It started off as an attraction at Wrestlemania 21, gradually grew into the most anticipated match of the year and then was promoted to its own Pay Per View event. Money in the Bank has made careers in the years it has been around, Edge, Daniel Bryan, The Miz, Rob Van Dam, C.M. Punk are just a few names to have all become major players thanks to winning the ladder match which guarantees a title shot. Each one have become a name and in some cases, legends.
There were complaints of overkill, when WWE announced that there would be themed pay per view events. Money in the Bank, Elimination Chamber, Fatal 4 Way were just a few of the pay per view offerings which held more than one type of the same match, though Fatal 4 Way 2010 hosted 3 Fatal Four Way matches for what they classed as their most important Championships: WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship and the Divas Championship: interestingly enough the Intercontinental Championship was on the line in a one on one match between Kofi Kingston and Drew McIntyre – were WWE trying to tell us that the Intercontinental Championship wasn’t classed as one of their important titles even after being around for decades?
Only Money in the Bank, Elimination Chamber and Night of Champions (where every match is a Championship match – except for Night of Champions 2011 when Big Show vs C.M Punk was just an ordinary match: another fuck up by WWE), remain from the themed pay per events. Last year’s offering gave us C.M Punk defeating John Cena in a decent match for the WWE Championship.
So what can we expect from Money in the Bank 2012?
WWE Championship Match
Special Guest Referee: A.J
C.M. Punk (Champion) vs Daniel Bryan
I can honestly say that this is the match I am most looking forward to at this years Money in the Bank pay per view event. After the Over the Limit and No Way Out clash, which featured Kane, Punk and Bryan, with the addition this month of A.J can tear down the house. If this can match the Over the Limit effort, then we’re in for a treat indeed.
Last year at Money in the Bank, C.M. Punk was embroiled in a fascinating and good feud with John Cena. No one can forget the blistering promo that Punk cut on the stage about Cena, Vince McMahon, WWE, the independent circuit, naming TNA and Ring of Honor among other things. That was unscripted and real risk for WWE. If anything that promo should just to go to show the rewards of risks, if WWE were prepared to take some more. C.M. Punk took the WWE Championship from Cena and then professed to quit WWE with the belt, which he did for the paltry sum of two weeks.
Up to date? Good. The match last year was the most heated confrontation I can remember. Taking place in Punk’s home town of Chicago, the crowd were firmly behind the native. This year though, you can almost guarantee that the crowd will be divided.
Daniel Bryan has become a sensation in WWE, to the point where the know nothings up in their posh offices, twiddling their manicured thumbs, even realize that taking him out of the main event would be a disastrous decision. The ‘Yes’ chants are the new ‘What’ chants and I seriously think that heading into SummerSlam, Daniel Bryan has a great chance of walking away WWE Champion.
The loss wouldn’t do Punk any harm, because one more rematch would then be needed as Punk would have a guaranteed retry at the gold. If that match was fought under submission rules and providing both men hadn’t run out of ideas by then, we could be looking at the feud of the year. Of course C.M. Punk would have to take the championship back at SummerSlam or there after, he doesn’t have as much of a threat if he’s not champion, even a months run would be the right decision on WWE’s behalf. To prove they’re no longer afraid to make small men the focus of the company and even further, small men who can actually wrestle.
The wild card in this match will be the divine A.J. Thank the lord that WWE have seen sense to take her out of that Kane mask which obscured her face and make her a factor. As I said last time, A.J has the talents to be a major factor in any WWE storyline, just as long as it’s out of the ring. As the referee, A.J can have a say in what happens next and when. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Punk was going to once again take the championship. Here’s a few good reasons why you may be wrong.
If WWE were going to extend the feud, then another loss for Bryan would be the end. No one can be expected to back a wrestler who loses three pay per view matches in a row, even though it was Kane who was pinned at No Way Out and not Bryan. The momentum of a Bryan win would pull in the numbers for SummerSlam. Although the chance of this feud going any longer is slim, seeing as either John Cena, Big Show, Kane or Chris Jericho will be waiting in the wings for their title shot, most likely at SummerSlam. The next is A.J. For a good while now she’s been lusting after Punk and trying to get her revenge of Daniel Bryan who dumped her after he blamed her for his loss at Wrestlemania 28. Since then A.J has hooked up with Kane and effectively cost him the match at No Way Out. The sexy little grin to Punk at No Way Out told the story.
Of course it’s a ruse. The story will end, you’ll probably find, when A.J turns on Punk and helps Bryan to his first WWE Championship victory. It will then be revealed that A.J and Bryan have been in league all this time and the whole break up was just a facade to regain heavyweight gold. If that’s the case then what was the point of involving Kane in all of this? Wouldn’t it have been better to conjure up a storyline where Punk saved A.J from a violent Bryan, only for it to be staged for Bryan and A.J to mug Punk at Money in the Bank? Still, WWE think they know best.
I doubt the match will end in a submission. Either A.J will screw Punk, or Bryan will actually pin the ‘Second City Saviour’ clean. WWE won’t have one of the main men in the company tap out and look like a quitter. Even they’re not that stupid. Are they? With the C.M. Punk DVD on the horizon and the future of WWE T.V unsure after SummerSlam, then Punk will be needed as Champion to carry whoever through the end of year drought. As good as Bryan is, I don’t think he’ll be able to carry someone who doesn’t wrestle his style and only wrestle WWE style.
You can guarantee that this will be the match of the night. Every other match pales in comparison to the WWE Championship Match. And that’s how it should be for a match of this standard. The WWE and World Heavyweight Championship matches should be the top two matches on the card. Of course it’s unlikely that this will go on last, that honour will once again fall to John Cena and the WWE Championship Contract Money in the Bank ladder match. With three of the four men in that match as good as unwatchable, then Punk and Bryan, with A.J, could steal the show.
This will be the first main event in six months and six pay per views that has nothing to do with John Cena. The moron will be no where to be seen in this main event. For that reason, we can safely sit back and rejoice at two men at the top of their game, on a pay per view that has delivered every year since its inception.
The possibilities intrigue me though. You see WWE has a chance here to make an impact going into the rest of the year. The naturally conceited C.M Punk could cement his legacy in WWE at Money in the Bank, should he and A.J screw Daniel Bryan out of the WWE Championship. It’s the perfect chance for WWE to pull the old double switch which it did so perfectly at Wrestlemania 13, when both Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart swapped roles. Austin became the face and Hart the heel. For Punk to carry on, he needs to be turned and so does Bryan. I can’t see another perfect opportunity like this for WWE to do it. Bryan to turn face and Punk to turn heel in preparation for his Wrestlemania 29 match with either Austin or the Rock.
The only downside to Bryan winning this is that presumably Cena will walk out of Money in the Bank victorious, with a guaranteed WWE Championship Match under his belt. Do we really want to see Daniel Bryan destroyed like a jobber by John Cena? After everything good he’s had done to his character lately? Surely WWE are too smart to destroy Bryan by giving him to Cena. The man who has single handedly ruined many careers. In a time when WWE are so short on stars that it’s had to hush the talking’s about firing Randy Orton (which were never serious anyway), WWE needs Daniel Bryan as string and popular as he possibly can be. Not run over by the lacking Cena in a main event which would be disastrous.
