Geektified's WWE Money in the Bank PPV 6.19.17

Geektified's WWE Money in the Bank PPV 6.19.17

By Anton Ware

Official Results

-WWE Money in the Bank is LIVE from St. Louis, Missouri.

-JBL, Tom Phillips, and Bryon Saxton are your hosts for this evening.

-Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Charlotte vs. Tamina vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Carmella: On the Smackdown after the Backlash PPV, all five ladies went to Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon and demanded a title opportunity against current Smackdown Women’s Champion, Naomi. The following week, Shane scheduled a Fatal Five Way Elimination Match for the ladies, but before the bell rung, a brawl broke out between the women and due to all the carnage, the match never started. Shane decided that the ladies should settle their issues by competing in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match and here we are. As the 1st women’s Money in the Bank match, this fell flat. As soon as the match was heating up, it ended abruptly. The ladies worked hard, but they just couldn’t kick it into high gear liked I hoped. There were no death-defying stunts or high risk moves executed, which was fine. The participants should’ve played it safe and they did, but what was disappointing was the feeling that there was more to be desired. The ending saw Becky Lynch on top of the ladder, but James Ellsworth comes in and knocks her off. He climbs the ladder, retrieves the briefcase, and drops it down to Carmella. The bell rings and the referees argue with each other over Ellsworth’s actions, but Ellsworth eventually announces Carmella as the winner and leaves. The rest of the competitors look on in shock and disgust while Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan shared their thoughts on the Twitt-TAH machine as they vowed address the controversy on Tuesday.

-Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: The Usos vs. The New Day: After gloating about their victories against Breezango, The Usos proclaimed that no team on the Smackdown roster could dethrone them. The returning New Day answered the call and demanded a title opportunity. The Fighting Unicorns have been on a roll since returning to Smackdown as they picked up a win against The Colons and getting the pin fall in an Eight-Man Tag Match. This match was a nice, competitive contest. These teams have always had good chemistry and this match was another example of that.  The story was that The Usos were dominating Kofi throughout the contest which started by having The New Day member take a NASTY fall and a wicked clothesline on the outside. Big E would eventually get the tag and overtake The Usos with Suplexes, an Uranage and his patented (yet highly dangerous) Spear to the outside. Kofi got in on the action by doing a Stage Dive to the outside and hitting The Midnight Hour (Big Ending/DDT combo), but it wasn't enough to put away the twins. Frustrated that they couldn't put away the opposition, Jimmy and Jey intentionally get themselves counted out which gave New Day the win, but NOT the titles.

-Smackdown Women’s Title Match:  Naomi vs. Lana: On the June 6th edition of Smackdown, Lana made her debut as a solo star and demanded a spot in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Shane McMahon refused, telling Lana that she had to earn her opportunities. Later that night, Lana interfered in a tag match that caused Naomi to get pinned. Angry over Lana’s actions, Naomi demanded to face Lana for revenge and the match was set. It was a forgettable match, but Lana was passable in her debut. Her wrestling skills aren’t bad, but her matches won’t be must-see exhibitions anytime soon.  Lana went after Naomi’s leg during the match with suplexes on the ropes and a leg lock. From there, Naomi would eventually recover only for Lana to hit her sit out Spinebuster for a 2 count.  Carmella came out and teased a MITB cash-in, but decided to watch the action from ringside instead. Naomi countered Lana’s finisher and locked her in the Reverse Rings of Saturn for the win. After the match, Naomi and Carmella had a stare down as they realized that their paths would cross once again.

-The returning Maria (who would like to be known as The 1st Lady) and Mike Bennett (now Mike Kanellis (taking his wife’s last name) made their debut. They introduced themselves and stated they’re here to educate the WWE Universe on the power of love. If I had to guess, I’d say that this would probably lead to Maria wearing the pants in the relationship and bossing Mike around since they played up the whole, “man takes the woman’s last name” deal. It kind of reminds me of the movie Saving Silverman, except there’s no Wayne and J.D. to potentially save Mike.

-WWE Championship Match: Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton: At Backlash, Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton to win the WWE Title. On the following Smackdown, while Mahal had his big celebration, Commissioner Shane McMahon granted Orton’s rematch for this show. Over the past few weeks, both men traded insults on the mic until the last week’s episode of Smackdown where Orton delivered a sneak attack RKO on Mahal. Orton is the hometown boy and gets a hero’s welcome from the crowd. The match was almost the exact layout from their last PPV contest. Mahal dominates, Orton recovers and is on the verge of victory, Singh Brothers interferes and gets taken out on the announce tables, and Mahal hits his Cobra Clutch Slam for the victory. The only difference is that Sunil and Samir provoked Randy Orton’s dad, Bob Orton (who was sitting at ringside with other the Hall Of Famers) which caused Orton to go ballistic by laying out both Singh Brothers with an RKO on the floor and through the announce table respectively. The distraction gave Mahal enough time to recover in order to hit his finisher for the win. The Mahārāja continues his dominance on the blue brand and with his henchmen beside him, it looks like nothing will change anytime soon.

-Breezango vs. The Ascension: Earlier in the show, Fandango and Tyler Breeze continued their investigation into who attacked Breeze during last Tuesday. They’d gotten a VHS tape and the attackers (in the darkness and their voices lowered) appeared on the tape and challenged Breezango to a match on the show. The Ascension revealed themselves as the attackers and the match was on. SHORT, television-style match just to fill time. Breezango picked up the win with a rollup and got revenge on Connor and Victor.

-Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn: On the May 23 episode of SmackDown, Shane McMahon introduced AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, and Baron Corbin as the 2017 participants. United States Champion Kevin Owens argued that he deserved to be in the match after retaining his title against Styles at Backlash. Shane agreed and added Owens to the match. From there a series of singles and tag team matches would follow as a way to hype up the match. During Nakamura’s entrance, Baron Corbin attacked him and left him lying in the aisle, thus making the match a 5-way contest. The match of the night. Highlights include Zayn giving Ziggler a sunset flip powerbomb off the top of the ladder, Styles delivering a Death Valley Driver to Owens on a ladder set up outside the ring, and Sami throwing Owens off the top rope onto a ladder that laid open inside the ring. The climax of the match begins with Corbin climbing the ladder when Nakamura’s music hits. Nakamura inserts himself in the match by cleaning house on anyone who gets in his way. By doing so, he and AJ Styles are all alone and they have an intense stare down before going at it for the first time inside a WWE ring. They were evenly matched to the point that they started to climb the ladder simultaneously. As both men reached for the briefcase, Baron Corbin knocked both men off the ladder and retrieved the briefcase! The Lone Wolf is Mr. Money in the Bank 2017! He celebrates with the briefcase as we…

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-Final Thoughts: The Money in the Bank PPV usually has a reputation of being an excellent show, but this year’s show didn’t live up expectations. There wasn’t a match I could recommend going out of your way to see. The Tag Title Match and main event matches were fairly enjoyable, but it’s something you’ve already seen before which didn’t led to anything new or innovative. The big story coming out of this show was Baron Corbin and Carmella winning their respective briefcases. This shows that Smackdown is still the land of opportunity and prides itself on showcasing young stars. Can Mr. & Ms. Money in the Bank make good on their newfound ticket to immortality? By holding the Money in the Bank briefcase, the likelihood of becoming champion is extremely likely as only two men out of the previous 17 MITB winners have failed to cash in the briefcase successfully. Usually a cash-in happens when a champion has been attacked or fatigued from participating in a grueling match. We shall see if Corbin or Carmella will follow suit.

-So what did you think of the show guys? Hit or miss? Let me know in the comment section. Thanks for reading.

-Anton