Kickoff: Hype Bros vs The Colons
This was exactly what you would expect, a serviceable but completely forgettable kickoff match. I would say more but there isn't really anything else to say. Good to see Ryder back though. **
Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch vs Carmella vs Natalya vs Tamina - Money In The Bank Ladder Match
I don't really know where to start with this one so I'll start with the match itself. I thought that it was building well with some really nice work from everyone except for Tamina, who was terrible. There weren't many big spots in it but that didn't really matter as they had the crowd on their side and the drama was there. Charlotte did a version of the Twisted Bliss to the floor, which was nice. Then the finish came and it was all kinds of dreadful. With everyone down James Ellsworth retrieved the briefcase and gave it to Carmella, and with that the first ever women's MITB match ended with a man retrieving the briefcase. I know that people will say that it's a way of getting heel heat but when you pitch the match as an important, historic occurrence, you can't end the match in such a deflating, disrespectful way. Having said that I have been numbed to WWE's idiocy somewhat and so it didn't get under my skin as much as it probably should have so I asked my good friend Leah Emilia to write a few words about how she felt about it. **1/2
Leah: 'For what it's worth, I thought the vast part of the women's MITB match was really good. Well paced, lots of tension, a few great spots (even if Becky and Natalya having a ladder tug of war was ridiculous). Then the ending happened, and the entire thing was ruined. By having Ellsworth take the briefcase down not only have you set an ugly and unwanted 'first ever' in a historic match that needed a clean finish, but it is now apparent that despite all the 'Women's Revolution' bluster, WWE still view their female competitors as weak and unable to succeed without a man's help. Never mind that every competitor in that match would destroy Ellsworth; that's irrelevant. Carmella needing a man's help to win MITB has left everyone's eyes wide open to WWE's lack of respect towards women and has left a nasty sour taste in my mouth.'
The Usos vs New Day - Smackdown Tag Titles
Okay, back to wrestling. I could see the Dusty finish coming a mile off here so for me it was all about how good the match was up until that point, and it was really good as it goes. There were some really nice near falls tied to some very good wrestling. ~Big E did his daft spear to the floor, Kofi pulled out a dragon sleeper and hit a sweet looking trust fall onto both of the Usos. In the end New Day hit the Midnight Hour and the Usos thought 'fuck this' and walked off to live another day. I look forward to a match with a proper finish. ***1/2
Naomi vs Lana - Smackdown Women's Title
Is it weird that this was better than I expected and it was still pretty bad? Lana did better than expected but there was no drama to the match. I'm not Naomi's biggest fan. She has all the athleticism but doesn't know how to put it together into a match on a consistent basis. Carmella teased cashing in but didn't bother. *1/2
Next up we get Fashion Vice, which was fantastic. The jokes were spot on, from the 80s cell phone with 'Property of Paul E.' written on it, to Fandango asking if the VHS tape they received is Coliseum, to the picture of Million Dollar Man with 'bank fraud' written underneath. It's one of the best pieces of comedy the WWE has done.
Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton - WWE Title
They showed some St Louis wrestling legends in the front row. It was apt as this had a sense of old school wrestling about it, with the hometown hero battling the evil foreigner. It was a decent match all things considered, though there was a spot where the Singh Brothers get involved with Bob Orton causing Randy to attack them at ringside. The problem was that he was outside the ring for ages, way more than a 10 count but he wasn't counted out. He lost anyway so fuck logic. He did hit a sweet RKO through the announce table though. ***
Fashion Police vs The Ascension
Pointless nonsense. They should have just had the Fashion Vice segment and left it there. *
AJ Styles vs Baron Corbin vs Shinsuke Nakamura vs Dolph Ziggler vs Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens - Money In The Bank Ladder Match
Put all of the talent in the main event, it's like an In Your House PPV. Corbin attacked Nakamura as he was making his entrance, causing him to be taken to the back. The match started off slowly but when it got going it was fantastic. They worked in segments that played off previous feuds and also teased new ones. It had the usual big spots off and onto ladders, including Styles hitting a DVD off the apron through a ladder on Owens and Ziggler removing the ladder from under Styles to leave him hanging from the chain that held the briefcase, from which he took a great looking bump. Towards the end of the match Nakamura made his comeback and ran roughshod over everyone until he and Styles met on either side of the ladder. They moved the ladder out of the way and we got a taste of Styles vs Nakamura in WWE. This led to Baron Corbin taking advantage of the situation, taking out both of them and getting the briefcase. For my money this was one of the best MITB matches and the right person won. There are a number of ways they can go from here. ****1/2
Overall Grade - C+
While the main event is excellent and a couple of the other matches are good there were two awful matches and the women's MITB match was a major mis-step.
Comments
Post a Comment