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Here are my thoughts on the pay per view:
I was not surprised that they started with the Smackdown Money in the Bank match. Since the show was going to end with the cage match, it would allow for the winner of the ladder match to possibly cash it in since we were told by Matt Hardy that he would do it. They gave this match a lot of time, but with what was going on during the match, it did not feel like it affected the match. We had Big Show breaking the ladder early in the match to set up his use of the Mega Ladder. There was a lot of good stuff that happened in this match and I will probably miss some of the spots. All eight men played their roles in the match very well. When Drew set up the ladder against the ring to catapult Christian into it, I thought they were going to do something where Christian would have landed on the ladder and climb into the ring (We saw something similar done in the Raw match). I liked that Christian hip tossed Ziggler off the ladder while staying on the ladder instead of going to the mat as well. I liked how you had some alliances but they were short lived. I liked when Drew sent Hardy, Rhodes, and Ziggler into the ring post to affect their ability to grab the briefcase effectively. When Kane went for the announce tables, you had to wonder what they were going to do with the tables especially since the ladders were in front of the tables. When Kofi looked at the ladder after hitting Trouble in Paradise, you had to know that something crazy was going to happen. The Boom Drop was impressive, but it was a move that effectively eliminated each man from the match. I thought they did a good job spacing out the big spots in the match so you could appreciate each major spot without having to worry about missing something.
I liked Cody hitting Show in the ankle with a smaller ladder to keep Show from climbing the ladder. The springboard move by Kofi onto the ladder followed by the missile drop kick by Cody Rhodes was impressive. Dolph hitting the Zig Zag onto the Mega Ladder probably did more than hitting the move the regular way. The ladder shower on Show was a unique spot. It is a good thing the fans didn’t have ladders or they would have probably thrown them on Show. The brawl between Kane and Ziggler on the ladder leading into the sleeper was well done as well as Kane getting out of the hold. I was a bit surprised that Cody tried to escape the ring because you can’t win the match if you aren’t in the ring. It did give the visual of the ‘Rey Mysterio Memorial Lawn Dart into a larger object’ moment.
Since Christian and Hardy had talked about how they should win on the Peep Show, I liked Hardy and Christian fighting on the top of the ladder for the briefcase.
After years of being the person to catch the smaller guys in these matches, it was nice to give Kane the victory in the match. I know that I did not pick Kane to win, but anyone in the match worked hard enough to deserve it.
Striker did a very good job during the match talking about the feuds on Smackdown during the match since he is familiar with what is going on during the show.
I liked the use of the Mega Ladder during the match because you weren’t going to have to worry about resetting the ladder after a spot knocked the wrestlers off.
I thought Sheamus’ promo was good. I liked that he started off with a fella to get it out of the way. Sheamus did a good job trying to put over how dangerous Nexus could be. Sheamus also did a good job talking about how he needs to win in the main event in order to have credibility with the fans.
I thought the Divas Title Match was good and was better than what I expected to see from them. Alicia did a good job working on Eve’s back throughout the match. I liked that Eve was unable to do a suplex because of her back, but then she tried for a flip senton from the turnbuckles only to land on Alicia’s knees followed by the axe kick.
I thought the Jack Swagger talking to his mom segment was good, but I think it will work better if Swagger thinks that it was not on camera so he can still talk about how great his relationship is with his father instead of coming off as a man who is angry at his dad ‘riding on his coat tails’.
With the Smackdown Money in the Bank match being so long, I wasn’t sure if another match was going to be short changed. I figured if one match was going to have time cut, it was going to be the Tag Title Match. It did not seem like they took any time from the match. I was looking forward to this match and it was better than I thought. These two teams work well together. They did a good job with blind tags during the match which shows that they are very familiar working in a tag situation. There were also a number of good double team moves, like the Alley Oop Samoan Drop to Kidd after the second blind tag. Because they have wrestled each other a number of times, it made sense for Kidd to be able to know to get his knees up. The slam by Natalya on Tamina was impressive. With the current tag team scene in the company, I hope that we will see more matches between these two teams.
As I was watching the tag title match, I was wondering if the shade of blue that the Usos were wearing was the same shade of blue that the British Bulldogs wore a few times when they were wrestling as a way to distract Smith and Kidd.
I thought the World Title Match between Rey Mysterio and Jack Swagger was good. Rey came off as a major underdog because of him limping before and during the match. Swagger was going after the ankle throughout the match while Rey was trying to avoid him. In the same way that Rey always seems to go for the 619, Swagger was trying to put Rey in the ankle lock a number of times in the match before applying it. The bump that Swagger took into the turnbuckles when Rey was in the tree of woe looked scary because of the possible compression of the spine. Swagger’s counter of the springboard move after the 619 into the ankle lock was well done. I was a bit surprised that Rey retained the title but it was a good finish to the match.
With Swagger doing a lot of things that you associate with Kurt Angle (the suplex after climbing the turnbuckles and the ankle lock) and since Rey has invoked Eddie Guerrero’s memory a lot, it made sense that they would use the loosened boot that we saw at Wrestlemania 20. It was well done
I thought the announcers did a good job during the match talking about whether Rey was doing more harm to his ankle when he did some of his regular moves. I also liked how Striker commented on how Swagger might have hooked the wrong leg after the doctor bomb because he allowed Rey to use his ‘good leg’ to get on the rope.
I liked that Swagger was angry that he lost the match and wanted to hurt Rey and break his ankle. When Kane came out, I was wondering why he would go after Swagger instead of trying to cash in the briefcase. However, it appeared to be a way for Kane to get rid of Swagger from ringside and get the briefcase. That made a lot of sense because Swagger at ringside might have cost Kane the match if he simply cashed in the briefcase as soon as the match ended.
