Money in the Bank 2012 surprised me in many aspects, yet did exactly what I expected it to in others. I stated in my preview of the event that the match quality didn’t matter, it was all about the results on July 15th and I was correct. As long as WWE managed to pave the way for the future then we could class Money in the Bank as a success.
From the U.S Airways Centre in Phoenix Arizona this was WWE Money in the Bank 2012.
No Disqualification Match
WWE Championship Match
Special Guest Referee: A.J
C.M. Punk (Champion) defeated Daniel Bryan
For some reason WWE decided at the last moment to make this a No Disqualification Match. A math which would have drawn more viewers if this information has have been publicised weeks before the event.
At Money in the Bank, C.M Punk and Daniel Bryan gave us yet another cracking episode of their feud. I could watch these two headline every pay per view this year and still not get bored. For the ingrates who think this kind of wrestling is boring, then take a number and I’ll get to you when I have the time. I’d rather sit through a pay per view jam packed with these kinds of matches than watch one more John Cena debacle any day. A match which has proper punches, instead of ones that look like they’d be more at home on ‘Guitar Hero’. A match which has moves executed properly where both parties are safe, instead of moves which look like a car wreck and could easily injure someone. Unfortunately for us, other results on the card, namely the WWE Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match mean that we face the end of this cracking feud and the beginning of one we’ve already seen.
A.J of course played a part in the match and looked simply divine in her little referee outfit. If you can sit there and tell me that A.J isn’t the sexiest woman on planet earth then you either need to check your blood pressure to make sure you’re still alive or start looking at someone of the same sex. Because she is so hot, I’m surprised people don’t have to wear oven gloves to touch her.
The only small criticism I have of this match and it is a small one. Is that WWE booked the wrong ending. The ending that should have happened would have gone like this: C.M Punk trapped Bryan in an excruciating submission move. Something which looked like it really hurt. Bryan refuses to tap out, like Stone Cold before him at Wrestlemania 13. Trapped in the move for minutes, Punk lets go, frustrated. As Bryan battles back into the match, looks he’s about to become WWE Champion A.J takes the chair and levels Bryan in the head, knocking him out completely. Punk, with a devious grin on his face aimed at A.J, locks Bryan in the Anaconda Vice and A.J rings the bell. With Bryan unconscious there’d be no ay he could tap out or submit. Punk and A.J would have screwed Bryan and therefore he and Punk would instantly change roles and Bryan would have cause for one last rematch at SummerSlam. WWE could then have worked the whole ‘Bryan never quit’ story and made the submission match at SummerSlam.
Daniel Bryan could be the poster boy for WWE in years to come. The fans have taken to him, people love him and he has gotten himself over with the WWE Universe. His wrestling skills are as good as unmatched, WWE could build their promotion around this guy, yet the seem to revel in destroying any new main event talent that comes through. Why? Your product is severely lacking in depth so why put down talent that can refresh a stale product? WWE can’t not think that Bryan doesn’t have the goods to carry the title, it gave him the World Heavyweight Championship to carry, which he did well.
So, I hear you asking (don’t pretend you didn’t), how does WWE push ahead with this feud now that Daniel Bryan has lost WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship matches at Wrestlemania 29, Extreme Rules, Over the Limit, No Way Out and Money in the Bank. Good question. Five consecutive pay per view losses don’t look too good for a man who could carry the company into new uplands. There is a simple remedy to rebuilding Bryan. Number one; WWE has to portray Bryan as falling in love with A.J again. Spin us a story we can believe, of how Bryan can’t get A.J off of his mind, how he thinks about her everyday, all day. That way when and if she chooses Punk, it will give us that much more sympathy for Bryan. Number two; utilise what Bryan has. Namely the submission holds. He does them better than anyone else in WWE today so why not accentuate the positives? If WWE were to re-mould Bryan as a deadly submission machine between now and SummerSlam, have him make wrestlers like Jericho, Kane, Big Show, men who have some power in WWE, tap out to his holds then we’d begin to see Bryan as a deadly threat to the gold again. The five consecutive pay per view losses would be thrown out of the window, wiped from our minds. On the other side of the coin WWE would ideally do the same with Punk, have him win his matches by submission which would then set the stage for the eagerly anticipated C.M Punk vs Daniel Bryan submission match. Do you see how easy it really is?
