Money in the Bank Discussion

Right, I'll give some thoughts on the PPV later, but I just wanted to start up the string and ensure it had a title which wouldn't spoil anything for anyone. Fire away.

"Just when you think you've got out, they pull you back in"

And so it goes with the WWE, because just as I thought I might be approaching the end of my interest in the WWE, they go and put on Money in the Bank.

And in doing so, gives us the best WWE PPV for several years, and the best match probably since the first Michaels/Taker match.

That main event was just sublime, absolutely sublime. If they every write the definitive guide to booking pro wrestling, the chapter entitled "Main Events" should simply read "Watch Cena .v. Punk from Money in the Bank 2011".

It was perfect, perfect, booking from beginning to end. And it was played out by two guys at the absolute pinnacle of their game. Yes, two guys. Punk will get a lot of credit, but anyone who now doubts that Cena can go in a great match and totally hold his own can get lost as far as I am concerned. He was excellent last night, and he played off the hostile crowd like a perfect pro. All the credit in the world to him.

Of course, Punk was just incredible. He was clearly having the time of his life out there and it showed. But the little things like asking the crowd "Who, me?" when they were chanting "You can't wrestle". And then the ending. Sitting on the barricade blowing Vince a kiss. That image will live on for decades.

People have complained about Cena knocking out Johnny Ace and how it was the WWE attempting to still give Cena a face shine - Well yes, because he was the face in the match, and it fitted his character perfectly. It was perfectly in keeping with the match.

As for the match itself, just great stuff. I loved the teases, I loved the false finishes, reversals, and kick out. I love how generous Cena was in letting Punk kick out of multiple finishers. I love that Cena actually sold. Several times they have me convinced they were going to screw up the angle. But all credit to them, they didn't. They delivered, in spades, with a match that on its own won me back as a fan.

And I'm more eager for RAW now than I have ever been.

As for the rest of the card...

Christian .v. Orton was another very good match which I think told a great story. I actually liked the ending, and Orton going nuts on Christian. Orton's elevated hanging neckbreaker was a thing of beauty. I really enjoyed that one.

Big Show .v. Henry was everything it needed to be in order to furher Henry's push. Again a good story was told and I think it was a nice contrast to the flipping and flying of the ladder matches.

I thought both ladder matches were excellent, though I preferred the Smackdown one. Amazed to see Daniel Bryan win. I think that's a very positive move. There's definitely good matches in a feud between Sheamus and Barrett, and I loved the powerbomb on Sin Cara. Wonder if the WWE realise he needs a little time off TV to add final polish. I was delighted to see the audience boo the hell out of Mysterio, and the cheer for the Miz run-back was a pleasant surprise as well. Nothing to complain about in either of those.

That show was better than Wrestlemania. The build was better, and the delivery was better.

Now granted I'm incredibly biased because I've always been a huge, huge mark for CM Punk but that was the best possible execution of the angle we could've hoped for. Amazing.

Also props to Bryan. Hope his MITB run goes more Miz than it does Swagger.

I think I only need three words to express my feelings on this PPV:


I am happy.

By the way, it's funny... I'm watching a video review of MITB (the people reviewing it loved the show), but actually they are just shitting on John Cena's involvement in the main event. (They really liked the show in general, though, just not Cena's participation and how Christian seemed to win the "weak" way.)

The basic jist that i'm hearing in this review (of the main event match at least) is them saying that John Cena was atrocoious in this match, and CM Punk completely carried him and saved it to being salvageable.

And their final opinion is that the match was sloppy, John Cena ran out of moves halfway in, the first 15 minutes was him doing basic armlocks and was really boring, and after Punk kicks out of the Attitude Adjustment, Cena had nowhere left to go. He had no moves, so he started running through again, doing slight variations of his 5 moves of doom all over again, and that he sold every move like shit.

Particularly this "leg injury" that he sold for half a minute and then never once even glanced back on and ran around like he was Superman after the announcers were trying to cover for, in some attempt to get John Cena to sell this leg injury that he never does for the rest of the match.