A heel C.M. Punk, with A.J in his corner, could feasibly feud once more with John Cena and escape with his dignity in tact. As a heel Punk can do more to Cena that he could as a face. If a face Punk was to cheat to retain the WWE Championship against Cena, with no intention of turning heel, that would damage Punk beyond anything WWE could fix. Yet a heat seeking heel Punk could screw Cena out of the WWE gold and still be loved for it.
No matter the quality of the rest of the pay per view. You can be sure it will end with a bang.
Winners Prediction: Daniel Bryan
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sheamus (Champion) vs Alberto Del Rio
For those of you with a keen eye, you’ll realise that this is the match that was meant to happen at No Way Out. Yet because Del Rio suffered a concussion at the hands of Sheamus (not the Great Khali as fist thought), Dolph Ziggler was inserted into the No Way Out title picture in Del Rio’s place.
For me, Alberto Del Rio was the wrong decision to put in this match. If WWE do listen to their fans then surely they should have Ziggler back in the main event picture. After the reaction he received at No Way Out, I’m convinced that Sheamus should drop the World Heavyweight Championship to Ziggler at SummerSlam. But that’s a month away, we’re now faced with Alberto Del Rio vs Sheamus.
I’m mot convinced this is going to be a memorable encounter. Del Rio has fallen so far from grace that it’s impossible to see him as World Heavyweight Champion for at least another year. As it stands, Del Rio is an Intercontinental Championship performer, not a World Heavyweight Champion performer. If the title were to pass to Del Rio, nephew of legend Mil Mascaras, then it would dent the lineage of the title and the current picture in which it stands in.
Sheamus, I’ve noticed has begun to wind down as World Heavyweight Champion. Like Randy Orton and C.M Punk Sheamus works best as the villain. The cocky, violent Irishman who will run through anyone to get what he wants. Against opponents like Del Rio though, there’s no chance of that happening. The World title picture looks bleak, obviously Sheamus will defend against the winner of the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match at SummerSlam, a feud which will be dragged out until Survivor Series no doubt, after that though, WWE had better hope Wade Barrett is fit to compete coming into Wrestlemania 29 otherwise Sheamus might be in for the John Cena treatment.
It can’t have escaped your notice or WWE’s that in certain areas of the arenas, Sheamus is starting to hear the boos! Just as Cena does and Shawn Michaels before him in 1996! The novelty of a face champion like Sheamus, the all grinning, all hand shaking man, wore off long ago. Shawn Michaels found this out during his first WWE Championship reign. John Cena is still finding this out today, even though he refuses to do anything to silence the critics and it’s something WWE needs to do something about with Sheamus. People won’t buy Pay Per View events to watch a champion they can’t connect with.
The heel champion is much more appealable. You can hate them for what they do to your favourite, you can love them for the rebellious nature and you pay to watch them get their arse kicked on Pay Per View. It’s a formula that has worked for centuries, yet one WWE seem unable to grasp today. This theory was never more popular than when Triple H was WWE Champion in 2000 and World Heavyweight Champion in 2002 – 2003. People despised Triple H, yet the numbers for ‘B’ pay per views were high, just to see him lose the gold. This was also the case with JBL. Hated through the WWE Universe, yet when he was defending his WWE Championship against anyone and everyone, you tuned in to see him lose.
Still not convinced? Ask yourself this. How many times have you been truly satisfied when one of your heroes has taken the gold from a heel that really connected with you? I bet the answer will be not many.
Back to Money in the Bank 2012: Alberto Del Rio does pose a small threat with his arm-breaker which is still effective to this day. The one thing about him which has stood the test of time. His rich persona has been done to death, Ricardo Rodriguez at ringside is a constant annoyance and his tan job is a sight to behold. Does this warrant a World Heavyweight Championship reign? Of course not! WWE would have done better booking Del Rio to dethrone Santino of the worthless United States Championship and then build a feud between Del Rio and Christian in which the United States and Intercontinental Championship were unified. In other words, in case you haven’t got the message, Alberto Del Rio has no chance of walking out, World Heavyweight Champion.
This does of course beg the question, why have WWE booked yet another World title match where the result is all but a foregone conclusion? The answer is simple. They don’t have anyone else to step into the World Title picture. And for that, Vince needs to looking at his developmental machine. I’ve said it time and time again. Take the money you plug into your wife’s senate campaign ($50 Million plus) and the rotten film division you keep shoving down our throats (which loses Vince millions of dollars a year) and invest in some new talent, Vince. Surely McMahon has the brains to know that if he created two or three new stars a year, his business would flourish more than it is doing now? The stark truth is, that id the WWE film division were a wrestler, then it’d have been ‘Future Endeavoured’ months after it had been unveiled.
As for Sheamus? I would hate to think that WWE have done all of this to build him up, only for this to be the best it’s going to get for him. Sheamus has potential, just not as a face. It’s going to take time and patience on WWE’s behalf to get everything out of him they possibly can before dropping him on the waste heap. Then again, what it’s going to take to make Sheamus truly brilliant is exactly what WWE do not posses. I fear that the ‘Great White’, is beginning to become extinct.
Winners Prediction: Sheamus
WWE Championship Contract
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Chris Jericho vs John Cena vs Kane vs Big Show
I feel as if I’m wasting my time on this one. Let’s be honest, we all know what’s going to happen. Anyone reading this think that John Cena will lose? Nope, didn’t think so. You see John Cena is archetype of what is wrong with WWE. Namely, predictable! There was a time when WWE excelled at surprises, when you could tune into Raw, Smackdown, even a pay per view, and be surprised at what happened. You could be on the edge of your seat and genuinely shocked by the outcomes of matches.
No more. Those times are long since gone, my friends. When you can sit down and watch a pay per view, or a weekly offering of well...let’s be honest, tat, and know what’s going to happen, then you know there’s better things you could do with your time. It’s hard to pinpoint where WWE went wrong along the way, so hard that I won’t go into it now. Maybe that will be the subject of another blog somewhere down the line.
This year’s format for the Money in the Bank has changed. I’ll explain it here because of the long list of competitors in the second Money in the Bank Ladder Match, will take us some time to get through.
In previous years, the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, a staple of Wrestlemania first, has been fought between six to eight up and coming stars who needed the exposure that a match of this calibre could give them. The winner would have a guaranteed title shot at whatever World title (WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship) they desired. It has shot such men to stardom as Edge, C.M Punk, Daniel Bryan, The Miz, to name but a few. It used to be the match which could make careers. Not eight of them of course but at least two or three. You didn’t even need to win the match to have your career affected positively by it. A strong performance in the match could make your star rise.
This year though, one of the matches, namely this one, has taken a turn for the predictable. Instead of putting forward eight young and vibrant men who need the push in their career, WWE decided to make the match so only former WWE Champions could enter. The point of that, defeats the whole object of this match in the fist place. Especially when the four former WWE Champions are John Cena, Kane, Big Show and Chris Jericho! No one new will get over in this match, so why did they book it?