The biggest part in this whole thing is A.J. WWE are teasing each week which side she’ll take, yet never pulling the trigger on the turn. Which is a clever move. They’ve played their hand all at once before and lost the game. Now they’re taking a much more reserved view of the whole thing. A.J in some shape or form will have the final decision, on screen at least, of where the WWE Championship finally rests. Whoever she chooses will be earmarked to carry WWE into Wrestlemania 29 and maybe beyond. Both Punk and Bryan will benefit from having A.J by their side before it eventually turns sour, but in reality there’s only choice A.J will make.
With Daniel Bryan crying out for a face turn, don’t expect to see A.J side with the ‘Yes Man’ anytime soon. You heard it here first folks. I might be wrong, but in the end of all this, A.J will side with C.M Punk. The little wink at the end of the triple threat match at No Way Out, the marriage proposals to Punk and Bryan on the Money in the Bank go home episode of Raw, Bryan blaming A.J for his loss to Sheamus at Wrestlemania 29 are all leading to A.J and Punk turning on Bryan and going into business together. When that’s happened and when C.M Punk’s DVD is released in October (available to pre-order now), maybe then Daniel Bryan will be WWE Champion.
Despite other events conspiring against the Punk and Bryan feud continuing into SummerSlam, there’s always the possibility of WWE making a triple threat match between Cena, Punk and Bryan. It did wonders for Kane at No Way Out this year, to be associated with two top notch grapplers and I’m convinced that it would do the same for Cena. Paul Heyman, when running ECW, could spot a wrestlers flaw and he’d hide it and bring to the surface something the guy was good at. This would conceal the floor in the wrestlers act. This is something WWE should have done a long time ago. A triple threat match in which John Cena does hardly anything could work wonders for him.
I can’t see many people paying to see a re-run of last years SummerSlam main event, so fingers crossed that John Cena will have cashed in the briefcase before SummerSlam and lose the match to Punk, maybe cost the gold by A.J or Bryan who thinks he can still be champion. I’m still adamant that this feud has legs and that Punk should drop the WWE Championship to Daniel Bryan in a submission match, where both men would swap roles of heel and face. People still want to see this feud run, they still want to spend their money to watch these two go at it. The WWE Universe wants more and WWE should be giving them it. Vince has always been adamant that what he does, the decisions he makes are for the good of the people watching. Maybe that will change when Raw hits 1000 episodes and we take over. Maybe Vince will really see what we want, rather than what he thinks we need.
The final fact which convinces me that this epic feud isn’t yet over, or at least C.M Punk isn’t done as WWE Champion yet comes from Punk’s appearance at the Wizard World Comic Con event. For those of you who didn’t attend or haven’t read the transcript from the Q and A with C.M Punk, then Punk tells of a new WWE Championship which is both better and heavier than the current version which is strapped around the waist of ‘The Second City Saviour’. The awful spinner championship first introduced by John Cena seems to be on its way out of the door and looks to be replaced by a more traditional championship.
This indicates that WWE aren’t planning on putting the belt back on Cena and are planning to keep Punk in the spotlight. Of course this all adds to Punk’s popularity. If C.M Punk were to feud with John Cena after Money in the Bank and turn heel before or during the feud, then what better way to draw heat for the match than taking the awful spinner championship and trashing it live on air? Not only would it ignite a flame under what would be an otherwise dull affair, it would make Punk a hero of the day. Only pre-pubescent kids love that monstrosity that WWE call their ‘main’ championship. It would wonders for Punk with the main core of the WWE Universe should he rid us of that design for good.
