Monday, June 20, 2016

MONEY IN THE BANK

from Las Vegas


THE NEW DAY vs. THE VAUDEVILLAINS vs. KARL ANDERSON & LUKE GALLOWS vs. ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS (11:43): Weird...but on the same day as this show there was one of the bigger New Japan shows...and on that show was a four-way tag-team match. And even though the NJPW match had The Young Bucks, Matt Sydal, Ricochet, and Kyle O'Reilly...this match was better. Shocking. Anderson and Gallows of course used to be in The Bullet Club in NJPW. The WWE can't use The Bullet Club so in the WWE, Anderson and Gallows and AJ Styles are in The Club. Yes, it's not very creative. Gallows totally fucked up at the end of this match to ruin it, although it was mostly Big Cass's fault. Big E. picked up Anderson and Gallows stood there and didn't do anything because he was supposed to be diverted to kicking Big Cass. Cass wasn't in the ring and so Gallows stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do. Cass finally came in the ring which led to Gallows kicking him and being sidelined while Big E slammed Anderson and The New Day won. It was entertaining. **1/2

AJ STYLES vs. JOHN CENA (24:10): Maybe it's because this was Cena's first match back after a seven month injury layoff...or maybe it was the horrible ending (the ref was out and Gallows and Anderson laid out Cena to cause AJ to win)...but this was not a great match. It was good, though, but perhaps these two just don't have the chemistry. That's a shame since they'll be wrestling each other all summer (and rumored to be the two top stars on Smackdown when the new brand split happens in July). AJ's match last month against Reigns was awesome...giving me hope that his epic, NJPW match days aren't behind him. This stalled that theory. **1/2

DEAN AMBROSE vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. SAMI ZAYN vs. KEVIN OWENS vs. CESARO vs. CHRIS JERICHO "MITB LADDER MATCH" (21:38): Brutal, yes, but this was another one of those ladder matches without any suicidal big/sick shocking moments. Ambrose did deliver a clothesline from the top rope...and Owens did a frog splash from the top rope onto Ambrose on a ladder...and they all fell off the ladder and got hit with a ladder...but this match was missing one of those Jeff Hardy-type insane moments. And so it was entertaining but a little less exciting than it could have been. The finale was a tad lame as well. Ambrose pushed Owens off the ladder and onto a ladder bridge and then Ambrose grabbed the briefcase to win. Fairly tame in actuality. **1/2

SETH ROLLINS vs. ROMAN REIGNS (26:00)/ DEAN AMBROSE vs. SETH ROLLINS (0:09): The show ended around 11:23 PM. Why was it so late and so long? I didn't even bother to watch or review the two pre-show matches or the four other matches. And while this was a truly stellar card...it didn't turn out to be that great of a show. The surprise of this match was that Rollins pinned Reigns clean to win the title. I had really thought that Reigns, the WWE's boy, would reign for awhile. But the story made sense. And it sets up a Shield match against each other that probably should have happened a long time ago. Ambrose cashed in his MITB contract that he won an hour earlier and won the title. This, of course, would have been better a year ago. Ambrose beat Rollins last year to win the title but on RAW he was stripped of it because of a fast-counting ref. It reminds me of Daniel Bryan winning the title or almost winning the title so many times and then when they finally gave him a title reign it was kind of too little too late. Ambrose was hotter and more popular a year ago. As for this match...it was okay. Since the MITB contract is already cashed in, it kind of takes away the drama of waiting to see when it would occur. But I'll take Ambrose as champ any day. From CZW champ to the WWE champ. I guess I figured it'd happen with someone someday. **1/2



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