With a little thought and attention, WWE could have booked Cena, Jericho, Kane and Show in a Number One Contender Fatal Four Way Match, in which all four of said superstars could have and have in the past, flourished. That would have freed up the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match for people who needed it. If we look at the physics in this match combined with the inability of at least three of the four, can we really expect this to be anything but another opportunity to put Cena over?
John Cena is a bore. Big Show is broken and his ability to climb a ladder and retrieve the briefcase will be severely impaired. Kane is a man who has dropped under the radar so much since his debut in 1997 that he might as well not have been here at all and Chris Jericho stands no chance of winning the match whatsoever, because no one wants to see him near the WWE Championship again.
Where shall we start? Chris Jericho. Yes I’ll grant you that Chris Jericho has the ability to carry John Cena, but can he really be expected to carry Big Show and Kane as well? At forty one years old, someone needs to tell Chris that his time in the spotlight is well and truly up. And whilst they’re there, can someone please give him some sensible trousers? A forty one year old man should not wear skin tight leather trousers, unless he’s cruising in a club or touring with a heavy metal band. Even then he’d have to give it serious thought. For the new viewer, Chris Jericho could have just come from and S&M club.
The man formerly known as Y2J has a list of Championships under his belt, accolades that will see him take his place in the WWE Hall of Fame one bright day, and rightly so. As for Chris Jericho as WWE Champion in 2012, it’s not going to happen. Sorry Chris. At the top of his game, Chris Jericho was never really a main event guy. He could never sell out arenas as the main man, even if he could have good matches with the great challengers. Chris Jericho in 2001 – 2003 was dynamite, and again in tag action later on in the decade. Whenever he grabbed that brass ring it always failed to live up to the hype. As the WWE Intercontinental Champion, of which he has been an unmatched servant to, Jericho set the world alight.
It’s a common problem. Making the transition from Intercontinental Champion to WWE Champion! WWE usually leave it for so long that the guy in question is set in his ways wrestling the mid card way, that when he gets to the main event he can’t step up his game and it usually shows. This was the problem for Chris Jericho. It was a mistake in my eyes for WWE to make him Undisputed WWE Champion at Vengeance in 2001. He wasn’t ready. His matches with The Rock during the Invasion phase of WWE were excellent, as were some of his title defences against The Rock and Stone Cold. Chris Jericho vs The Rock (Royal Rumble 2002) and Chris Jericho vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (No Way Out 2002) are must see if you don’t own them or haven’t viewed them. His overall run as Undisputed Champion was a let down. He didn’t pack out the houses, he didn’t sell the pay per views and his big match, in which he lost the title to Triple H at Wrestlemania 18 should have been twice as good as it was. In my opinion, WWE should have booked either the Rock or Stone Cold to capture the gold in the dying embers of 2001. A Stone Cold vs Triple H or Rock vs Triple H match for the gold would have brought the house down.
I’m not denying that Chris Jericho still has a valid contribution to make in WWE in 2012. He does. It’s just not in the main event anymore. Chris Jericho could be far more effective if WWE used him as a stepping stone for up and coming wrestlers. A victory, in a major feud for the next main event superstar, against Chris Jericho would be huge for the wrestler in question. That should be Chris Jericho’s role in WWE now, to give back what he took, by making the next Chris Jericho or the next Triple H. For that, Chris Jericho has the ability.
I’m getting bored of talking about John Cena. The bad, the limited good, it’s all samey now. There are only so many times I can knock his ability without boring myself and you. So I’m going to refrain from that this time around. Instead, let’s do what we did above and see what prospects there are if and when the walking merchandise stand wins at Money in the Bank 2012.
We can’t deny that in a time when WWE is so short on headliners, whether we like it or not, WWE needs John Cena. He’s the money maker, the headliner, the so called star. Even if WWE can’t see his flaws! Or don’t want to. As much as it pains me to say this, John Cena will be headlining WWE events for years to come, unless WWE can create his rival, someone who can have the popularity Cena has, yet also has the wrestling skills.
SummerSlam is WWE’s next huge event. In August the great and the good will gather for the Wrestlemania of the Summer. WWE had better have something to show them. Cena sells more tickets than any other wrestler on the card, maybe with the exception of the Undertaker. It’s a fair bet to say that when Cena wins this match, he’ll be headlining SummerSlam with the WWE Champion. Either C.M Punk or Daniel Bryan! This is where I have the problem. SummerSlam 2011 was headlined by the WWE Championship Match between John Cena and C.M Punk, so a re-run one year later would have diminishing returns. I’m sure WWE won’t book the same main event twice. Then again do any of us want Daniel Bryan’s career to take a nose dive when Cena gets hold of him? I think not.
With the announcement that the Rock will return to WWE on the thousandth episode of Raw, and that he has the WWE Championship in his sights, leads me to believe or hope that maybe the Rock will defeat C.M Punk (should he retain against Bryan) on that episode of Raw and go into SummerSlam to defend against John Cena. It would be disastrous to the Rock’s legacy should he lose the WWE Champion to Cena, even if it would be the right decision after the Rock beat Cena at Wrestlemania 28. In some shape or form we know that the Rock will be at SummerSlam, will it be as WWE Champion, standing across the ring from the man he denied his Wrestlemania moment? Or will the Rock challenge C.M Punk at Wrestlemania 29 for the WWE Championship, should Punk retain that long? Either way, it’s safe to say that someplace, somewhere, the Rock will be WWE Champion again.
Kane is the biggest waste of money in WWE, and yes, that does include the Big Show. You see Kane had a lot of potential in 1997. It got less and less as he went on. The longer the match, the more we saw how bad he was. The novelty of Kane had worn off by 1998, yet here we sit, fourteen years later, commenting on yet another main event with Kane in it.
WWE has faith in Kane, largely because he’s one of the Undertaker’s best friends. So they keep pushing him to keep ‘Taker happy. Behind the scenes Undertaker is a huge authority, what he says goes. I don’t think WWE have the balls to fire Kane in case they upset Undertaker. Which means we’re stuck with him. If Kane is employed in the pre-show match like he was at Over the Limit 2012, then it’s tolerable. We don’t have to see it and by looking at the pre-order of the Over the Limit DVD, the match isn’t on that either. Though that could change. Putting him in a main event, over wrestlers like Kofi Kingston is short sighted by WWE creative!
A few years ago WWE let Kane have an extended break because it couldn’t fathom what to do with him. They’d run out of ideas. Usually WWE fire anyone they don’t have ideas for. Not Kane. Once again he survived the annual WWE cutbacks. If WWE’s idea was to push him in several main events this year, then it was months wasted. What we’re basically paying to watch is four men who were popular years ago, yet no one cares if they’re around today. Kane has stolen the place of an up and comer. And for a man who has had his time and done nothing with it, that’s selfish beyond belief.
“Hasn’t performed effectively since 1999!” “A horrible investment!” All words used by the chairman himself. Vincent Kennedy McMahon. You know the guy, I suspect you know him all too well. The man that with the words stated, expects us to sit and watch the man he slated so harshly, which also happens to be the man that Vince has pushed like a monster for months. Work that out if you can.