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sheamus (Champion) defeated Alberto Del Rio
I don’t think this was any great shock. If anyone expected Alberto Del Rio to defeat Sheamus then maybe you should take a look at how WWE works today. If WWE had meant for Alberto to be WWE Champion again anytime time soon then it would have booked him a strong contender from day one. Del Rio would have ran through men like Big Show and Chris Jericho. Men who have had their day yet whom wouldn’t have been hurt by the loss.
Instead they insist on sidelining him with comedy act Ricardo Rodriguez and passing him off as some spoilt rich boy, who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. Maybe Vince modelled the Del Rio character after his own children. Who knows? The fact still remains that WWE and Triple H especially aren’t going to sacrifice Sheamus to someone who poses little threat such as Del Rio. Which leaves me with a big problem.
If WWE aren’t willing to derail the Sheamus push, then are they going to back out of pushing any new challenger to Sheamus’ pretend throne? It’s a common problem WWE have had over the last few years. They build someone up, get them to point where it looks like said wrestler might just ascend the mountain and then fail to pull the trigger. Thus explaining the problem of why there are so few new main event stars in WWE today. This has never been more evident than the Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton feud in 2009. WWE pushed Kingston against Orton, Team Kingston defeated Team Orton at Survivor Series 2009, Kingston was the sole survivor pinning Orton to win the match. Kofi was then pushed and pushed to look like a main eventer, yet when crunch time came at TLC 2009, WWE didn’t have the guts to put Kingston over Orton in the match that mattered. If they had then maybe things would be different today.
I digress. If Sheamus is the apple of Triple H’s eye, and knowing how stubborn Triple H can be, just look at 2000 – 2006 if you don’t believe me, what’s to stop Triple H halting any push of anyone new that’s meant to shine against the Celtic Warrior? Triple H did it when he was champion, I have no doubt that it would come as second nature to sabotage someone again. Triple H promised to make WWE better in his role next to Vince McMahon, if he doesn’t be careful, then Triple H may just be the catalyst for a downfall.
Alberto Del Rio needs a revamp. He needs to take a few months off, WWE needs to come up with a new image for him, a new story. As it stands at the moment, Alberto Del Rio doesn’t pose any threat to anyone. Maybe a run with the meaningless United States Championship, defending it against serious challengers would breathe new life into the Championship and Del Rio. Either that or putting him back into a mask (he used to wrestle under one in Mexico. Del Rio is the real life nephew of Mil Mascaras) and have him take Sin Cara’s place in what was meant to be a feud between Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio. That feud never came about because Cara wasn’t over with the audience. If WWE booked it correctly then a masked Del Rio could garner serious heat if no one knew who he was. A few sneak attacks, take out some of Rey’s friends and you have a really hot match on your hands. After that if WWE wanted to put the title on him, they could do so as a dastardly heel. It wouldn’t take much imagination to affect a Mexican accent and declare war on WWE. As champion a masked Del Rio could both bring some needed relief to the WWE headline scene and maybe inject a little interest into the dwindling Mexican wrestling business.
If WWE were clever then they could hire a few more Mexican wrestlers to invade WWE and form a stable with Del Rio. If that’s no viable then take a few of the deadwood who are currently treading water on NXT, Raw and Smackdown, such as Hunico and Camacho and put them under masks. We know one of these men as been pushed as the fake Sin Cara before. The WWE Universe may take to the jobbers if they didn’t know who they really were under the masks. A heel Mexican stable could do wonders for WWE, especially if a masked Del Rio was to capture the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship. It would also give Mysterio and Sin Cara something to do, opposing them.
The Great White’s tank has officially run empty. I don’t believe anyone is willingly going to pay money to see Sheamus as World Heavyweight Champion after SummerSlam. There’s nothing else he can give us as a face. The smile is getting annoying just as it did for The Rock in 1996 and if WWE don’t turn him heel soon, then all the work they did with Sheamus at the beginning of 2012 will be wasted.
