10 Takeaways from MITB 2017

Money in the Bank is one of the most important Pay Per Views on the WWE calendar each year. Debuting at Wrestlemania 21 in 2005, the match has become a staple of the WWE and one of its biggest contests of the year. The match itself is special and memorable not simply because of the prominence of ladders, but because of the unique championship contract that the winner of the match gets to hold onto. Suspended above the ring is a guaranteed championship opportunity that the winner can use at any time during the next year on the current champion. The match had become such an important and popular part of WWE that in 2010, it was announced that a Pay Per View named after and featuring the match would take place, and this has been a staple of WWE ever since.

Of course it takes more than just a jaw-dropping Money in the Bank match to "make" a Pay Per View, and thankfully the event has boasted some notable championship matches as well, including the universally-praised WWE Championship match between CM Punk and John Cena in 2011, and the huge bout between former SHIELD members Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in 2015. This year’s Money in the Bank was set up to be a major one in its own right, featuring the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank match, as well as arguably the most star-studded Men’s Money in the Bank match in its history. Without further ado, here are 10 takeaways from the 2017 Money in the Bank Pay Per View.

1. Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match impresses with strong showings from each competitor

The Women’s Revolution has taken the women of WWE very far in the last several years, starting with some amazing talent on NXT and then spilling over into the main roster. This past year has seen women compete in the first ever Hell in a Cell match, the first Women’s Money in the Bank match tonight, and in just a couple of weeks there will be the first Last Woman Standing match in WWE history for the NXT Women’s Title between current champion (and undefeated) Asuka and Sanity's Nikki Cross. The women’s division is a far cry from the "Bra and Panties" matches of yesteryear, focusing now on the abilities and accomplishments of the women more so than their looks and sexuality. However, despite the milestone that the women were set to achieve, there was some trepidation among fans. The match featured several greener wrestlers lacking long-term consistent in-ring experience like Tamina and Carmella, who while talented, do not have the same level of experience of Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Natalya. The match is so demanding that many fans questioned whether the match would take place without any injuries to the participants.

However, from the opening bell, the women blew all the haters and doubters out of the water. The match opened with a flurry of crisp signature moves, and left Tamina the lone woman standing in the ring, doing a good job portraying her as the “monster” of the match. Carmella, Natalya, Lynch, and Charlotte carried the match into its next stage well, clambering to get up the ladder and fighting with each other. The storytelling was especially good, with Carmella fighting and clawing for every inch, Becky playing well her usual underdog, Natalya being the confident veteran, and Charlotte seeming like the best in-ring all-around competitor. The match continued at a brisk pace with very good timing from all the women in the match. The match seemed to be defying expectations well, until it took an abrupt wrong turn, and I mean very very wrong, which leads me to my second takeaway.

2. Abysmal finish and feeling as if the ending didn’t take the "Women’s Revolution" forward

Most expected James Ellsworth to interfere in some form or fashion to assist Carmella during the match, and for most of it, he was quietly outside the ring.

That all changed when Becky Lynch started to climb the ladder, having dispatched of Carmella and all the other women. Ellsworth came out of nowhere to tilt the ladder over, sending Becky to the ground. This would have been a fine way for the match to end, had Carmella then climbed the ladder herself to get the briefcase. Instead, it was Ellsworth who climbed the ladder, took the case, and dropped it to Carmella. After several minutes of deliberation amongst the refs on the outside, Ellsworth announced Carmella the winner himself, and he escorted Carmella out with the briefcase.

Now I completely understand having a heel wrestler and a heel manager doing heel things. Everyone knew Ellsworth was going to interfere in some manner to assist Carmella. But given how monumental the match was for the Women’s Revolution in WWE, having a male win the case in a very literal sense seems like a step back, or at least a stall in the progression of women’s wrestling in WWE. A lot of people counter this by pointing to how many times Lana has helped out Rusev, or Maryse interfering to help the Miz this past year and that it was just a heel thing to do, but I would argue that the heel heat gained from this is a huge slight to all the women involved in the match tonight. This was a very bad way for the very first Women’s Money in the Bank to end, even though Heel Carmellsworth with the case could be very entertaining as well as deserved.

3. Day 1 ISH for the Usos, but not for the rest of us

Fresh off the controversial finish to the opening Money in the Bank match, the popular New Day took to the ring to liven things up. They’ve had a brief but good feud with the Usos thus far, providing solid entertainment on the mic going back and forth, and they went on to provide a great match in the ring tonight as well. As stale as the both the New Day and the Usos have been at parts during their careers, both have been on a major upswing recently, with the New Day seeming fresh again after taking time off, and the Usos delivering killer mic work since their much-needed heel turn. This match showcased how good both teams are in the ring, but really highlighted the Usos, who looked sharp and very aggressive, laying some extremely stiff strikes to the New Day.