Over the Limit was predictable as Big Show turned on John Cena. No Way Out was predictable as Show fell to John Cena inside the Steel Cage. That’s been the crux of Big Show’s career. Predictable! When Show was wrestling as ‘The Giant’ in WCW he was awesome. If you ever saw him then you’ll know what I mean. At his height he could perform dropkicks, ariel moves that men his size shouldn’t have been able to do and even fell off of buildings. There was even one moment where he was power bombed by Kevin Nash: it went wrong and Show was injured, but he was good.
Fast forward to 2012 and you can barely believe it’s the same man. He’s god knows how much heavier and ten times more predictable. Everything Big Show does in the ring seems like it takes forever for him to do. As the years have advanced, so has Big Show’s weight, which has disabled his ability to perform in the ring. The man is useless now. Not worth the money they pay him. A few years ago there was a time when Big Show looked like he could turn it around. When he returned prior to Wrestlemania 24, he was slim, he was athletic, but he couldn’t keep it up. The lure of McDonalds was just too much.
Quite why Big Show has been given another main event push is something of a mystery. His matches against Cody Rhodes in April were abysmal and he did nothing to advance Rhodes’ career at all. The opposite if anything. So to throw him into the main event against John Cena so readily is another lack of foresight on WWE’s behalf. I’ve no doubt that because of his size Paul Wight has been kept on the WWE roster. It’s not everyday you get someone of his size. And it’s because of this that he has been chose to once again go against Cena. A small man could have profited from Show’s role in this feud. But why would WWE want to give someone else a chance when it still has bungling baboons like Big Show to steal the lime light that never belonged to him?
There are your four men. The four men we will watch amble around the ring in search of a WWE Championship contract. I can’t see anyone one else but John Cena taking this one. Chris Jericho vs C.M Punk / Daniel Bryan has already been done. Big Show vs C.M Punk / Daniel Bryan has already been done. Kane vs C.M Punk / Daniel Bryan has already been done. Ok, John Cena vs C.M Punk has been done and we must keep our fingers crossed that he never gets given Bryan, but with the Rock ready to make his big comeback and challenge for the WWE Championship, maybe there’s more to this story than we first thought.
Winners Prediction: John Cena
World Heavyweight Championship Contract
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Damien Sandow vs Tyson Kidd vs Christian vs Tensai vs Santino Marella vs Cody Rhodes vs Dolph Ziggler vs Sin Cara
What WWE did with this match, they should have done with the WWE Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Namely, take a bunch of guys who need the exposure and give them the chance to shine. Looking at the run down for this match, then it seems WWE has over compensated here for giving us four relics in the opposite encounter.
Eight men was overload when they were known and loved superstars a few years ago. But eight men who have done little to nothing in WWE this year, maybe WWE have gone too far. I’m convinced this match could have been cut down by at least two superstars. Saying that, what else are WWE going to do Marella and Cara? Fire them perhaps.
I’m all for youth and character development in WWE, anything to make new stars to replace the old and tired regime that WWE current wheels out now. Some of the choices in this match are questionable even by my standards. Let’s start at the top of the list of competitors.
Damien Sandow
Damien Sandow waited for seems like a lifetime to get his spot in WWE. For anyone who has a long enough memory or was a fan in 2005, you’ll remember Sandow well, not that we could ever forget him. In 2004 – 2005, Damien Sandow portrayed a character in WWE that was hated by all. Every time he made his entrance, he was greeted with a hostile reaction. You think John Cena has it bad, Sandow’s welcome was ten times worse. Not because he was a bad wrestler, he wasn’t. He was very good. But because in 2004 – 2005, WWE thought it wise to package Sandow as the hated Muhammad Hassan. An Iraqi sympathizer who sought refuge in the U.S.A. The problem with Hassan was that he kept telling the American people how much he hated them and their country.
Stable grounds for a hell, you may think. Only, Hassan was a heel in WWE during the height of America’s conflict with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. It was unfeasible how WWE ever expected a character like Hassan to get over in WWE in those hostile times. Then came the mistake. Like it usually does when it tries too hard, WWE crossed the line when it authorized Sandow, in the guise of Hassan and in his feud with the Undertaker, to go out and choke out the Undertaker with piano wire and then have his Iraqi sympathizer stable, who were dressed in army trousers, black jumpers and black masks, complete with black gloves, attack ‘Taker. Talk about bad taste. As if that wasn’t bad timing, as Smackdown is pre-taped before it goes out in the U.K on Friday nights, WWE was to air the Smackdown episode which the ambush angle was apart of, on the day of the London bombings. Sky Sports, the channel on which all WWE programming goes out on in U.K were furious and cut the angle from the show.
With Hassan, WWE had so many complaints that it had no choice but to axe Hassan or lose its sponsors and its T.V deal. It got that serious. So WWE did the right thing and at the Great American Bash 2005, booked Hassan to exit WWE in his feud ending match with the Undertaker. It was the right decision by WWE. Hassan was hated. There was no way that anyone was going to pay to watch him anymore. On the night of the Great American Bash 2005, it was of course the Undertaker that exacted his revenge on Hassan and his sympathizers, when he executed a thunderous ‘Last Ride’ through the Great American Bash stage on Hassan, effectively murdering the character.
The plan was to always bring Sandow back to WWE. The problem was the guy couldn’t change his face and the more violent the war in Iraq got and the more brave Americans that died fighting for their country, the more the feud and character that WWE created came back to the WWE Universe. Hassan will never be forgotten. It doesn’t matter if WWE waited 20 years, Hassan will always be there.
I believe that WWE were so eager to do something with Sandow that it told him to grow a beard to disguise the face as much as possible, so it could use him again. And in some small way it has worked. WWE must take credit for that. Passing Sandow off as an American know it all, WWE has gone some way to wiping memory of the hated Hassan. And the WWE Universe needs to take credit for not roasting Sandow alive when he resurfaced on WWE T.V this year. Of course, Sandow was just playing a character that WWE gave him, he can’t take the blame for everything that happened during the ‘Hassan years’. The biggest joke of all was that Sandow wasn’t even born in Iraq. He’s all American.
Damien Sandow possesses all the ability to be a strong contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. No doubt a Sheamus vs Damien Sandow match at SummerSlam would draw interest and in the proceedings create a new headline star. Which WWE needs at the moment. When he was Hassan, WWE always planned to make him World Heavyweight Champion, this might be the catalyst, seven years later, for the plans they made for Hassan, to pass to Sandow. With the right backing, Sandow could be a fierce heel, not yet World Heavyweight Championship material though. A strong showing at Money in the Bank, a strong performance against Sheamus at SummerSlam, beating a few big names along the way, then maybe Sandow would be taken seriously as World Heavyweight Champion.
The WWE Universe has already taken Sandow in, despite the Hassan memories. It’s not unrealistic to imagine them accepting Sandow as champion. If I was booking the Sandow character and I knew that WWE needed heat and exposure, this is what I’d do. Consider this.