Sheamus doesn’t have a future as champion, not this year anyway. He’s been fed so many dud opponents that it’s unimaginable that if he was put against a serious contender such as, dare I say it, John Cena, or even the Undertaker I can’t see how Sheamus could plausibly come out of it looking good. It’s rebuild time for WWE again. If they can make Sheamus the fearsome heel without taking any of his thunder away then maybe in 2013 Sheamus could once again take up the mantle of World or WWE Champion. Now though, when WWE need to start the build for SummerSlam, Survivor Series and more importantly Wrestlemania 29 – on which the Undertaker, the Rock, Triple H and possibly Stone Cold Steve Austin will perform, WWE needs a champion who can bring fans to the arena to see him get the snot beaten out of him. Sheamus stands no chance on a card where the previous four names will be billed on. And the fault there my good people, lies firmly with WWE
WWE Championship Contract
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
John Cena defeated Big Show, Kane, The Miz and Chris Jericho
We didn’t need a crystal ball to predict this one. The best thing about this match was that WWE surprised us by bringing back the Miz and entering him in the match to a decent reception. It’s an encouraging sign that WWE put Miz back in the main event upon his return, maybe they see what everyone did from the beginning. Or maybe it will only last as long as it takes them to promote ‘The Marine 3 – Home front’.
Before we get onto the match and what it means, consider this if you will my followers. WWE Films is pouring millions of dollars down the drain a year. None of their films make a profit and none of the films gets anyone in them over. Partly because the films are appalling, the scripts are dull and clichéd and WWE’s girth of acting talent left when the Rock made for Hollywood. In this case you’d think WWE would either be better shutting the division down and pouring the millions into talent development instead of down the toilet or, if they are determined to make it a success, put over the stars who are in them. If the latter is preferable, then surely the Miz would have been a better choice of winner that John Cena, right? WWE want ‘The Marine 3’ to do business. Number one bombed worse than Pearl Harbour and Number 2 was seen by so few people that when number 3 was announced there were those wondering why WWE had skipped one.
If the Miz had gone on to take the Money in the Bank briefcase for the second time, and entered a feud with Bryan and Punk, which would have been a lot more watchable and enjoyable than Cena being put into that feud, surely both the Miz’s career and WWE’s Film department would have profited. For the Miz to defeat Jericho, Kane, Big Show and Cena upon his return to WWE would have sent out a statement of intent to the dwindling fans base who don’t buy ‘B’ level pay per views like Money in the Bank, that they’re trying their best to sort the problems out and that WWE are doing everything in their power to create new stars. The final overriding statement that came out of this match though, was that WWE are too afraid to drop Cena down a level to let others take his place in-case they lose money and that actually, it doesn’t care about its film department, its talent development or its declining pay per view numbers. I wonder who is using the WWE business brain cell at the moment.
Without any real doubt in our mind that Cena wouldn’t of course walk out with the briefcase, you probably went into this match like I did. Ready to change the channel until it had finished. Ok, the men involved did their best to make it enjoyable. Big Show plodded his way through the match until he was predictably buried under a mountain of ladders. Kane stumbled from move to move without any real continuity or link between what he was doing. It really did look like he was given a list of shit to do and in his head he was just counting them off as he went along. John Cena tried his hardest like he always does, I’ll never fault him for that, but the whole time he had a look on his face like this match was below him. If he can’t take these matches seriously then why should we? Kudos has to go to Jericho and the Miz. They pinpointed the moment where the match looked liked it was going down hill and poured everything they had into dragging back to an acceptable level.
