For something that was supposed to be part of the whole WrestleMania event, people expected it to be a good PPV. And I think it delivered the goods. So without further ado, let’s discuss what’s good and what’s not so good about it all
Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder Match
I don’t think anybody expected Kane to win, what with what was supposed to be a movement to push younger talents. I have nothing against Kane winning it, and subsequently the World Heavy Weight Championship after cashing the contract on Rey Mysterio. But let’s talk about that later and focus on this one first.
With the show opening with this match, I kind of had the feeling the winner was going to cash in the contract the same night, because that would have given the winner enough time to recuperate. Also, there were two MitB ladder matches and one of the winners has to do it that way. And I was right.
Anyway, all the participants had their own highlight spots during the match so I guess it still fulfill the purpose of showcasing the young guns’ talents. Cody Rhodes, excuse me, Dashing Cody Rhodes, Kofi Kingston, and Drew McIntyre shone even though they didn’t win.
Cody’s Missile Dropkick from the top rope to Kofi Kingston who’s on the ladder was amazing. Kofi’s Boom Drop on Drew McIntyre on the announce table off a 15 (?) foot ladder was absolutely fantastic. Now, Drew himself didn’t exactly execute a highlight worthy spot, but he did kind of dominated at one point, clearing the ring and almost reaching the briefcase.
Matt and Christian did pretty good too, as expected, with their experience in this type of match. But personally, I never really thought either of them had a real shot. I honestly thought it would be one of the younger guys.
Big Show, even with the personalized galvanized ladder, I don’t think really had a shot either. I almost felt sorry for him for having to bring that 350lbs ladder into the ring, although it did had a purpose for the other Superstars.
One person that didn’t really register to me was Dolph Ziggler. Funnily enough, I can’t remember anything he did aside from the sleeper hold on Show and the DDT that ensued. I’m looking at my notes and there’s not a mention of him other than that.
In summary, it was a good match nonetheless. Kane winning had me thinking who will win the WHC between Rey and Swagger, because he’s neither a heel or a face. Out of 10, I could probably give this a 7.5 to 8.
Divas Championship Match
Alicia Fox vs. Eve wasn’t half bad. Eve has really been showing a lot of improvement in the ring every time I see her, and that also goes with Alicia. They were both very physical, and utilized some really good throws and submissions, even a high flying maneuver from Eve even though it failed.
Eve’s dropkick noticeably improved as well. There’s much more height to it now whereas before she could only do it on her opponents chest level.
Alicia on the other hand really showed her viciousness with every punishing move, and it really suits her.
I actually enjoyed this match better than the other women’s match, and I’ll say why later.
I thought Eve would win it back, but I guess either one of them winning it is okay too. They should continue this feud because I think the two could get so much better as they go, and that would only benefit the women’s division.
For a Divas’ Match, I think it’s good with 7/10.
Unified Tag Team Match
The Uso’s vs. The Hart Dynasty. Jimmy and Jey pretty much isolated David Hart Smith the whole time, until finally Hart tagged in Kidd. The crowd was pretty quiet at that point too, but at least Tyson got a little reaction when he got in the ring.
The most reaction the Uso’s got was probably for the Alley-Us on Kidd, which Jimmy (The one wearing pants, yes.) tried to follow up with a splash from the top rope that failed.
Again, the best part with this, like in the last Pay-Per-View was the women getting involved, however little.
Tamina distracting David Hart Smith, and then Natalya taking her out with a power slam picked it up towards the end, and actually made the viewers care about who was going to win, in my opinion.
It wasn’t exactly boring, but it wasn’t that exciting either. So, I think I’ll rate this as 7/10. I would’ve been more excited if the women actually wrestled. Natalya and Tamina should have more matches.
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Well, I’m not a fan of Rey. Let me just get that out there now. I’m just getting tired of the underdog rising above the odds at all costs gimmick. And then they had to, again, make a connection with Eddie Guerrero on Rey winning the title with the boot thing. Okay, we get it, they were close. Let Eddie rest in peace already.
Anyway, with Kane winning the MitB earlier, I thought for sure Jackie was going to win since they have a program. So I was a bit surprised/disappointed that Rey won, add to the fact that it really annoyed me that they keep dragging Eddie Guerrero’s name into it.
I didn’t expect Kane to cash in on Rey, after he just saved him from Swagger, but I’m glad he did. Not for anything else, and not because it’s Rey, but because I think this is a good thing for Kane himself. I’d have no problem if he cashed in on Jack if he won either.
It has been a long time since he’s held a World Championship, and I think it’s about time they give him something back for all his hard work, at least before he retires. (Oh, it’s coming. Come on he’s 43.)
I think though that it’s more due to Rey’s lingering knee injury though. Maybe he’s getting ready to (I hope he is) take a leave for it. That way, at least, Kane and Jack can continue with their program.
The match itself, between Jack and Rey, were pretty standard for them. Nothing really sticks to me as something special. So, I’ll give it 6/10.
Women’s Championship Match
I’m going to be blunt and say the only reaction I made during this match was “Yey, Layla won!” Monotonously, too.