Damien Sandow stands alone at the top of the ladder at Money in the Bank. Seemingly the only man left to take the briefcase. After an exceptional showing in the match, Sandow reaches for the case only to be foiled by Christian and Santino Marella as a duo. As Sandow comes down from the ladder and brawls with the Intercontinental and United States Champions, someone else sneaks into his place and claims the case. Thus creating a feud with both Santino and Christian! On Raw the night after Money in the Bank, Sandow takes his anger out on both Santino and Christian by attacking them backstage. On the same episode of Raw, Sandow defeats Santino for the worthless United States Championship. Taking Santino out of the feud, leaving Sandow and Christian. The feud boils over, with great matches and decent angles until we get to SummerSlam, where Sandow vows he will be double champion and challenges Christian for the Intercontinental Championship. After a good match Christian defeats Sandow, extending the feud. After back and forth action over September and October Damien Sandow challenges Christian once more at Survivor Series, this time, putting the United States Championship on the line also, in a Championship unification match. A match which Sandow would win to unify the two Championships. Sandow would defend against all comers until he won the Royal Rumble match. At Elimination Chamber Damien Sandow, who by this time would have been enhanced by his feud with Christian, would lose the Intercontinental Championship back to either Christian or Cody Rhodes and be set to face possibly Sheamus at Wrestlemania 29. A strong showing in February and March would convince the WWE Universe that Sandow could be taken seriously in the main event. Sandow would then go on to beat Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship one year after the ‘Great White’ won it from Daniel Bryan. This is where the heat and the exposure and the shock factor kicks in. At the end of Wrestlemania 29 as it went off the air, Sandow would reveal himself as Muhammad Hassan once again. The war is as good as over, there should be no problem with Hassan now. From there WWE could book him as one of the most hated heels in history. Obviously in the end targeting John Cena. Now that’s a feud that would draw money! But what do I know?
After seeing how WWE has treated its talent over the last few years, I’m not at all confident that Sandow will be treated as the next headline star. It obvious to me that he is. It might be obvious to you. The big question is, can the WWE bigwigs take their heads out of Vince’s backside and see it for themselves?
Tyson Kidd
Tyson Kidd is a great tag team wrestler. If WWE had bothered to big him up a little more then maybe I could justify his inclusion in this match. Unfortunately I can’t. That WWE has a roster of other wrestlers that deserved this spot is unforgivable. They’re wasting it on a guy who will never be seen as a contender to the World Heavyweight Championship and a guy who WWE needs, to build its tag team division around.
There are categories that each wrestler on the roster can be separated into. These are ‘Curtain Jerker’, ‘Mid Card’, ‘Tag Team’ and ‘Main Event’. Wrestlers such as Santino fall into the ‘Curtain Jerker’ category. You could place wrestlers such as Jack Swagger and Cody Rhodes in the ‘Mid Card’ category. ‘Main Event’ category would cover John Cena, Sheamus, Triple H, Undertaker and so on. Tyson Kidd falls straight into the ‘Tag Team’ category. You just have to look at the guy to see it. Yes he can hold his own in singles matches on NXT, but ask yourselves this. Would you buy a pay per view with marquee reading ‘World Heavyweight Championship Match: Sheamus vs Tyson Kidd’? I wouldn’t. That’s the sort of match you put on Smackdown, not a pay per view.
Saying that, I don’t for one second expect Tyson Kidd to walk away with the Money in the Bank briefcase. WWE don’t trust him otherwise they’d have pushed him by now. Tyson Kidd is in this match to fill a gap. A gap which could have been filled by anyone else. Kofi Kingston, Antonio Cesaro. These men would have received a huge career boost. Ceasero has the power, Kingston has the athleticism. I predict that Kidd will be jobbed out to Sandow, Tensai and anyone else who needs a punch bag in this match.
If WWE are looking to revive their tag team division, then it needs to start with making its tag team wrestler look good so people want to watch. Not having them destroyed by better wrestlers. How is that going to make the Tag Teams look? Like they can’t beat anyone if they don’t have a partner. If Kidd can re-find the magic that made the Hart Dynasty so good then the tag team division looks bright. By putting Kidd in this match then WWE risks breaking up his tag team with Justin Gabriel.
The reception that tag team match at No Way Out got was encouraging. That people are still willing to sit through a tag team encounter even after all the burying WWE has done to it. There’s room for improvement there if WWE runs with it. And Tyson Kidd needs to lead the charge.
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Christian
The most logical choice to win this match is the one man that won’t. Captain Charisma himself. Christian. The current reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion is one of the three best wrestlers in this match and by far and away the one that deserves it the most. The fans love him, but WWE’s attempts to pass him off as a good guy are falling flat. Christian is better as a heel just as Edge was. WWE are trying to make Christian say that he wants his legacy to be remembered, not to be a heel that people don’t remember. Does someone want to remind WWE that Edge will always be remembered for his time as a heel?
The main reason behind the fact Christian won’t walk out of Money in the Bank with the briefcase, is because Vince McMahon doesn’t believe Christian is World Heavyweight Champion material. Rubbish. The guy is a two time World Heavyweight Champion and the reception he received upon both title wins was emotional. Christian has the skills, the knowledge and the ability to make stars. He’s more World title material than John Cena is and to that end, Sheamus. Christian has had great matches with Cody Rhodes over the last few months and his scintillating feud with Randy Orton in 2011 was feud of the year by a country mile.
WWE need to give Christian the chance again. Turn him heel and make him the companies top nasty boy. It’s a role he can excel at. Can you imagine how hot a Daniel Bryan vs Christian feud would be? I’d pay to see that. But no, WWE are content to leave Christian languishing in the mid card, doing nothing of note. Why? You need new stars and Christian whilst not new, would be once again a revelation as a headliner. Come on WWE, take a chance on Christian again and let him show you what he’s capable of. Maybe in the end that’s why WWE won’t give Christian a chance. Because he might prove them wrong. And we all know how Vince has to be in control of everything. Even if it means squeezing the life out of his own company.
WWE United States Champion: Santino Marella
Santino Marella makes me cringe. I want to grab something and throw it at the television when this idiot come on. WWE needs to realize that there’s only so many times we can sit through Santino being a dick, with that awful Italian accent, the cobra and everything else Santino inflicts upon us.
The final straw though was when WWE saw fit to make him WWE United States Champion. Now, a title that is meant to elevate the wrestler who holds it has degenerated into a freak show. No longer do we get competitive matches, rather comedy bouts like the Tuxedo match at No Way Out. This isn’t how the future of the U.S title was meant to be. I’m pretty sure, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Eddie Guerrero and the rest of the legends that have held that championship and did their utmost to make it relevant, didn’t do so, so a man who could have played Doink the Clown could devalue it later on in its existence.
The best thing WWE can do now is scrap the belt. I don’t see how WWE could ever bring any relevance back to it after Santino has held it. It would take time and effort to make the U.S Championship something which fans could take seriously now. And that’s something WWE would rather not invest in. Why would they when they give all their time to Cena and Show and whoever else is flavour of the month? If they’re honest WWE don’t have the time to give the United States Championship anymore, it’s kinder to call it a day, before they disgrace the history of the belt as well.
As for Santino, WWE management must be having a joke with us, again. In fact can someone tell them that it’s July and April fools day is well and truly over? Because presumably that’s why they keep pushing Santino, because they like a laugh – at our expense! It is a shame however that a man who can wrestle, and Santino can wrestle if they allowed him to, has been made into a laughing stock. In reality Anthony Carelli is a hard man. He’s famous backstage in WWE for punching out a former WWE superstar, that shall remain nameless, on a WWE plane flight. Had things been different, Santino might have been a really great hard man heel. As it is, I can’t wait for WWE to fire him.
