“Money in the Bank” showed that a little creativity goes a long way

Sunday, we got yet another live sports entertainment event in WWE’s “Money in the Bank” pay-per-view. The show was billed as the most unique pay-per-view in WWE history. Did it live up to the hype? Let’s dive into the card and break it down match by match.

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We’ll start with the pre-show, which featured The Swiss Superman Cesaro vs. Jeff Hardy. Hardy recently returned to the WWE as a singles competitor after suffering an injury and losing his brother to a competing company. Luckily for him, the first chapter of his comeback came in the way of a “W” at the expense of Cesaro. The match was good from top to bottom. In fact, it probably should’ve been added to the main card. It is a shame to see such a versatile talent in Cesaro stuck in the pre-show, especially against Hardy. Sure, Jeff was a part of one of the most-successful tag teams in WWE history, but his best days are clearly behind him. Plus, he’s had his fair share of issues outside the ring that create all kinds of PR issues for the WWE. With that in mind, the match itself was still a good one.

RATING: B+

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The actual pay-per-view kicked off with the Smackdown Tag Team Championships, we see The Forgotten Son vs. The Miz and John Morrison vs. Lucha House Party vs. The New Day. For the most part, the match was exciting with one major exception: The Forgotten Sons, who were just that. Personally, I think the MVP of the match was John Morrison, who led the way with a collection of high flying maneuvers and plenty of ring gymnastics. In the end, Big E won the match for The New Day via pin fall over Gran Metallik of Lucha House Party to retain the titles.

RATING: B+

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R-Truth vs. MVP was the announced next match, except it wasn’t MVP in the ring. It was Bobby Lashley. My thoughts? Ugh. R-Truth is about as exciting as watching paint dry. His gimmick is old and stale and following a fast-paced tag match, this was a real let down. I went to the kitchen to fire up my Jiffy Pop, and by the time I came back, it was over. Thankfully. This would’ve been a good time for a bathroom break for fans watching it live.

RATING: F-

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Up next, the Smackdown Women’s Championship was on the line as Bayley faced Tamina. After a couple cheesy promos, the women made their way to the ring for the match. I must say, Bayley has really embraced her heel role within the company. She is an amazing talent in the ring and plays the role of the villain to perfection! I also have to give Tamina some credit, having not been a major part of any program over the last few years, she held her own in this match. After Tamina’s power was featured, Sasha Banks provided the distraction that gave Bayley the win. We all knew that Bayley wasn’t going to drop the title to Tamina, but putting her in a title match on a highly promoted pay-per-view was a nice bone to toss a mid-card performer.

RATING: B

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In the battle of the former Wyatt Family members, Braun Strowman faced off with Bray Wyatt for the Universal Championship. WWE did a solid job building this match, but the expectation was always that the company would likely avoid an appearance from the Fiend on this PPV and keep the belt on the Monster Among Men. That proved true. I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep this feud going and we eventually get the Fiend vs. Strowman at Summer Slam or Survivor Series. With that said, this match was lackluster, predictable and didn’t provide the entertainment I was looking for. I’m sure we’ll see better down the road between these two.

RATING: C-

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On to the WWE Championship match. Am I the only one that feels bad for Drew McIntyre? After a less-than-stellar first go around in the WWE, he worked his way up the food chain and finally earned his title match at Wrestlemania. Then, COVID-19 hit and his moment was moved into an empty Performance Center. Can you imagine how Raymond James Stadium would have reacted when he beat Lesnar? Moving past that, his new focus was a title defense against the Monday Night Messiah Seth Rollins for the WWE Championship. Rollins debuted new entrance music and is fully embracing the antagonist character. It’s delightfully refreshing and something that new fans (and haters) should be able to embrace. This match was back and forth and both men put on one heck of a show from bell to bell. After plenty of buildup, Drew hit Rollins with a Claymore finisher to retain the title.

RATING: A

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And now for the main event, the men’s and women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. First, the women (Asuka, Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax, Dana Brooke, Carmella and Lacey Evans) made their entrance in the lobby of the WWE Headquarters, while the men (Aleister Black, A.J. Styles, Rey Mysterio, King Corbin, Otis and Daniel Bryan) started in the WWE gym. To be honest, I didn’t have high expectation for this match. Its uniqueness was the biggest draw, which led to more curiosity than anything. Aside from the cheesy musical score and way overproduced cinematics, I was entertained.

At points, the presentation had me laughing out loud. Two especially memorable moments came from Brother Love who got caught with his fly down coming out of a bathroom stall, and a cameo from Vince McMahon himself when the fighting moved into in his office. Most of the competitors made it up to the roof, where we got the answer to the question everyone was asking about this match: Would anyone get tossed off the seven-story WWE Headquarters building? Yes. Both Black and Mysterio seemingly met their ultimate demise thanks to the miracle of post-production.

In the midst of the chaos caused by Corbin’s attempted murders, Asuka (surprisingly) was able to grab the briefcase to secure a future women’s title match and Otis made the climb on the men’s side thanks to A.J. Styles’ slippery fingers. Did the match live up to the hype? Hard to say. It was probably entertaining for the average fan, but definitely not your usual Money in the Bank match. Bravo to the WWE for trying something different in unusual circumstances.

RATING: A-

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That’s the 2020 Money in the Bank pay-per-view in a nutshell. The next scheduled PPV event is Extreme Rules on July 19, with the potential for another show sometime between now and then. As COVID-19 restrictions continue to change, there’ll be plenty of challenges for WWE creative to work around heading into the coming months.