The sheer fact that it took a forty one year old man and wrestler who hasn’t been anywhere near a ring for a month and a half because he was filming, to drag the match back to an acceptable level says all you really need to know about the three full time wrestlers who are meant to be doing this week in and week out and between them have forty five years of professional experience. It’s almost embarrassing. If the Miz and Jericho hadn’t have been included, then god only knows what we’d have ended up with. Sometimes, for those of you who really don’t know anything about how a wrestling match is structured, it’s not the greatest wrestler or the biggest guy that holds a match together, it’s the one who is on the receiving end. The man who sacrifices himself, to throw his body around the ring for an inferior opponent, who sells an a move that looks so phoney so well that it looks like it did some damage. Chris Jericho is a great at this, he of course learnt it from Shawn Michaels who was the master at making others look like million dollars.
It’s hard to know where Big Show and Kane go from here. They’re so limited in the ring they’d struggle to referee. We’ve seen everything each man has to offer time and time again. Maybe it’s time for WWE to give them their marching orders. I don’t think I can physically stomach watching Kane in the main event again. And Big Show is so out of his depth that WWE need to put arm bands on him just keep his head above water. Once again these two are where they are because of the lack of headliners. If WWE had any other two wrestlers they could count on Kane and Show wouldn’t even get a sniff at the main event in 2012. Maybe both would be better dropping into the U.S Championship scene. Frankly anyone would be better than Santino.
As for Chris Jericho and the Miz, well for their efforts at Money in the Bank they deserve to be rewarded. If WWE have any sense about them they’ll push Miz right back into the title picture before October. He doesn’t have to be WWE Champion again, not yet. But a few really strong performances against guys that matter in WWE today would do him the world of good. Stop feeding him to morons like Brodus Clay and Santino as cannon fodder and start making him back into the star he always has been. Or maybe WWE thinks that someone who doesn’t win any matches or titles and jobs out to men who will be a distant memory in five years is the way to sell films and build stars. Chris Jericho, although winding down in his career now proved me wrong at Money in the Bank. I didn’t think he still had it to compete at that level anymore, but he does. However I’m still in the mid frame that Jericho can do the most good down the card a little, elevating new talent to the position he used to hold. If it’s done right, Chris Jericho could do more for the future headliners than the WWE system has ever done.
And finally we move on to John Cena. The winner of the WWE Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The best thing that could happen for John Cena at this moment, and maybe the kindest thing would be for Cena to cash the briefcase in on the Raw that follows Money in the Bank 2012 and either lose cleanly or be cost the championship by someone WWE can put him in his next feud against. I don’t think it would do anyone any good if John Cena was the next WWE Champion. We’re still recovering from his last title reign which was awfully dull. C.M Punk and Daniel Bryan are doing a sterling job brining prestige back to the belt, that a Cena title reign could jeopardise all that. The logical choice is Tensai. I’ve said it before, I know. But should we get spun the story that Tensai is looking for someone to take his loss at Money in the Bank out on, that he thinks Cena is unworthy to be champion, cost Cena the gold, then WWE would be righting wrongs and putting Tensai and Cena on the right track again.
After what I saw at Money in the Bank, I’m going to give WWE the benefit of the doubt. I’m going to allow them to prove to us that they have the best interests of us and the future of their business at heart. And not repeat history by screwing it up all over again.
World Heavyweight Championship Contract
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Dolph Ziggler defeated Damien Sandow, Tyson Kidd, Santino Marella, Tensai, Christian, Sin Cara and Cody Rhodes
At last, some sense prevailed and WWE are showing signs of looking to the future. Dolph Ziggler was the exact right choice to win this match. And should WWE put the World Heavyweight Championship on Ziggler at SummerSlam, then all will be right with the world again. By making Ziggler the new number one contender WWE did one of two things. It showed us commitment to the younger stars and it showed that finally, WWE are acknowledging their main event problem. All that’s left now is to look at how they handle the Jack Swagger title reign and learn from this mistake.
Dolph Ziggler didn’t get off to a great start after he won the briefcase. During the Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio match Ziggler stormed the ring and tried to persuade Del Rio for some bizarre reason, to allow him to cash in the briefcase he’d won just minutes before and pin the fallen ‘Great White’. Before he had a chance to Sheamus nailed Ziggler with a brogue kick and pinned Del Rio. Quite why WWE expected us to believe that Del Rio would willingly give up his chance to be champion so Ziggler could take the gold I’ll never quite know, but they did. So he was used as bait so Sheamus could retain the World Heavyweight Championship, things can only get better from here, right?
