Smooth Landings
Drew McIntyre defeats Andrade, Carmelo Hayes, LA Knight, Jey Uso, and Chad Gable to win the Money in the Bank contract. Drew has been in enough of these matches going back to the early 2010s and thus it’s about time he won one! The thing I will say about this match is yikes. The bump that Carmelo took from Andrade was scary and one that I don’t want to see again from the standpoint of safety. While I appreciate the OMG moment, I want these men to live long and healthy lives. Gable hanging from the briefcase was another cool spot — as was Drew throwing the ladder at Jey. Both are also dangerous in their own way, though. I liked how some of the issues we saw on TV got played out in the match (Jey and Drew, Knight and Carmelo, Jey and Gable, Knight and Jey, etc.). On the downside, I didn’t find the match particularly noteworthy, and it did have that feeling of a rotation of guys taking their turns fighting while everyone else is selling, which I don’t like in these matches. We’ve also seen so many ladder matches lately, so it’s hard to find something new in them. It wasn’t egregious and the match didn’t overstay its welcome, so for that it gets a smooth landing and a thumbs up.
Sami Zayn defeats Bron Breakker to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Everyone was sold on Breakker winning the title and I think that was fair, but I wasn’t sold. In fact, I thought the match could go either way. I’m glad they decided to have Sami retain. Let Breakker have to bounce back from losing a competitive match. He got enough in and they made it look like he could win. It also didn’t overstay its welcome, as you don’t want to do a long match involving Breakker. He has plenty of time in front of him. If he does beat Sami, and I think he will, it will mean something.
Rough Landings
John Cena retirement announcement. His explanation of why he wanted to make the announcement in Canada was weird. Sometimes I feel like he just makes things up for the sake of trying to please the audience. No other audience in the world brings it? New York? Chicago? Los Angeles? Money in the Bank is a night of opportunity? That felt like Vince McMahon era WWE. Then he says he’s never been a part of Raw on Netflix … umm, nobody has? Then, he tells everyone to tune into the press conference to talk about what he has planned. Everyone in the building is going to be headed home and likely not tuning in to Peacock on their phones. Why not just announce it in the ring? What’s the secret? Anyway, it got emotional towards the end and I felt like it was John Cena really talking. I liked that part, but not the promo overall.
Damian Priest defeats Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Even though they accomplished what they wanted to accomplish, it fell apart starting with the non-kickout by Damian Priest on the Falcon Arrow. That is a terrible look and I can’t get past that. I’m sure we’ll find out if Priest was hurt on the Falcon Arrow and couldn’t kick out, but it doesn’t matter — bad is bad. The Drew cash-in was fine and we’ve seen it before (Rollins at WrestleMania 31). Not only has CM Punk screwed Drew McIntyre again, but now he’s screwed Seth Rollins, which sets up a dual direction for Punk moving forward. The problem is, I (still) feel sympathy for Drew and I don’t think that’s what WWE wants. I guess the crowd isn’t with me, because there were cheers for his interference. This proves how I feel about WWE fans and wrestling fans in general. There isn’t an investment in the story as is, but rather an investment in moments. They were cheering Drew entering the match, weren’t they? If they didn’t want Drew to win, why would they cheer his entrance? Again, it’s all about moments. If they were invested in the story, they’d hate Punk. So, Drew beat the tar out of Punk in Chicago? So what? He didn’t deserve it after Clash at the Castle? One last thing. Why hasn’t WWE management secured CM Punk during Drew matches? If they know there’s an ongoing issue, he should be banned from the building or something. (Yes, I know, it’s wrestling so get over it, but sometimes they ask too much in my suspension of disbelief). There’s also the ongoing dumb issue of triple threat matches being no-DQ and I’m tired of the trope even if it’s “baked in.” Finally, I hope they have something big in mind for Punk and Drew for all of this “screwing” Punk has accomplished.
Tiffany Stratton defeats Chelsea Green, Naomi, Iyo Sky, Lyra Valkyria, and Zoe Stark to win the Women’s Money in the Bank contract. While I am personally ecstatic that Tiffany Stratton won the Money in the Bank contract, this match was way too dangerous for my taste. I understand there will be bumps involving the ladders. There were way too many head bumps for a company that preaches its safety record and is conscientious about concussions. Then you get to the bump done by Iyo Sky on Zoey Stark which could have gone incredibly bad had there been a mistake. Thankfully it worked out. This match is not a rough landing because it was bad. I appreciate the effort. It’s a rough landing because it wasn’t safe. Even Michael Cole and Corey Graves said so during the match (and then they got the nerve to stand up and applaud on camera). I was incredibly uncomfortable watching this match, but I will give credit for the effort given by the women.
The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Jacob Fatu) defeat WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Kevin Owens. This wasn’t a bad match but if the idea was to make Solo a real threat, having him win via interference does not accomplish that goal. I understand you want to protect the champion and I’ve always complained about champions getting pinned. But, this was a case where you can do a clean win if you want to set up Solo as a legitimate challenger to Cody. Cody had him beat with the Crossroads, but the referee was down after two bumps. Had another referee come out (which is another trope that’s annoying … sometimes another ref comes out, sometimes one doesn’t), Solo might have been pinned. Then, he gets help from Jacob Fatu and once Solo hits the Samoan Spike and it’s over? So, why should I see him as a threat? There was heat on The Bloodline throughout the match, so I guess that’s good. There was a “we want Roman” chant, which is not good — especially for Cody. I’m not worried about Randy or Kevin.
Closing Thoughts
I come from a time where fans were invested in the story and outcome between competitors or teams. I think that’s still there to a degree, but as I said earlier, fans are more interested in moments and “OMG spots.” This show had both, so I guess it works for them.
Look they can’t “win ‘em all” and WWE PLEs have, by and large, been good for some time. Overall, this was not. Perhaps if I watch it again, I’ll feel differently, but I don’t think so. With that said, I’ll see you after Summerslam.
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