Hiya!

Most WWE fans are familiar with their “Big Four” pay-per-view events. The “Big Four” consists of Wrestlemania, the Royal Rumble, Summerslam and Survivor Series. I’m of the mindset where we can replace either Summerslam or Survivor Series from the “Big Four” and replace whichever with Money in the Bank. In the grand scheme of things, Money in the Bank has more of an impact now as the winner of their respective Money in the Bank ladder matches gets a guaranteed shot at whatever WWE championship they want whenever they want.

In fact, I’m more interested with who wins the Money in the Bank matches rather than what happens in Summerslam and Survivor Series. This is precisely why I had to watch this year’s Money in the Bank show as soon as I could. So, let’s go check out what happened this year!

Match #1: Men’s Money in the Bank match with Jey Uso vs. LA Knight vs. Chad Gable vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Andrade

A part of me feels disappointed with the participants as, besides Drew McIntyre, none of them really come off as Money in the Bank material. So, it does seem like the outcome was obvious. However, I am getting ahead of myself. Besides, the spots here were brutal. Things like Andrade hitting a springboard spanish fly to Carmelo Hayes onto a ladder, LA Knight and Jey Uso teaming up temporarily to try to take out Drew McIntyre, Andrade hitting a sunset flip powerbomb to Carmelo Hayes from the top of a ladder onto a bridged ladder, Chad Gable belly-to-belly suplexing LA Knight to a bridged ladder set up on the outside and, of course, Chad Gable hanging on for dear life after the ladder got taken out from under him. While these were nothing we haven’t seen before, it still looked good.

The finish came after Jey Uso was seemingly all alone after spearing Gable. Jey Uso climbed up one of the ladders and it looked like he was going to win it. However, from out of nowhere, Drew McIntyre came in and tossed another ladder right in Jey Uso’s face, knocking him off. The Scottish Warrior was all alone, allowing him to climb up a ladder, retrieve the briefcase and become the 2024 winner of the Men’s Money in the Bank match.

Like I said, Drew McIntyre was the expected winner so there was no surprise there. Knowing who was going to win in the end did spoil a lot of the suspense for me. While the action was pretty good, once again, we all saw some variation of what was done here in previous Money in the Bank matches. I know it can be hard to think up of new creative ways to maim people with ladders so I understand the repeat spots. Still, I can’t help but walk away and think it could’ve been better.

Match #2: Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker for the Intercontinental Championship

I never really got into this feud. While I get the premise of the rookie with all of the power and potential taking on the wizened veteran, it just came from out of nowhere so Bron Breakker’s title shot never felt earned. Still, they did tell the story as Bron Breakker dominated the majority of the match using his quickness and power and Sami just managing to stay alive somehow with his tenacity. Bron Breakker did look impressive as he did things like catching Zayn in the middle of a backflip and his top rope frankensteiner is freakishly good.

The finish came after Bron Breakker hit his gorilla press-powerslam combo. Breakker set up for the spear but Zayn countered with a kick. This stunned him enough for Zayn to hit his Helluva Kick finisher to get the pinfall victory and retain his Intercontinental Championship. This didn’t feel like it needed to be on a pay-per-view. It just never got out of second gear for me. While it was nice to see Bron Breakker get to show his stuff, it just lacked the necessary oomph to make it memorable.

Match #3: Damien Priest vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

While this match is indeed for the top prize on RAW, there’s a little more to it than just that. If Damien Priest wins, Seth Rollins will never be able to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship while Priest holds the title. If Damien Priest loses, not only does he lose the belt, he also has to leave The Judgement Day. I just love it when there’s more to a match than just the match itself. Anyway, there was a lot of good intensity here throughout with things like Rollins hitting multiple suicide dives to finally send Priest over the announce table, Rollins adding to his repertoire with his springboard swanton into a springboard moonsault combo and Priest recovering enough from a buckle bomb to his a sitout version of the Last Ride.

The “finish” came with a botch as Rollins hit a superplex and then went for a falcon arrow. Priest, however, tried to reverse it with his own falcon arrow. Rollins managed to counter and finally hit his falcon arrow. Rollins went for the cover and it looked like a clean 3-count but the referee stopped his count for no apparent reason. You can see Priest say something after this happened, as if to apologize for the botch. It ultimately didn’t matter for long as Drew McIntyre’s music hit and he marched into the ring, carrying the Money in the Bank briefcase to cash it in, making it a 3-way dance for RAW’s top prize!

Match #3.5: Damien Priest vs. Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Drew immediately went after Rollins and tried to hit his Claymore finisher but The Architect blocked it with a superkick. Rollins went for a curb stomp but McIntyre dodged it and connected with his futureshock DDT. McIntyre went for another Claymore but Priest ran in and clocked the Scottish Warrior with a lariat. McIntyre hit Priest with a Claymore after Priest threw Rollins to the outside. It looked like it was all over but CM Punk ran in and pummeled McIntyre with fists!

As the match became a 3-way dance, there are no DQs so CM Punk was able to run roughshod on Drew. McIntyre tried to scamper out of the ring but that only made things worse as Punk tossed him into the ring announcer’s section and blasted him with a steel chair and choked him out with one of the cables. Drew somehow managed to crawl back into the ring but Punk grabbed the World Heavyweight Championship belt and practically knocked McIntyre out with it. Priest recovered enough and hit his South of Heaven chokeslam finisher on McIntyre to win the match and retain his WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Seth Rollins, realizing he cannot challenge for the belt anymore, tried to face off against Punk afterwards.