If WWE want us to take Ziggler seriously, as we’re already doing, the reaction to Dolph was enormous at No Way Out and Money in the Bank, then it has to do a few simple things. Not impossible things, just intelligent things. Things that require brain power. So, we won’t hold out too much hope there then. First WWE need to book Ziggler to chose the moment to cash in the briefcase like a man, not in the past like a coward when the champion is down. Rob Van Dam told the WWE Universe in 2006 when and where he was going to cash it in (ECW One Night Stand 2006) and the hype for the first ever RVD WWE Championship win was out of this world, not to mention the reaction when he won it from Cena. If Ziggler were to go out on Smackdown, take the microphone and announce that he was going to cash in the briefcase at SummerSlam in a match against Sheamus, we’d all have more respect for him, he’d get the WWE Universe on his side even more so than they are now and WWE could set about making Ziggler a real challenger. The next step is to take Del Rio out of the picture. WWE can’t expect us to believe that Del Rio will just accept his loss and walk away with his tail between his legs. WWE should book Ziggler to go over Del Rio clean on Smackdown, to prove that it’s behind pushing Dolph all the way. After that, get rid of Vickie Guerrero from Dolph Ziggler’s side. She’s a distraction that Ziggler doesn’t need. WWE then need to have Ziggler cut a promo on how much the World Heavyweight Championship means to him and that he’s not just using it as a stepping stone to greater things. They need to emphasise how much Dolph has worked for this his entire career. The final couple things are easy. Have Ziggler pin Christian, John Cena and C.M Punk on Raw and Smackdown leading up to SummerSlam. If Dolph can defeat each of the three convincingly without cheating he will look a serious contender to Sheamus. And last but not least, WWE needs to book a tag team match the Smackdown before SummerSlam, in which Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes beat Sheamus and Christian. Ziggler must pin Sheamus in the tag match and afterwards Sheamus, out of desperation has to lay Ziggler out with a brogue kick. This tells us that Ziggler has a serious chance of walking out of SummerSlam as champion and that Sheamus is rattled by the challenge.
After SummerSlam the sky is the limit for Ziggler. Vicky Guerrero could send someone after him for spurning her affections and her guidance. That would create a whole new story for Dolph to get his teeth into. Either way, WWE cannot afford for the long await Dolph Ziggler World Heavyweight Championship victory to look like a fluke. That would do more harm to Ziggler than losing to John Cena.
The rest of the competitors shone in this match. Even Sin Cara kept the mistakes to a minimum. Christian and Cody Rhodes are obviously working towards the re-entry to their feud over the Intercontinental Championship. Another match between the two must have the correct amount of build up and hype. Otherwise it’s going to look bad for the championship, that WWE couldn’t be bothered to build up a match for it at SummerSlam. Ideally Cody Rhodes would win the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam and then work towards unifying the Intercontinental and United States Championships. The man needs something to work with otherwise his ascension to the main event and finally the World Heavyweight Championship is never going to happen.
Sin Cara and Santino are redundant. Unless WWE take the advice to put Del Rio under a mask and form a new masked Mexican heel faction for Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio to oppose then it’s almost impossible not to see Sin Cara’s name on the ‘Future Endeavour’ list in WWE’s annual clearout. The guy isn’t big enough with the audience to hold a major WWE Championship in a main event spot, although the smart money would be on WWE booking a fatal four way match on Raw or at SummerSlam for the United States Championship and have Sin Cara capture the gold. A feud over the Intercontinental and United States Championships between Sin Cara and Cody Rhodes could prove to be a hit and provide us with some quality matches along the way to unification. If not though, Cara is doomed. As for Santino then I think the joke is well and truly over. No one is laughing anymore, no one cares about the class clown. The truly low point in this Money in the Bank Ladder Match, and we all knew it was coming, was when Santino, instead of climbing for a contract which would have proven how important the World Heavyweight Championship was to him, pulled out his sock and performed ‘the cobra’. Lou Thez must be tuning in his grave. Santino has no life left in WWE. How can he have? His jokes are just dreadful and uncovering Hornswoggle as the mystery GM was a truly low point in WWE history. Send him packing.
