequence ending with Corbin delivering a stiff chokeslam onto a suspended ladder. Sami had yet another chance to get the W after a Helluva Kick, but had his dreams dashed once again by Kevin Owens, who delivered a nasty low-blow to his former best friend before AJ Styles pulled him off the ladder as well. Owens attempted to powerbomb Styles through the suspended ladder, but once again saw his most vicious offense countered into a ridiculous spot - this time, an AJ Styles F-U onto the seemingly unbreakable ladder. Styles got to the briefcase but couldn't pull it down before Ziggler took the ladder from beneath him. Hanging 20 feet above the ring, Styles looked to be trying to unhook it before slipping and falling to the mat. Corbin took Ziggler and looked like he had the victory sealed but Nakamura's music hit and the crowd went bananas. As the crowd sang his theme song, Nak delivered a series of high impact knees, taking out Corbin as well as Ziggler with a pair of Kinchasas. Zayn entered the fray but also ate a Kinchasa as the crowd broke into a loud "Nakamura" chant for the second time of the match. Unfortunately, with no ladder close by, Nakamura went to the outside where his guaranteed victory was momentarily called into question by Kevin Owens. As Nakamura set up the ladder, only one man stood in his way - AJ Styles - staring directly through the ladder rungs. Nak and AJ proceeded to have an incredible sequence that only hints to the greatness these two will undoubtedly achieve if they get the opportunity on a big stage. A boisterous "AJ Styles/Nakamura" chant broke out as the two did battle atop the ladder, the crowd's excitement crushed as Baron Corbin (with considerable struggle) knocked them both over and grabbed the briefcase himself. While the beginning of the match wasn't too special, Nakamura's return and subsequent showdown with AJ Styles was mesmerizing and almost nudges this one into "must see" territory. (3.5/5)

Despite only scoring a relatively slight .21 above what May's Backlash show did (the last SmackDown-exclusive PPV), Money in the Bank 2017 was a far more watchable show - even if the finishes of nearly every match save the Breezango filler bout was designed to disappoint. The first ever women's Money in the Bank match wasn't great, but it wasn't the embarrassing car wreck some would've guessed and I would look forward to a second edition if the depth of the roster could support it (I'm not sure it really did this time around). The men's version was ho-hum to start, but was saved by a goosebump-inducing finishing stretch that, hopefully, the WWE isn't dumb enough to squander on TV when its obvious Styles/Nakamura is a rare buzz-worthy match that doesn't feature Lesnar or Cena. The Usos/New Day match was headed to maybe being the best New Day match since the days when they would square off against Cesaro & Tyson Kidd before its inconclusive ending. Still, to a fan like myself, the "troll" booking is actually kind of appealing in that, as I don't watch the weekly TV shows, I'm definitely hooked and excited to see where these storylines will go for July's Battleground show. With a respectable score of 2.58-out-of-5, I'm calling this a winner for casual fans who don't mind watching Missourians get pissed and a loser for those current fans who heavily invested and care maybe too much about Jinder Mahal's credibility...

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver