Photos courtesy: Fetch, Fremantle Media
Money in the Bank might now be the second biggest “gimmick” match that the WWE has on the calendar (after the Royal Rumble). Although it has suffered from a bit of overkill, the fact that it’s once a year and has a whopping big prize on the line means that it hasn’t met the fate of other “themed” shows where there’s little rhyme or reason behind the stipulations.
2015’s show kicked off with the Money in the Bank match, pitting seven hungry up and comers all eager to grab that brass ring…ok. So it featured four former World Champions, and another Royal Rumble winner amongst it’s cast but at least Neville was a new name. He was unlikely to win it, of course, merely inhabiting the “Shelton Benjamin” role in the match. All snipes against the line up aside, mind you, it was another great entry into the MITB canon.
It started off at a breakneck speed, with numerous attempts by everyone to quickly climb the ladder (which highlighted the importance of what was at stake) and for once didn’t settle into the usual routine. This seemed to flow really well, not keeping all the big moments for the final stretch. Roman Reigns went into Powerbomb mode, Orton hit his RKO’s and Sheamus was all about the power. Neville, Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler provided the speed and bumps whilst Kane, well, he was in the match too.
The only thing that dragged it down was the finish. Bray Wyatt coming back to cost Roman Reigns the match made little sense from any chronological or logical storyline point of view and Sheamus winning was a bit anti-climatic. It was a result which offered little new going forward. Still, it was one hell of a match and shouldn’t have disappointed anyone in terms of action.
The main event pitted Seth Rollins against Dean Ambrose in a Ladder match for the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Hopes were high for this one and in the main it delivered. The two have a chemistry that shines through in everything that they do and whilst the slow, deliberate pace in the early going kept the crowd a little quiet, they picked things up and drew everyone in. You know, the way wrestlers used to do it. The drama and excitement built to the end, where Rollins finally got a big win under his own steam. It was a very good way to end things.
The other “big” match of the night was the return match between John Cena and Kevin Owens. Whilst inevitable that Cena would even up the score sheet here, this was still a fantastic match. Maybe it’s Cena wanting to prove a point or maybe it’s the challenge that working with Owens provides but there was no denying Cena’s efforts here. This wasn’t simply all about Owens carrying the “inferior” worker to a belter. Cena unveiling new moves (even if not always hitting them 100%) played into the storyline as Cena got increasingly frustrated that his trademark moves didn’t have the usual effect and gave the idea that Cena was having to dig deep and come up with new things to even have a chance of beating Owens. And even when he did, it was Owens who had the last laugh by hitting an Apron Powerbomb on the “winner”. Argue all you want about the “politics” of wrestling. This was just a damn fantastic match.
The undercard was a little bit hit and miss. As depressing as the thought of Nikki Bella vs Paige sounded it was actually a very good effort, all things considered. It had a daft finish, the old “stuff your bra Twin Magic” one which didn’t help it overall but it was a very solid match. It was certainly better than the Intercontinental Title match between Ryback and The Big Show, which merely existed for The Miz to interfere and set up a three way match for a later PPV. Fine if this was Raw, not so fine on a supposed important show.
The tag team title match between The New Day and Prime Time Players was reasonable but far too short to gain any momentum and the PTP title win just seemed to come from nowhere.
The three big matches on the card all delivered and made for a fantastic opening, middle and end. The three other matches didn’t really catch fire and two had daft finishes that negated the hard work put in by the workers. Still, three great matches on one show and nothing really offensive on the rest means that overall this was a very good show indeed.
The DVD adds the Kickoff match between R-Truth and King Barrett along with a Sheamus Promo. The Blu-ray adds Raw and Smackdown segments, the best of which is a Kevin Owens/Neville match.
Format reviewed: DVD
Thank you to our partners, WWEDVD.co.uk and Fetch for providing our review copy of WWE Money in the Bank 2015, which is available on DVD in the UK from Monday, August 24th 2015. You can pre-order your copy from WWEDVD.co.uk now by clicking here.