Tyson Kidd and Tensai have a great future ahead of them, providing WWE book them right. Tensai should initiate a feud with John Cena, costing him the WWE Championship when Cena cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase. An association with John Cena would do wonders for Tensai, and the man formerly known as Albert has the skills to carry Cena. Tyson Kidd could be the beacon for a new age in the WWE Tag Team Division. He has the look and the skill to be a huge tag team player. Above that level though and Kidd won’t last six months. Right now the tag division needs someone like Kidd to help build great teams. Kidd and Gabriel and could be the perfect foil for Kingston and Truth, if WWE stopped breaking up teams before they had a chance to shine.
Damien Sandow, as you’ll have read in my Money in the Bank preview has all the skill in the world to become the next World Heavyweight Champion. Maybe WWE realize that his history as the despised Muhammad Hassan will hold him back in the role and put off fans coming to see him get beaten. Either way, WWE need to get this right. Because Sandow has the headliner quality that WWE need. Right now, I’d concentrate on building up Sandow for Royal Rumble win in January. For too long the winners of the Royal Rumble match have been big stars. John Cena, Edge, Sheamus. We yearn for the days when up and comers would triumph in the thirty man, over the top rope match. Sandow could be the perfect antidote for that. And I’m sure by April, he’ll have garnered enough respect in the ring to headline Wrestlemania 29 in some capacity.
Overall this was a blinding match which did so much for morale that it’s impossible to see how even WWE can mess this up. Watch this space.
Layla, Kaitlyn and Tamina defeated Eve, Beth Phoenix and Natalya
I know WWE mean well by booking these matches and they have to be given credit for displaying some of the lesser seen talent from the Divas Division, surely though it would have been better if the heels had have gone over the faces and then Kharma would have stormed the ring and cleared house. That would have gotten us interested in the Divas Division, especially if Kharma had then defeated Layla for the Divas Championship the next night on Raw.
This of course was another match that didn’t need to happen at Money in the Bank. The time given to the matches that were slung on as an afterthought could have been allocated to the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship matches. Still, we’re expected to like what we’re given.
It was a foregone conclusion that Layla’s team would win, as she’s the champion. WWE do protect their champions most times. Even if it’s at the cost of other talent. Like Daniel Bryan, Beth Phoenix has lost matches at several consecutive pay per view events. If WWE are planning to pit Beth against Kharma then it really should be depicting her as an unstoppable heel, like she was years ago. No one is going to buy into a feud where the face can easily run over the heel. However a monster heel vs a monster face would be so good for business that WWE could build their Divas Division back around these two.
Primo and Epico defeated The Prime Time Players
This match has go down in the ‘Dumb Booking Ideas’ column. After all the good they’ve done with the tag team division WWE decide to book the Number One Contenders, the two men who we’re meant to believe can defeat the WWE Tag Team Champions, to lose to Primo and Epico.
I can see what WWE had in mind. Have Prime and Epico a tag team which needs exposure, defeat the Number One Contenders to make them look a threat. All very good in theory, but when the number one contenders in question are lacking in credibility then maybe it was a decision that should have been rethought.
A better decision would have been have Primo and Epico win either a WWE Tag Team Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match or a tag team turmoil match to make them look strong, providing the plan is to make them new contenders after Prime Time Players, this would have made them look the cream of the crop pitted against the rest of the tag teams in WWE.
