Highlights, takeaways and what’s next for the Superstars of WWE following Sunday night’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.
WWE held its annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday night with plenty of matches to be excited about. While not every match lived up to expectations or ended smoothly (which is the nice way to say that there were plenty of questionable booking decisions), overall it was a good show. There’s plenty to get to so let’s just jump right in and get this things going.
The Kickoff Show saw another solid matchup between Daniel Bryan and Rowan and The Usos. This was a non-title affair for the SmackDown Tag Team Champions and The Usos surprisingly came out on top. So a tag team from Monday Night Raw is now in line for a shot at belts on SmackDown Live? Okay then.
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Naomi vs. Nikki Cross vs. Natalya vs. Dana Brooke vs. Ember Moon vs. Bayley vs. Carmella vs. Mandy Rose
The main card got right down to it as the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match kicked things off. While this wasn’t quite as good as last year’s match, this was still very solid as every single Superstar in the match got a chance to shine. It’s extremely unfortunate that Alexa Bliss couldn’t get cleared for this match as she’s suffered yet another concussion (her in-ring career really looks like it’s in jeopardy) but that did allow for Nikki Cross to come in and get more on-camera time, which is never a bad thing, and she got numerous early opportunities to show off her talent.
I’ve been enjoying this little push for Dana Brooke lately and this match did nothing but help her, even if she didn’t win. She was one of the highlights of this match. She took some great bumps and the spot where she dangled off of the Money in the Bank briefcase was fantastic. Ember Moon looked great as well and the ladder-to-ladder Eclipse was incredible. As far as Carmella goes, I honestly thought she was truly injured so kudos to her on selling that. Her leg did look like it got twisted up and she was shoving Mandy Rose away as if to say “Look, I’m really hurt here. Stop it.” Her re-entry wasn’t as dramatic as they were hoping it would be, but it showed some character on her part.
It was only a matter of time before Sonya Deville got involved to help out Mandy Rose and it worked beautifully. She showed off her strength by literally carrying her teammate up the ladder to grab the briefcase, but it wasn’t meant to be as Bayley (who also looked great throughout this match) met them at the top, gave an amazing death stare and shoved them to the ground before grabbing the contract. It was a very fun way to kick off the night.
What’s next: Well, we know what happens next for Bayley; we’ll get to that later on. The story continues to build with Deville and Rose as Deville seems to be putting a lot more effort into this friendship and that will all come to a head at some point down the line. Friendships aren’t for lone in the WWE. As for the women, they’ll all continue to be in the mid-card for the time being, but every single woman in this match deserves a great deal of credit for putting their bodies on the line in this type of match.