Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) vs. The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
Reactions: Pointless. Devoid of any meaningful action. And downright offensive. A terrible time filler.
Rating: 1 out of 5 Stars
Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Money in the Bank Ladder Match for a WWE Championship Match Contract)
Reactions: This may have been one of the weaker MITB matches in recent memory. It certainly had its shining moments, but it still didn’t deliver on its promise of delivering a truly incredible matchup. With quality Superstars like AJ, Owens, Zayn, Ziggler and Nakamura involved, I expected a MOTY candidate. The feeling I got from this match once it wrapped up was “good, but not worth a rewatch.” Zayn deserves MVP honors for his Sunset Powerbomb off the ladder to Ziggler and his devastating Half-Nelson Suplex to Owens on the ring apron. AJ had a few cool moments in this match too, but they only ended in him getting destroyed by falling off or onto a ladder. Ziggler and Owens seemed to be there just to soak up damage, Nakamura pulled off a cool last-minute sprint and Corbin ultimately pulled off the shocking win. Even with all the car crash moments that took place during this MITB Ladder Match, it still left me a bit dissatisfied. Congrats to Corbin, though.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Jinder Mahal (c) (with Sunil Singh and Samir Singh) vs. Randy Orton (WWE Championship)
Reactions: So the presence of Mahal’s lackeys and several wrestling legends at ringside signaled that this match would be full of theatrics. That’s exactly what this match was filled with – outside madness that tried to make this passable title match just a bit more entertaining. While it succeeded at doing just that, this Mahal vs. Orton rematch still wasn’t all that great. Mahal’s legwork on Orton was pretty tiresome since it went on so long. Plus Orton’s comeback work has grown even more stale over the years, which made its appearance here not too thrilling. It’s crazy to say this, but the Singh Brothers ended up being the most entertaining part of this match. They took another nasty Orton beatdown like champs after throughly disrespecting the ringside legends. Once Orton was finished with them, he ran right back into the ring to reenact the very same ending that took place at Backlash. I hope this feud is over. Both guys’ styles of wrestling really don’t compliment each other, which makes for average matches such as this one. Just watch the closing moments of this one if you can.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Match of the Night
The Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match!
Final Verdict
It’s pretty hard to say this, but SD Live actually put on a stinker of a PPV. This was basically a 2-match show – the WWE Tag Team Championship match and the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Everything else was pretty lukewarm and extremely underwhelming. The first ever Women’s Ladder in the Bank Match was unmemorable, plus its ending did nothing to make the actual female winner of that match look any better than she was before. Naomi and Lana’s match was devoid of anything worth watching except for Carmella’s tease of a MITB cash-in. The WWE Championship Match was as bland as it gets and it’s amazing to see that The Singh Brothers were the best parts of the whole thing. Mike Bennett and Maria’s arrival to the WWE was a decent segment, but time will tell if his addition to SD Live was worth the big entrance. There’s really no need to speak about the rest of the card. WWE Money in the Bank 2017 may have set up some interesting feuds for the future, but the PPV as a whole was marred by terrible endings and blah wrestling.
Final Score: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