I wondered why WWE put Santino in this match. He has nothing else to offer WWE or its fans. Maybe this is just WWE setting up a title switch in the near future and telling Santino that his time is well and truly up. If we’re being honest, it wouldn’t be before time.
Tensai
The artist formerly known as Lord Tensai, now just referred to as Tensai has fallen so far in WWE’s eyes that if he doesn’t win this match, then Matt Bloom, who also portrayed Albert / A-Train in WWE in the early naughties may as well ask for his contract release and return to New Japan Pro Wrestling. Tensai has almost become at home on WWE Superstars, which is wrong for a wrestler of his calibre. He should be on Raw and Smackdown, fighting for his place in WWE. It’s a rumour that WWE lost interest in Tensai before the end of April.
Vince has missed a trick. With Brock Lesnar on a limited contract, WWE have a ready made foil for John Cena and Sheamus. I’m betting that a Tensai vs John Cena feud would go down better than the Big Show debacle we’re getting now. It would have done Bloom wonders to be passed off as the monster that WWE are trying to convince us Big Show is. In New Japan, Bloom and Giant Bernard was a genuine monster. He could go tag team or singles and even holds the record for the longest reigning tag team champions in NJPW.
When he left WWE, Bloom wasn’t much of a wrestler. Partly because of his weight and partly because WWE had nothing to do with him. Credit where credit is due, Bloom refused to give in and upon his arrival in NJPW he set about making his skills better. Which he did. If WWE utilised what Bloom knows from NJPW, they could have something really special. You don’t hire a man as good as Bloom has become to make him a ‘Superstars’ attraction. Instead of burying him, this should have been Tensai’s path to the top:
Debuting on Raw the night after Wrestlemania 28, Tensai should have gone straight after an important figure. Cena was out of the question because of Lesnar, so the next best thing would have been Randy Orton. A feud with Orton would have done winders for Tensai and Orton would have benefited too, instead of his dire clashes with Kane. When Orton was suspended, WWE could have had Tensai attack Orton and take the credit for putting the Viper on the shelf. Then, as Orton’s suspension coincided with the Cena vs Big Show feud, WWE should have turned Tensai on, having him defeat JC on Raw, attacking him, beating him down without Cena making any comebacks. A weak Cena would have been an ideal opponent for a monster Tensai. Tensai should have gone over Cena at No Way Out and Money in the Bank and done so convincingly, even in a squash job to make it look like Cena was inferior to Tensai. That would have set up a heated and exciting revenge match at SummerSlam in which Cena would have of course won. The good guy has to win in the end. After the match Tensai would have attacked Cena, leaving a returning Randy Orton to make the save. From SummerSlam Tensai and Orton would feud until Survivor Series, along the way Orton would capture the World Heavyweight Championship from Sheamus, dropping the title to Tensai. It wouldn’t be a long title run, eventually Tensai as a monster champion would drop the gold to the next big main event guy, thus making him look good for defeating a monster to capture the gold.
You see, this isn’t rocket science people. It’s simple. Yet somewhere along the line, WWE have failed to grasp it. The mistakes along the way were having Tensai debut on the same night as Lesnar. There’s no way his debut could have had as much impact. The second was having him squashing jobbers in his first few matches. And the third, was having him debut as a supposed Japanese character, when the whole WWE Universe remember him as Albert / A-Train. It was an oversight on WWE’s part, one which should have been rectified. WWE should have tried out Tensai in dark matches and on house shows to gauge the reaction of the fans. When the ‘Albert’ chants started to flood in as they do now, WWE should have either gotten someone else to play the character on T.V and found Bloom something else, or scrapped Tensai all together and brought Bloom back as Albert, not A-Train. The WWE Universe would have taken to Albert immediately. A recognizable character in uncertain times. Couple that with the story that Albert has been away in Japan destroying all who came before him and you have a guaranteed success on your hands!
Is it really that hard for WWE to come up with this these days? If so then Money in the Bank is Bloom’s last chance. There’s no way a man as popular as he is around the world (especially in Japan) is going to be content beating jobbers on ‘Superstars’ forever. So either give him what he needs to be a name in WWE, or let him go back to the land of the rising sun.
Dolph Ziggler
In England, to describe something that is popular, we tend to use the phrase, ‘shit hot’! Those are the exact words that apply to one Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler is my choice to win the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match on July 15th. Not because he’s amazing in the ring, but I believe that it’s Ziggler’s time.
Dolph has been so good in the ring that he held the match with Sheamus at No Way Out together. He’s proven night in and night out that he’s main event quality. Bouts against Edge at the Royal Rumble for the World Heavyweight Championship were red hot and the recent tumble with Sheamus was proof that Ziggler knows his way around a ring and around a match which should have gone on last. Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler was much better than Cena vs Show at No Way Out and should have been fighting the triple threat to go on last.
That’s the problem with star making in WWE. John Cena will always be given the main event spot over anyone and everyone on the card. And that’s wrong.
He’s been compared to Mr. Perfect and with good reason. The looks, the hair, the ability to make anyone look good in the ring. That’s something that not everyone has and you can’t learn. WWE should be nurturing that ability. Now it has the chance. Ziggler will never be a face. He’s too cocky and arrogant. The potential though is there to be a super heel. Yes ok, Ziggler lost to Brodus ‘Bore-us’ Clay at Extreme Rules and was dumped into the tag team division afterwards. But Alberto Del Rio’s concussion prior to No Way Out was the best thing that ever happened to Ziggler.
When he entered the arena to vie for the World title, the reaction couldn’t have been better. Almost all of the fans were cheering him, chanting his name. They wanted Ziggler to dethrone the predictable Sheamus and leave No Way Out the champion. It wasn’t so good when WWE tried to brush off those cheers, instructing Jerry Lawler to try and tell us watching that the fans were behind Sheamus. Was that WWE’s way of telling us that they don’t see Ziggler as champion anytime soon? Knowing WWE, most probably.
This isn’t the first case of Ziggler being the favourite though and WWE ignoring the fans. Cast your minds back to 2009, and Dolph Ziggler’s bid to capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship from Rey Mysterio. If you go back and watch any of those pay per view matches, especially their clash at SummerSlam 2009, Ziggler was always the favourite with the crowd. Yet WWE refused to listen and always put Mysterio over. When Rey took a leave of absence from WWE in 2009, was it Ziggler they put the I.C title on? No, it was John Morrison.
It looks like Ziggler has been unlucky in feuding with the people who are in WWE’s good books. They view Mysterio as a god backstage because he brings in almost as much money as Cena in merchandise. This time around Sheamus is Triple H’s boy. It seems that Ziggler can’t win. No matter what they do to put people off of Ziggler though, it doesn’t seem to work. Even after all of the burials and the losses, and bumping him down the card, the fans still want Dolph as World Heavyweight Champion. I do, maybe you do. If this carries on I’m confident that WWE will eventually listen to their fans for once and give Ziggler the strap. This could be hammered home to old Vinnie Mac when WWE Raw hits 1,000 episodes and WWE goes interactive. If we can vote on matches and situations like promised, then if enough people vote for Ziggler as Number One Contender and WWE don’t rig the results of the polls taken, then surely the message will get across.