WWE could then have taken the WWE Tag Team Champions and put them in a non title match against The Prime Time Players. The Prime Time Players would have beaten Kingston and Truth to make them look a threat to the titles. Then at SummerSlam, in a hard fought effort, Kingston and Truth would have retained the WWE Tag Team Championships. This process has been tried and tested. If WWE had have done this, then in one night it would have created two tag teams that we could believe in. Having the number one contenders lose to Primo and Epico didn’t do anyone any favours.
Ryback defeated Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks
When I saw this my first thought was ‘At least they’re not jobbers’. Yeah I know, Hawkins and Reks are jobbers of the highest quality, but at least they’re on the roster and not been drafted in to be thrown around the ring. WWE even allowed Reks and Hawkins some offence.
The snag in these matches is that WWE think we’re taking Ryback, the artist formerly known as Skip Sheffield seriously. WWE think we see him as a Goldberg type character. They seem blind to the fact that we don’t care about the guy one bit, we’d all sleep easy if we didn’t see him again.
What scares me the most about this, is that somewhere down the line, knowing how stubborn WWE are, they’ll take the ‘Goldberg’ chants that Ryback currently receives and believe he’s over. He’s not. From there, WWE are push Ryback into the main event picture. Hands up people, who wants to see Ryback vs John Cena? Anyone? No? Someone tell WWE that. Because it’s going to happen, sooner or later.
The irony is that WWE have Ryback inflict damage to the WWE jobbers, when all the time they can’t see the damage they’re inflicting on the guy themselves. Booking Ryback in short squash matches is going to prove a mistake when he finally has to work a twenty minute match at mid-card level. If he’s gotten used to conditioning himself for short bouts then how is he going to fare when he has to fight someone like Christian and make himself look good in the process? This is a mistake WCW made with Goldberg, when he came to fight real matches, he blew up after five minutes because he wasn’t used to it.
The stark truth is that Ryback will never be Goldberg. Not today, not tomorrow, not ten years down the line. Because WWE have done what WWE are good at doing. Copying someone else. Had they thought up a better character for Skip then he’d have stood a chance. Copying something that we’ve already seen, that smells of pure desperation.
Pre-Show Match
Kofi Kingston and R-Truth defeated Hunico and Camacho
If WWE had have had the WWE Tag Team Champions lose to Hunico and Camacho then they might as well have taken out a bin and put the WWE Tag Team Championships inside them. I’m glad to report that wasn’t the case however.
WWE should have booked Kingston and Truth on the main body of the pay per view to prove they’re serious about re-building the tag team division. WWE Universe seems any act that goes on You Tube and not the actual pay per view as a waste of time. Yes, WWE advertised the match before hand, but that’s only because they want the views on You Tube. They don’t even deem the pre-show matches important enough to put on the DVD of the pay per view.
Kingston and Truth have a great future as Tag Team Champions. Truth less so, but Kingston carries him so its not noticeable. They could breathe life into the division if give then time, chance and right opponents. Camacho and Hunico would be much better under masks as stated in the World Heavyweight Championship section of the review. Under masks they could flourish as new Mexican heels. They know the style of wrestling and the history of it. WWE need a new stable, so why not start with something different?
Money in the Bank 2012 has to rank as the best pay per view so far this year. And it brings me nothing but pleasure to say that, believe me. It elevated men to the next level, it showed what could be achieved with a little thought and just letting them show what they have to offer. This pay per view can down as nothing but a riotous success, so congratulation WWE, for the most part you got it bang on the money. After years of concentrating on the past, WWE finally went back to the future.
Of course things could all change. By the time you read this both Ziggler and Cena could have cashed in their briefcases and WWE could have taken the easy way out. Though from the signs on display here, maybe WWE are seeing that the easy way is always the hardest.
As much as Money in Bank 2012 was a team effort, I think this night and this pay per view belongs to one man. And to be honest, I can’t wait to see him flourish.
Stand up and take your spot...Dolph Ziggler.
Onwards and Upwards...