It's interesting that i'm hearing two people right now (who actually are really evaluating this with a really focused eye... albeit maybe a little too nitpicky) saying that Cena almost stunk up the match, while Punk was struggling to carry it through to a workable match, basically giving a curiously opposite view of David's.

Also, by the way, they're saying that Christian should have been booked better, as he won by exploiting his loophole (The stipulations they said were stupid and "headache inducing dumb stipulations straight out of TNA booking" (the "bad officiating stip that is") and Christian came off looking weak, and that also Mark Henry vs Big Show was slow, plodding, but it was "ok" and it was "as good as it was gonna be."

They seem to think the MITB matches were good, although the Smackdown one was better, and that Kelly Kelly vs Nikki Bella was absolute dog shit.

But they still agree that the outcome of everyting was great and that it was obviously centered on making people happy and WWE did a great job in making it so, just saying that "It relied on making people happy, and more on emotion than good wrestling."

I mean, they sound to me like they're making good points and all (the way they put this seems intelligent, just more critical than it needs to be. They still liked it, they're just saying the things that they feel didn't work.)

Just to say that they did love it, and i'm only pointing out their criticisms. They say a LOT of positive things that I am omitting here. And saying "it was better than Wrestlemania" and "They were still glad they spent the money" and "thumbs up for this show." I'm just finding it interesting they were a little more critical than David was (particularly about Cena)

http://wrestlewrestle.com/money-in-the-bank



Well.... I will say one thing about it all, personally speaking as myself...

Even if they do have a point about some things, I don't care about any faults the matches might have had. I really don't. Because it sounds like a WONDERFUL night in every way.

I think they have good POINTS, but I'll admit they were kinda killing my buzz on wanting to get up and jump for joy for how good this PPV was.

I don't know exactly what happened myself (Only hearing and reading reviews, I didn't see it, myself but I think I will buy this DVD), but I just don't care if any matches were sub-par, or lacking in any areas. Because the PHENOMENAL booking makes up for everything anyone could criticize about anything else.

Because this is the best booking, the best finishes, and WWE honestly putting on the best show in years, and almost every single outcome was truly giving people what they wanted, making everything exciting and interesting, and trully pulling out all the stops to do everything just RIGHT.

So, honestly, I, myself, personally... am happy with this.


Very very very very very happy.

Extremely happy.

Undeniably happy.

I FEEL anyway, that WWE needs to keep this up. This is a new standard, and an unbelievably high point for them.

I think this is the kind of thing that could propel WWE up to a new resurgence of popularity in their product again if they can catch the lightning of last night in a bottle and reproduce it, for years to come.

Frankly, anyone who even dares claim the main event was a carry job is a fucking moron who understands absolutely nothing about the mechanics of booking and executing a wrestling match.

It's really that simple. I don't begin to care what other positive remarks they make. If they don't understand what was going on in that main event, they have no business being allowed to watch a show, let alone comment on it.

Cena was superb last night. Far from "doing basic armlocks" at the start, he was actually WRESTLING against Punk, feeling him out, doing the stuff those idiots criticise him for not doing. And far from running out of moves, he threw in new ones all the way along whilst going back to his big offensive moves that are usually match winners in order to tell the STORY that none of them worked against Punk.

It's called booking. It's called Cena being a pro in an atmosphere that would have cracked many. There is no debate here AT ALL. No room to debate. They are wrong. They don't have good points. At all. Watch the match, they are talking bollocks.

And the same goes for Christian. The entire story of the feud is that he couldn't beat Orton fairly, that he needed to find excuses and shortcuts and would do anything to win. The entire point was him trying to frustrate Orton. So the booking was perfect for telling that story, as was the ending. I can't see how they can't see that - unless they are really as stupid as I suspect they are.

Sounds like a good show. Might have to bag it when it comes out. Where can you watch it online for free?