My only worry would be that when Ziggler finally does ascend the mountain, WWE will try to bury him like they did Jack Swagger. It’s WWE policy to bury someone as champion that the fans want as champion, if WWE don’t want them as champion, just to show the fans that they don’t matter and their opinion doesn’t count. And that’s what WWE thinks of us. It thinks we don’t know what we want. In reality, we know better than they do.
Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes was tipped for big things once upon a time. The son of Dusty Rhodes and brother of Dustin Rhodes, formerly Goldust, was tipped for the top. That’s why WWE gave him to Randy Orton to make the best out of. Rhodes was seen as the next Randy Orton, as WWE figured that if Orton got over as a member of Evolution, despite Triple H’s selfishness, then Rhodes would also benefit from a stable. In theory it was unbeatable, many a wrestler has had his career made by being associated with a popular faction. DX made Triple H, Nation of Domination made the Rock, Evolution made Randy Orton and Batista, the Four Horsemen made Arn Anderson, the NWO revolutionised wrestling. In practice though, it was a failure.
WWE hit a road block when yes, ‘Legacy’ came up against the indestructible John Cena! No matter how much good work is put in, Cena can undo it all in one match. WWE tried to rebuild Cody and Ted with a feud against DX, Shawn Michaels and Triple H in which Rhodes and Dibiase looked a million dollars. After Legacy split, WWE were at a loose end as what to do with Rhodes.
Thankfully he faired better than his former tag team partner. Rhodes wasn’t buried as much as Dibiase was, yet he wasn’t pushed as much as he should have been either. After ‘Legacy’ Rhodes should have feuded against the WWE’s biggest stars. He should have carried feuding with Randy Orton and then moved onto someone like Edge or C.M Punk. Even Kofi Kingston would have been good. It took WWE years after ‘Legacy’ split to do something meaningful with Rhodes. Finally giving him the Intercontinental Championship.
Before Rhodes got his paws on the I.C title it had been rendered worthless. A small feud between Kofi Kingston and Drew McIntyre over the gold did it some good, but constantly switching it between faceless no bodies did it more harm than good. It was with the I.C title that Cody began to show what he really could do. Sterling matches with Randy Orton on Smackdown, and feud with Booker T shot Rhodes into the stratosphere. And then WWE went and spilt it all by booking Rhodes to lose to Big Show at Wrestlemania 28.
What a dumb arse decision that was. Rhodes was riding high. And then it all came down around him. He wasn’t allowed to show any grit, he was only allowed a little offence and had to allow himself to be beaten by the Big Bore. For WWE to do this was a slap in the face to everyone who had begun to believe in Rhodes and everyone like Randy Orton and Booker T who had done so much in the months preceding Wrestlemania 28. On the night, it was the wrong decision. Rhodes had done more for the Intercontinental Championship than anyone in a long time. He took the updated version and shelved it, instead plumping for the classic version, thus showing a deep respect for the history of the championship. No one else did this, no one else even cared for the history of the championship that used to be so prestigious.
After all that good, at Wrestlemania 28, Rhodes looked like a worthless punk who was only there for Show to run down. It was pathetic. The rematch that followed was even worse. At Extreme Rules 2012, Big Show defended his newly won Intercontinental Championship against Cody Rhodes in a tables match. I’ve never seen such a dumb bout in ten years. The finish came when Show stepped through a table and the referee rang the bell and awarded Rhodes the championship. As if that wasn’t bad enough WWE instructed Rhodes to do nothing in the match and look weak by taking everything Big Show threw at him. Does WWE really believe this is how you get someone over?
As Cody Rhodes moves on to Money in the Bank I just can’t see him taking the briefcase away with him. He doesn’t have enough momentum behind him and two losses to Christian in two consecutive pay per view events whilst hasn’t done him any relay harm, hasn’t done him any good either. At this point in 2012, I don’t think anyone could believe Cody Rhodes would beat Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship. If anything, Cody’s involvement in this match is just to further his feud with Christian going into SummerSlam.
If anything is going to prepare Cody for the big time, then maybe its the aforementioned U.S and Intercontinental Championship unification. Maybe a really gritty feud over the two championships with Cody being the eventual winner would be the way to go. Sure it would take time for fans to buy into it, but with a feud that good, Cody being the sole survivor in a Survivor Series Elimination Match against Christian’s team, a few wins over a few big names, a strong showing in the Royal Rumble Match, an inclusion and strong showing in the World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber match in February, maybe that would convince people that Rhodes is a challenger for the gold come Wrestlemania 29. Yes it seems a long build, but for someone who WWE has built and then buried, that’s what you get.
Sin Cara
The most hype and the least interest! That’s how I’d describe Sin Cara’s entry into WWE. What a mess. In Mexico this guy was a main attraction. He was so popular that Mexican wrestling has failed at every attempt to create a new star to replace him. Of course WWE jumped on that band wagon and signed him. Maybe it was with all the good intention in the world. Maybe WWE really thought that they could make him a star, and why not?
WWE made Rey Mysterio a star in 2002. It could have done with Sin Cara. That is, if they’d picked anyone else in the world to play Sin Cara than the artist formerly known as Mistico. Quite why WWE thought it would be a good idea to hire someone who didn’t speak a word of English is beyond me. Everyone needs to communicate in the ring to keep each other safe. How far did WWE imagine they were going to get with the guy? Ok, an unfair amount of pressure was put upon him because of his exceptional reputation in Mexico. Was it fair to think he could replicate that in America? And for a company who expects so much yet gives so little?
The ball dropped for the WWE Universe about three weeks in, when Sin Cara had blown more moves than hookers had clients. No one to this day knows why Sin Cara keeps blowing moves. He didn’t do it in Mexico, every night he was a smooth as a waxed snatch. Yet for some reason, Sin Cara in WWE just couldn’t get it right. Maybe it’s nerves. Because he doesn’t speak English he’s not sure if the crowd are behind him or not. Maybe it’s because the ring in WWE is bigger or harder than the one in Mexico. Who knows, I don’t. All I know is that if WWE want this character to work, then get rid of Mistico, and hire someone else.
Look how good Sin Cara looked when Hunico was under the mask. No blown moves, decent matches. Everything WWE wanted from the character. There’s a guy currently plying his trade for ROH who many believe WWE should have hired to play the role. His high flying antics have to be seen to be believed, yet because of their aversion to hiring independent wrestlers, WWE opted for Mistico. If the football world was run like that, teams would never get anywhere.
Manchester United don’t look for a great midfielder, find him in the lower leagues and refuse to sign him because he plays for a club in the second division, thus going out and signing someone from a fellow Premier League club who isn’t as good. If you want the best then you have to take it no matter where it comes from.