It seemed like the entire first half of the match was spent with both brothers brutalizing Kofi Kingston with some legitimately painful looking knee work before the tag was finally made to Big E. There were several false finishes on both sides, with both teams showing desperation to keep themselves in the match, including one Uso saving the other from the Midnight Hour finishing move at one point. The match was very high-energy and had the crowd entertained, until the Usos abruptly decided to get themselves counted out, walking over to ringside to grab their titles and leaving, thus hanging onto their titles.

This was another poor booking decision by WWE. Once again, the heel team did heel things, but given how poorly the last bout had ended after a great match, this one ended the exact same disappointing way. A very good match was suddenly ended via count out. These two matches in the first hour of the show were very poorly booked and got the show off to a disappointing start after all the buildup and potential that could have been.

4. Lana doesn’t get squashed, but Naomi feels the glow as she remains SmackDown Women’s Champion

Almost no one expected much out of this match, as Lana hasn’t wrestled a televised match since Wrestlemania 32 last year in 2016. What seemed like it would end in a squash after the first few seconds of the match actually ended up exceeding the low expectations attached to it, with Lana working the leg of Naomi, which has given her problems in the past. The highlight of the match came not from either competitor, but from Miss Money in the Bank, Carmella, as she made her way to ringside with James Ellsworth at her side and newly won Briefcase in hand. Lana, who had just hit her sitout spinebuster on Naomi, looked on in horror, expecting Carmella to enter the match right then and there. Carmella expertly sold pondering her decision before opting to wait for the end of the match before making a decision about her cash-in. Naomi quickly ended the match after this, countering another spinebuster attempt into a submission hold and forcing Lana to tap.

Expectedly, after Naomi won, Carmella decided not to step in the ring with the Champ. While not a good match by any means, it worked better than expected, and did a good job of showing the constant immanency of a cash-in by Carmella, who would delay her big moment for the time being.

5. Maria and Mike Kannellis want to show the power of love

After leaving Impact Wrestling in March of this year, rumors began to circulate that former WWE Diva Maria and her husband, Mike Bennet, would be coming to WWE. Sure enough, during the Pay Per View tonight, the couple debuted as heels, both under Maria’s last name Kanellis. As both are former champions in Impact and made their mark in other promotions, it will be exciting to see what the WWE has in store for them, especially as the Women’s division on Smackdown has been trending up recently and now Maria can inject herself to help it even more.

6. The Fashion Police continue to be pushed

Word backstage is that Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO of WWE, is happy with the Fashion Files segments of recent weeks and with Tyler Breeze and Fandango themselves, so tonight we were treated to “Fashion Vice,” a parody of 80’s themed police shows. The segment was hilarious as usual, with the Fashion Police receiving a message via VHS tape from Tyler Breeze’s attacker and the team that trashed the pair’s office. The message challenged the pair to a match later that night, and excitement was stirred as we awaited the reveal the mystery team, However, in true WWE fashion, the surprise was lackluster, and the attackers were none other than The Ascension, who lost in quick order.

It was nice that Breezango got a Pay Per View win, but the big reveal fell flat, and the Ascension just continued their disappointing trend of jobbing out to other teams. Thumbs up for Breezango though, as it seems that their push will continue on.

7. Jinder is unhindered again in duplicate match from Backlash

Jinder Mahal may be the biggest Cinderella story of 2017 in WWE, going from weekly jobber to #1 contender, to main-eventing a Pay Per View and actually winning the WWE’s top prize at Backlash last month. Jinder has become a quite controversial figure since becoming #1 contender. Fans complained for a long time about the monotony of the main event scene in WWE, with the same top wrestlers contending for titles all the time. Finally, WWE provided a fresh face at the main event level, so the WWE Universe should have been happy. But “The Modern Day Maharaja” has been criticized by these same fans who wanted change, proving that some wrestling fans will simply never be happy.

Regardless of reception, the YouTube videos WWE has posted of Jinder have garnered a lot of traffic, and with his recently released merchandise as well as the increased heat his promos are getting, it can’t be denied that he is an effective heel. Tonight he faced Randy Orton in Orton’s hometown, which should have been a major warning sign of the match result, as WWE notoriously books most wrestlers and champions to lose in their hometowns. Tonight’s contest was a decent length, with Mahal really showing some hostility and brutally working Orton’s knee throughout the contest. Towards the end Orton hit an RKO on Mahal, who very much appeared to be done for the three-count until the camera panned off screen to show that Jinder Mahal’s cohorts, the weasely Singh brothers, had sneakily placed Mahal’s foot on the rope, breaking the count.