In the same way that everyone other than Rob Van Dam, it made sense for Kane to take advantage of the champion’s weakness to win the title. I was a bit surprised to hear the crowd behind Kane more than Rey during the match.
If the champion is not at 100% when the briefcase holder cashes in the briefcase, why don’t they try to get themselves disqualified to thwart the briefcase holder’s attempt to take advantage of the situation?
I wonder if we will see someone return to action after being in a vegetative state to face Kane? I wonder if it will have something to do with how that person was put in a vegetative state.
I wonder if Kane will continue to be as vigilant about finding out the person who put Undertaker in a vegetative state .
I thought the Chris Jericho/Edge promo in the back was good. Edge should be cockier than Jericho since he has won a Money in the Bank match before and he has successfully cashed it in twice. They also teased that maybe the winner of the other money in the bank match will also cash in immediately.
I think if there was a low point to the pay per view, it was the Women’s Title match. This was the women’s title match that I had the greater expectations for but it was missing something, especially coming after the cashing in of the Money in the Bank briefcase. I thought the spot with Layla pulling out the ring skirt when Kelly was on the apron was a good touch and brought back good memories of Fit Finlay. I wonder if Michelle is going to find out that Layla knocked Kelly into her during the match when she was taunting Kelly at ringside. This match was okay but it was not as good as the Divas Title Match.
I liked the Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match, but I thought the Smackdown match was better. I don’t know if it was because it was the opening match of the show so you didn’t have the other match to compare it to.
I thought that it was interesting to see how the men hesitated at the start of the match because they weren’t sure whether to go for the ladder immediately or wear down their opponents before trying for the ladder. We saw that they decided to wear each other down first. I thought there were a few unique moves where the wrestlers were being thrown into the ladders because it wasn’t simply throwing someone into a stationary ladder, but they were using ladders that were still moving. Evan Bourne hit the spectacular moves both with and without the ladder. I thought the IEDDT using the ladder was a good move. I liked the combination of moves by Morrison by giving Miz a flapjack and then hitting the drop toe hold to DiBiase into the ladder. The spot where Mark Henry ‘parted the red briefcase sea’ while Orton, Edge, Morrison and Jericho fought over the briefcase looked good and it was followed by Bourne kicking Henry getting some extra momentum from the ladder. I wish we would have seen the Henry spot from the crane camera.
I didn’t know what to think of when Maryse tried to climb the ladder to get the briefcase because what would have happened if she grabbed it since she was not part of the match. It did give DiBiase a chance to try to sneak onto the ladder for the case. I really liked the spot when Miz catapulted Morrison into the ladder and Morrison grabbed the ladder and climbed into the ring and stopped Edge on the ladder. Miz and Edge dropping the ladder onto Morrison’s chest while he was trapped in the middle of the ladder was a good spot, followed by Edge knocking Miz down with the ladder and then pushing Morrison down while still in the ladder.
I wish they would have used Big Show’s Mega Ladder during this match because it would have avoiding some logistical problems setting up the ladder. The press slam spot by Henry of Miz onto the ladder on top of DiBiase was well done. I was a bit surprised that they didn’t make a big deal out of Bourne being on Henry’s back . I liked Henry catching Bourne after being thrown to the floor and then hitting him with the World’s Strongest Slam. The ensuing series of moves on Henry was also well done. I thought the spot with the participants on the multiple ladders was okay but it seemed a bit cluttered and might have looked different if they were on the Mega Ladder. I liked the spot with Orton hitting the RKO on Morrison followed immediately by Bourne hitting the Shooting Star Press.
I wonder if this was not a TV-PG product if we would have seen a different camera angle when Maryse climbed the ladder before being told to go to her room by John Morrison. I also wonder if Morrison would have done something to Maryse if the product was a bit edgier?
I think one of the best things on the pay per view was Miz’s promo after he won the Money in the Bank match. It felt like it was from the heart and not like he was reading a script. I think Miz has been one of the best on the mic over the last month and he has taken his promos to the same level as Edge and Chris Jericho in the company. Miz has also become one of the better workers and I hope he is able to successfully cash in the briefcase when he decides to do so. I have a scenario in mind for Miz to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase and I don’t think it will happen, but it would relate to his time during the first season of NXT. As I was watching the promo a second time, it reminded me of a promo that I saw Erick Stevens cut in 2005 after winning Rage in the Cage. I thought that both of them signified that they turned the corner and were on their way to something special.
I thought the WWE Title match was okay, but for the first two-thirds of the match it felt like we were waiting for the moment when Nexus made their way to the ring to set up the finish to the match. This match was very deliberate and stood out from the rest of the matches on the show which were a lot faster paced. You had the usual Super Cena moves during the match when a mere mortal would have been unable to continue or survive. I was a bit surprised that Sheamus did not walk out of the cage when Cena was trapped in the ropes instead of punching him to let Cena get out of the ropes.
I thought the referee throwing the key into the crowd was a good touch. When they did the ref bump, it made sense that Cena ‘would have won’ if not for the referee in the ring being unavailable. However, wasn’t there a second referee on the floor or was he only to determine the winner for an escape because I am sure that the referee heard Sheamus tap.
Why is it when there is no match or when it doesn’t count that the wrestler taps immediately in a hold when it doesn’t matter.
What did Darren Young do to deserve being attacked again by John Cena? Doesn’t he get to wait for Cena to go through the group completely before getting attacked a second time? I wonder if it will be four on one or five on one on Raw after what Cena did to Gabriel, Young, and Tarver.
While there was some good banter between the announcers tonight, there was a lot of petty sniping between Cole and Striker and Lawler and Striker. I also thought there were a few times during the show where Striker was doing a bit too much cheerleading for the heels than usual.