As for Money in the Bank, it’s yet another foresight by WWE to put Sin Cara in this match. Not only does he stand no chance of winning it. But if he can’t understand one person speaking English, then how will he cope with seven men, shouting instructions over each other? Not only that, with the amount of blown spots in his matches is it really a good idea to put Sin Cara in what is a dangerous match to begin with, let alone add to the equation a man who could fall from a ladder whilst holding someone else, or blow a spot from the top of the ladder and injure himself of someone else. What are WWE going to do if Sin Cara blows a move and injures the guy WWE are planning to run with?
It’s just too big a risk for me to put Sin Cara in this match. For his own safety as well as everyone else’s.
WWE could have made it a four man Money in the Bank Ladder Match and taken out Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd and Santino. Or ff they insist on overloading the match then there are better wrestler to put in than our stated three. How about Antonio Cesaro – the guy who wrestled in ROH as Claudio Castagnoli has proven to WWE once again that independent wrestler do have the ‘IT’ factor. Or if WWE want to make a statement and prove to the WWE Universe that they are willing to take pushes seriously, Ryback could have garnered a lot from being included here, as could Brodus Clay. The Money in the Bank Ladder Match could have done more for Ryback in one night than beating down jobbers has done in months.
The problem there lies in that WWE want Ryback to look like monster, something, that at the moment isn’t happening. I could plough through the guys WWE matches Ryback up with. If Ryback were to be included in this match then he’d have to lose, which WWE doesn’t want at the moment. There would be no way, after beating just jobbers, that anyone in the world could buy into Ryback challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Other guys that could have been included to greater effect are the Miz, should he have been around, which he isn’t. At the moment the Miz is in Canada, filming the Marine 3. Maybe when he comes back WWE will push him back to the star he is. Even WWE aren’t so stupid to bury a guy who is the lead in one of their films. The division loses enough already. Jack Swagger would have been a better asset to the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The guy has been buried so much that his career needs a kick up the backside. Again, the WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth would have been better replacements. How about Drew McIntyre or Zack Ryder who is still popular despite treading water in WWE? All of these men needed the exposure.
Should we take it as red that WWE values comedy characters over true, future headline stars? That seems to be the statement coming out of this match. It’s guys like Antonio, Ryder, Truth, Kingston, McIntyre, Miz and to a lesser extent Ryback that should be getting spots like this. And while it isn’t these guys, WWE’s headline roster is going to remain depleted.
Winners Prediction: Dolph Ziggler
Pre-Show Match
Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs Hunico and Camacho
It’s interesting that the pre-match show this month features two men that should be front and centre of the Tag Team Division. As WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth should have been included on the main body of the pay per view. Leave this spot to Brodus Clay if WWE aren’t going to do anything else with him.
At No Way Out, Prime Time Players won a Number One Contender Fatal Four Way tag team match, in a really good encounter which for the first time in a long time was liked by the fans. So why are Kofi Kingston and R-Truth not defending the WWE Tag Team Championships against Prime Time Players at Money in the Bank?
I like to think that WWE are maybe saving that match for SummerSlam in August. Planning to re-launch the tag team division on one of the big four pay per views! Whilst that could be the plan I have a worrying feeling deep down that WWE are in fact just going to sling the WWE Tag Team Championship Match on Raw or Smackdown. Let’s be honest they really don’t care about these titles.
It’s a surprise because it was the WWE Tag Team Championships that almost revolutionized WWE in the early nineties. With colourful teams such as the Natural Disasters, the Nasty Boys, the Quebecers, the Beverley Brothers, the Bushwhackers, the Legion of Doom, the Rockers, the Hart Foundation, Demolition and the British Bulldogs, WWE once possessed a great tag division. Some of the teams were rotten, but they were all good fun to watch. You didn’t mind seeing the bad ones because teams like the Rockers, the Heart Foundation and the British Bulldogs made it eminently more watchable.
Today, WWE have no teams that we’re happy to sit and watch. And that’s something it has to take a long hard look at itself over. Even ECW managed to get tag teams over and their fans didn’t give a damn about anything but hardcore, blood and brutality. TNA has begun to build its tag division into something really special and NJPW and ROH have some really great tag teams that people pay to see. Why can’t WWE do this? I’m becoming more and more convinced that it’s because they don’t care anymore. Either that or they look at the tag team division and see what they’ve done it, yet lack the ideas to rebuild it.
If that is the case then why don’t WWE ask the people that really know? Us! Anyone of you good people could tell WWE how to rebuild their tag division. I could, if they listened. A company that runs out of ideas and then refuses to listen to the people who pay to see it, deserves everything they get.
Just for arguments sake, this is what I’d do with the tag team division. It’s simple, effective and works.
At Money in the Bank WWE should have booked a third Money in the Bank Ladder Match, this time fought between tag teams, a first in WWE. On the same card Kofi Kingston and R-Truth should have defended their tag team championships against Prime Time Players. It wouldn’t have mattered what position the match went on in, the fact it was booked on the card would have shown us a commitment to the division and a consistency to follow up what was started. The winners of the Tag Team Money in the Bank, which would have been a highlight of the year, would naturally go on to face Kingston and Truth at SummerSlam. Meanwhile, the others tag teams, such as the Usos, Gabriel and Kidd and what would have been the former number one contenders Prime Time Players would fight it out each week on Raw and Smackdown amongst themselves about who was in contention next. This would end in a triple threat, high flying affair on the main body of the SummerSlam card itself. After Kingston and Truth had retained at SummerSlam, the new number one contenders would have carried out a vicious beat down of the champions at SummerSlam, in the middle of the ring, to state their intent of how important the tag titles were in the division. This would have signalled to the watching world that everyone in the tag division wanted the belts so much, putting an importance on the titles. A heated tag feud between the champs and challengers who could pose a threat would draw people in.
Again, that’s just me. But to put Kingston and Truth against Hunico and Camacho is just feeding the tag champs tasteless meals, and once again proving to the world that the doubles titles aren’t important enough to be a main attraction.
Winners Prediction: Kofi Kingston and R-Truth
Money in the Bank 2012 looks to be a winner. Despite the fact that every match on the card look twice as appealing as the WWE Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Yes it was a mistake by WWE to book the four dinosaurs in this match, but we’re stuck with it now.
You can be sure that on the night WWE will add matches out of the blue. Expect to see Brodus Clay fight someone who hasn’t been important since 2008, Ryback plough through more local athletes in a bid to prove how bad ass he is and the Divas Championship to be defended most probably between Beth Phoenix and Layla once again. A match that would be so much better if Kharma came back to WWE.
I don’t expect shocks galore from WWE, but Money in the Bank 2012, is a chance for the company to pave the way for the future. Show it isn’t afraid to take chances on talent who the fans want to pay to see. TNA has shown WWE the way to go by making the great Austin Aries TNA World Heavyweight Champion, a chance that will no doubt pay off in the weeks and months to come.
TNA has played it’s hand, now it’s WWE’s turn to match them. It won’t be about the quality of the matches on July 15th, it’ll be all about the results. If Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan triumph then justice will be done. If C.M Punk turns heel and Cody Rhodes and Tensai take a step towards the main event then WWE’s job will be done.
With a little thought, careful planning and willingness to change things for the better, WWE Money in the Bank 2012 could be the defining event of the year. It could be exactly what it says on the tin.
Onwards and Upwards...