This was just a good match until Drew McIntyre decided to cash in his Money in the Bank, which changed it into a great match. I do have to question why McIntyre would cash it in while the match is still ongoing but it did add to the drama. CM Punk once again costing McIntyre the World Heavyweight Championship adds a lot of fuel to their feud. While I am kind of upset the World Heavyweight Championship match took a backseat to the Drew McIntyre and CM Punk feud, it really did take this match all the way to 11.

Match #4: Women’s Money in the Bank with Chelsea Greene vs. Lyra Valkyria vs. IYO SKY vs. Tiffany Straton vs. Naomi vs. Zoey Stark

Unlike the Men’s Money in the Bank match, there are more potential winners here with IYO SKY and Tiffany Straton being placed high up but with Chelsea Greene being the dark horse possibility. Even so, I was more interested in the newcomers like Lyra Valkyria and Zoey Stark to see what they would be able to add to the Money in the Bank match experience. Turns out, a whole lot!

You got some comedy bits early on with Chelsea Greene trying to get the briefcase without climbing a ladder. What made the match exceptional, though, were the spots. There were some cringe inducing hits, like IYO SKY hitting Tiffany Straton with a meteora right to the ladder, Lyra Valkyria back suplexing IYO SKY off the ladder while she was dangling from the ladder, Straton doing a Alamaba slamma to Naomi onto a ladder, Greene hitting an unprettier to Naomi on a ladder bridge and that super sick piledriver by IYO SKY to Zoey Stark from the top of the ladder onto a ladder bridge.

The finish came after the aforementioned super sick piledriver from the top of the ladder. This left Chelsea Greene all alone and she climbed the ladder to try to retrieve the briefcase. Tiffany Staton played spoiler, unfortunately, and raced to the top of another ladder. In a cruel twist of fate, Straton toppled the ladder Greene was on, sending her onto the very same tables they set up on the outside. This allowed Staton to retrieve the Money in the Bank briefcase to win the match and earn her a title shot of her choosing.

This was a heck of a match. While a good number of these spots were pretty much repeats from other Money in the Bank matches, it just felt different because of the WWE Superstars involved. There was a lot of time setting the ladder up, I will admit, and some of the ladder structures just didn’t make any logical sense. Still, it was unpredictable enough to engage me and, man, those spots! Whew!

Match #5: Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens and Randy Orton vs. The New Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu

I get the purpose of this feud. With Roman Reigns out of the picture for now, they need a new monster for Cody Rhodes to face off against. Thankfully, the buildup for the New Bloodline has been pretty good but they do need to prove themselves. This was a pretty classic, by-the-books face vs. heels 3-man tag team match. The good guys took control early on but the bad guys rallied and just beat down on one of the good guys to ensure a hot tag was inevitable. Jacob Fatu did a good job of looking like a monster by no-selling Orton’s draping DDT but Tama Tonga did look like the weak link throughout the match. They did make some good use of Tonga Loa with his outside interference bits. Still, I’m having a hard time remembering anything concrete from this match and I just watched it!

The finish came after Solo Sikoa mistakenly took out the referee as Cody Rhodes ducked the New Tribal Chief’s forearm shot. Cody hit his Cross Rhodes finisher on Solo then Owens hit a frog splash and Orton finished the combo with an RKO. They then tried The SHIELD’s triple powerbomb to Solo to the announcer’s table but it was broken up by Jacob Fatu. Fatu tried an avalanche to Owens but hit the referee by mistake! Owens then his a Stunner to Tama Tonga and smashed Fatu with one of the oversize Prime^TM props before frog splashing him through the table. Owens then rolled Tama Tonga into the ring and tried to connect with his package piledriver but Tonga Loa hit Owens in the butt which did nothing, so he hit him with a low blow to take him out. Orton hit his RKO on both Tongas but got leveled by Solo’s Samoan Spike. Rhodes then ran in and set up Solo for a Cross Rhodes but got distracted by Fatu, who connected with an amazing looking corkscrew cannonball from the top rope. Fatu then hit a spike piledriver to Rhodes and Solo Sikoa finished off the top man at Smackdown with a Samoan Spike. The referee crawled in and made the 3-count for The New Bloodline.

I am disappointed Cody Rhodes isn’t defending Smackdown’s top prize but this is all to show how The New Bloodline is a force to be reckoned with. Did they succeed? Well, yeah, but not by much, in my opinion. Jacob Fatu looked impressive but Tama Tonga’s performance didn’t as he just wasn’t doing that much damage to the faces. It did show off that The New Bloodline is dangerous but Tama Tonga needs a little more fine tuning to find his position in the group.

Overall, this year’s Money in the Bank was a bit of a disappointment. While there were standout moments, like the Women’s Money in the Bank and the entire sequence after Drew McIntyre tried to cash in, the rest of the card just lacked that little something to make it great. It wasn’t a bad show by any stretch of the imagination but I don’t think anyone will be calling the greatest pay-per-view of the year.

Byee!

What did you think of this year’s Money in the Bank show? Let me know in the comments section below!