I’m sorry to all the K2 fans, but the girl has been plateauing for, like, forever. She’s shown some improvement about a year and half ago, but she’s not improved since then. Now, I don’t hate her per se, I just don’t think she’s any good wrestling. But I guess with the shallow women’s roster on Smackdown, there really isn’t much choice.
Which is why I’m happy she didn’t win. Lay-Cool could do so much better with the title than she can, so it was a really wise decision to keep the title with them.
The match was below par, whatever the par is, so I’m giving this a 6/10 rating, appreciating Michelle McCool’s involvement. (That girl can take a bump. Wow. Seriously.)
Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match
This was the match of the night for me. Not just because of Randy Orton. (Although he is a big part of it for me.) But with all the talent and star power in that match, how can it be not?
It was practically fast paced chaos from start to end, that not even Mark Henry could slow down. Honestly, when even a man as big as Mark Henry could make a highlight worthy spot in a match like this, it’s gotta be good, right?
Everyone really got their eyes on the price with five men fighting each other off on top of one ladder (with another one inserted horizontally in between) just to reach the briefcase.
This match had everything. It was highlight after highlight after highlight, and I’m not just talking about high spots, although there were lots of those as well.
Regular finishers made more impactful because of the height at which it is done was awesome too. Yes, I’m talking about the RKO on Jericho from 10 feet high. And you can’t forget about the elevated DDT on the ladder to Evan Bourne by Orton either.
Edge and Jericho, both veterans of ladder matches, definitely showed their mastery of the match as well, utilizing the ladders in all sorts of way. John Morrison also did some amazing moves on and with the ladder.
A couple of times, Edge and Orton even worked together, reminiscent of Rated-RKO, and then BOOM, Randy hits an RKO out of nowhere.
Maryse even did something worthy of mentioning. She actually tried to climb the ladder and retrieve the briefcase for Ted. But Morrison stopped her. Still, could you imagine if she actually did it?
Funnily enough, the person with the least action during the match won—The Miz. I didn’t really expect Randy Orton to win, but boy, was I on the edge of my seat ready to leap out of it if he won, being such a huge fan of his.
I was actually betting on Miz or Evan to win, so it’s all good. I was leaning more into Evan winning because of his recent push, but then I’m thinking what next then if he did? I had a little reservation about Miz winning because he already has the US Championship. But then he did say one time that he was going to be US and WWE Champion at the same time, so I guess we’ll see if they let him do that.
Anyway, I don’t think Miz is going to cash that briefcase in anytime soon—especially not on Sheamus. I think he’ll hold on to that for a long while, gloat and milk it till it runs dry, or at least until a face holds the title. Or maybe a tweener. *cough*Randy*cough*Orton*cough*
I’ll give this one an 8.5 to a 9/10.
WWE Championship Steel Cage Match
This was pretty much like all Cena steel cage matches, or just Cena matches to be quite honest. I’m not hating, okay? I’m just stating facts, because that really is how most his matches go down. He gets beaten at the start, and then he’ll make a comeback. If he’s going to win, he’ll ride that to the end. But if he’s supposed to lose then some mishap will happen and he’ll lose due to a circumstance.
The announce team building him up as having super strength and invincibility doesn’t exactly help the either.
There were some good spots during the match, like Cena superplexing Sheamus from the top rope. And also when he tried to, but didn’t get to, climb out the cage with Sheamus hanging on his back.
Sheamus also did an Orton, and wrapped Cena’s arms between the ropes before pummeling him with kicks and punches, and then climbing to cage, stepping on Cena’s thigh and head.
Anyway, the mishap this time is Nexus coming out to attempt to interfere by getting inside the cage. They come with Tarver bringing a bolt cutter, which a very brave official took away. And then Wade harasses another brave official to hand him the key, which was tossed out to the crowd by said official.
Makes me wonder, if these officials were so brave, why didn’t they show that all the other times? And better yet, why didn’t Nexus beat them up this time when they didn’t seem to mind doing that before?
So anyway, Nexus caused distraction for the ref inside the cage, and Cena accidentally threw Sheamus towards the ref, knocking him unconscious, therefore not seeing Sheamus tap to the STF.
So Cena tries climbing out the cage instead. And who does he meet at the top of the cage? Justin Gabriel, who obviously waited to be thrown down, just sitting there and not fighting Cena.
The other Nexus guys followed suit and stopped Cena midway down the cage, while Sheamus came to and climbed out the other side of the cage, met only by Heath Slater who stood no chance by himself. So Sheamus touched the grown first and won. And then he was out of there as quickly as he could.
Cena was left there, disappointed and angry so he went after the two Nexus guys who was left there and beat them up.
I think that what is next in this saga is what’s really important here, and not the match itself anyway. John is going to come after Nexus, no doubt. The question is, will Sheamus take the same path with Cena and perhaps subsequently turn face? Maybe, maybe not, but the fact that there’s a question hanging, keeps it interesting.
For the match itself, I think I’ll score about 7.5/10.
In summary, it wasn’t a bad show at all. I think it was pretty good and very exciting, aside from a couple of matches, but I can’t complain.
I think Jericho had the right and was right to say this on his twitter after the show: “My company is a powerhouse that will never be beat. All other companies need to watch and learn...”
And I agree.
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