WWE presents one of its major shows of the year tonight with Money in the Bank from the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, and its first pay-per-view with fans since WrestleMania.
Wai Ting and I will be live immediately after the event with our Money in the Bank POST Show with live access for Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café.
WrestleTix reports that as of Sunday afternoon, there are only a few tickets remaining and it’s basically a sell-out.
Tonight’s show and Monday’s Raw should set up some major directions for SummerSlam next month at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
On paper, it’s a strong show and a high bar for the ladder matches given past performances. The crowd will be a major focus as Houston was a red-hot crowd this past Friday and elevated the overall presentation greatly. I would imagine a similar circumstance tonight with a rabid audience that is going to raise the show quality.
Here is a quick preview of the card:
WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (champion) vs. Edge
This was the original idea for WrestleMania until Daniel Bryan was inserted and Edge’s first match since that show in April. I’m interested to see how these two perform whether the crowd takes to Reigns in any way. Edge is one of the best at match construction. You would think it’s a hard sell to convince people of Reigns losing the belt but with a hot crowd, I don’t think it’s going to be a stretch to assume this crowd will be biting on everything presented in teasing an Edge win. If they go on last, they will be following a lot especially the men’s ladder match. Seth Rollins indicated on SmackDown that the ladder match would go on early and therefore, you can have the thought of a potential cash-in to think about at the end. Rollins getting involved is a possibility and they’ve telegraphed his program with Edge over the last several episodes.
WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley (champion) vs. Kofi Kingston
Kingston is in the role of a set-up challenger to heat Lashley up further. They would be crazy to re-do the Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston style of match and not risk pissing off the live crowd and significantly damaging Kingston after this lead-up. This needs to be semi-competitive before Lashley wins in a strong fashion. I expect Lashley to go over big in this match and then beat Xavier Woods on television. Kingston has been very effective over the past few weeks with his promos and hopefully, the match delivers and accomplishes a few goals while also giving Kingston something before losing.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Riddle vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Ricochet vs. John Morrison vs. Big E. vs. Seth Rollins vs. King Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens
This should be the match of the show and with the talent involved, has the potential to be among the best Money in the Bank Ladder matches they have had. It’s a massive collection of talent that is going to go out there to steal the show and I pity whoever has to follow this. It should get plenty of time in the 25-30-minute range. I would look at Big E. and Seth Rollins as the favorites although Rollins doesn’t need it but could be a storyline device. Riddle is a possibility and you can certainly incorporate the briefcase as a source of contention between Riddle and Randy Orton when the latter returns. McIntyre is a top guy and I don’t see the point of him winning especially with the ongoing feud with Jinder Mahal. Either McIntyre violates the stip with Bobby Lashley, or waits until Lashley loses it, and the other option is going to SmackDown and the timing is all off for Reigns to lose. In a normal circumstance, you would look at the matches Ricochet has had and look at him as a talent to elevate but I think that train has left the station, and no one forecasts the company truly getting behind Ricochet at that level. Athletically, this should be an incredible match and will set the standard very high for any other match to equal or surpass tonight.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Asuka vs. Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki A.S.H. vs. Liv Morgan vs. Zelina Vega vs. Natalya vs. Tamina
This has been an odd set-up with the random scenarios to add talent to the match and I can’t say there is one strong candidate that stands above the others when it comes to winning. Liv Morgan has been pushed as the underdog babyface that is going to break out in this match, so she would have to be considered. Vega was beaten immediately upon her comeback and made her return feel like nothing. Nikki A.S.H. is a character they clearly are behind and there is some comedy with her having the briefcase – even in a babyface role. Asuka has felt lost over the past few months after losing the title to Rhea Ripley but it feels like a retread to go back with her holding the briefcase. This one is more about the follow-up than the match as everyone sees the major components of the women’s division being Ripley, Flair, Lynch, Banks, and Belair, but they need fresh matches and creating a constant pipeline of new stars and challengers, which hopefully the briefcase can assist with.
Raw Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley (champion) vs. Charlotte Flair
The feud has been less than stellar and that’s putting it mildly. Coming off Hell in a Cell and the DQ finish, you would have assumed a rematch would include a stipulation but instead, it’s a straight match for the title. Left to their own devices and real finish, they should have a strong match and make-up for the poor creative they’ve been saddled with. Ripley has had a rough transition from NXT to Raw and losing the title would be the exclamation point. The big names people anticipate returning are Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks and it’s just a question of where each land and which opponent makes the most sense between Raw and SmackDown.
Raw Tag Team Championship: AJ Styles & Omos (champions) vs. Viking Raiders
Styles and Omos as the tag champions feel like it has run its course and it’s a question of what the future is for Omos? It’s hard to imagine him transitioning well to a singles career but the role with Styles has not progressed since they won the titles and getting the novelty of seeing Omos have an actual match. Styles worked well with Ivar on Monday, but it was a quick match, so we should get a bit more of Styles with the Vikings tonight. This is one of those matches that the crowd could elevate or it could just be thrown out there without a lot of fanfare.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship: Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Usos
This will be on the kickoff show, so this will be the first match of the night and the crowd should be incredible. This should be very good and get the benefit of some extra time if it’s on the kickoff and gets more than ten minutes. I hate the idea of changing the titles on the pre-show before it’s an afterthought. This company loves its rematches, so if The Usos are going to win the titles they can skip the title change here and do it on SmackDown any week. This can definitely be a sleeper match on the card.
PAY-PER-VIEW REWIND
WWE Money in the Bank 2020
Sunday, May 10, 2020
*Jeff Hardy over Cesaro
*SmackDown Tag Team Championship: Kofi Kingston & Big E. (champions) over Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake, John Morrison & The Miz, and Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado
*Bobby Lashley over R-Truth
*SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bayley (champion) over Tamina
*WWE Universal Championship: Braun Strowman (champion) over Bray Wyatt
*WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (champion) over Seth Rollins
*Women’s MITB Ladder Match: Asuka over Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Carmella, Dana Brooke & Lacey Evans
*Men’s MITB Ladder Match: Otis over AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio, Aleister Black, Daniel Bryan, and King Corbin