Orton then proceeded to annihilate the brothers, completely ignoring Mahal, who promptly hit his finisher, the Khallas, and ended the match as soon as Orton re-entered the ring. It was a fine match, perhaps a bit better than someone with the very average ring ability of Mahal and sometimes lackluster attitude of Orton would have been expected to put on, but there was a big problem with the match.

The entire championship match tonight was an exact replica of last month’s bout, just a little bit longer. It was the same formula of Jinder getting off to an aggressive start, then Orton turning the tables, the Singh Bros helping Mahal kick out of an RKO, Orton proceeding to destroy the brothers, then falling into the Khallas as soon as he re-enters the ring. While the match was a clone of last month’s, it wasn’t bad by any means, and it will be interesting to see where Orton, but most importantly still WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, go from here.

8. The marquee match of the night

After a generally disappointing Pay Per View thus far, plagued more by questionable endings to matches than anything else, the Men’s Money in the Bank really lived up to the potential of the extremely talented stars featured in the match. For most of the match, only 5 of the originally planned 6 stars were fighting, as Shinsuke Nakamura was ambushed by Baron Corbin on his way to the ring, sending him to the back for medical assistance.

While this match lacked some of the high-flyers we have seen in the past performing acrobatics off the top of ladders, the sheer brutality of many of the ladder spots was incredible and made for a realistic and entertaining spectacle. The storytelling was on point as well; all the wrestlers exhibited top-notch psychology mixed with bone-crunchingly destructive moves. We saw a monstrous Corbin clear the ring and hit a Deep Six off the ring apron, we saw Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens square off with each other, we saw a brutal sunset flip powerbomb off the ladder by Zayn to Dolph Ziggler, and we saw a sickening fireman’s carry slam by AJ Styles to Kevin Owens off the ring apron and onto a ladder.

Before I get into the final result of the match, I think it’s worth making a point about a segment of the match that came after Shinsuke Nakamura emerged, battered but determined, from backstage to re-enter the match in its final act. He was hitting knee strikes left and right on everybody, truly looking like a top superstar. And then it was just him and AJ Styles in the ring…

9. AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura

To avoid beating around the bush at all, Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles are two of the best wrestlers of this decade, and arguably WWE’s biggest signings of the last couple of years. Coming over from Japan, both were internationally acclaimed superstars who were both in New Japan Pro Wrestling before leaving for WWE. When it got out that they both signed deals, people began speculating about a future matchup between the two.

It would be not only a top-tier main event, but a huge draw, as both stars are incredibly popular among wrestling fans, and even relatively well-known outside of wrestling. A future matchup between the two had been teased before tonight, but all eyes were on the two megastars as they stared each other down from opposite sides of a ladder, then opted to put the ladder aside and face each other off one-on-one. When they clashed it was incredible, ferociously going at each other and clawing, locked in a battle with neither getting the upper hand. Chants of “AJ Styles/Nakamura” flooded the area as fans watched on in pure delight. After Styles countered the Kinshasa Knee Strike into a forearm of his own, both hit the mat and struggled to move for several moments. Eventually, Styles set up and began to scale a ladder, with Nakamura clambering up on the other side. After furiously trading blows at the top of the ladder in an attempt to get the case, out of nowhere, the ending sequence came about, but neither of the stars battling on the ladder would take home the briefcase…

10. Baron Corbin: Mr. Money in the Bank 2017

Taking advantage of the colossal and draining clash of Styles and Nakamura as they struggled to take the briefcase, Baron Corbin quickly re-entered the ring and knocked both wrestlers off of the ladder. He began to climb to the briefcase, and everyone knew that the end was near. Corbin unhooked the Briefcase, and the Money in the Bank Pay Per View had its biggest winner of the night. Despite questionable booking choices that plagued the rest of the night’s matches, the company ended on a high note, and a Money in the Bank Winner that is perfect for his new title of Mr. Money in the Bank. Corbin is the type of dominating heel that perfectly fits into the calculating and dominating role of the briefcase holder. Likewise, Corbin has been waiting in the wings for several months, waiting to be propelled to the very top of the card, and now he has the means to achieve the top spot and live up to his potential. WWE would do well to have Corbin hold the case for a while and build a proper feud with either Jinder Mahal or another champion down the road.

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