Here’s my final thoughts on Raw and SmackDown Live’s WWE Money in the Bank 2019!
Daniel Bryan and Rowan (c) vs. The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso)
Reactions: How’d this hype ass match end up on the Kickoff portion of the show? This would have been an awesome official show opener in place of the Cruiserweight title match (even though I’m happy to see the 205 Live guys make it onto the main card again). This was your classic example of a tag team match that built up perfectly and whipped the crowd into a frenzy by the time it wrapped up.
The Usos can always be counted on to deliver a barn burner of a tag team match, plus the bearded duo of Daniel and Rowan provide a fresh batch of title holders for the SD Live brand. These teams made the Kickoff Show worth tuning into – the middle to closing moments of this contest had me and the live crowd on our feet. Thanks to The Usos’ victory, we’re going to see this match again and it’ll be for the titles. And that pleases me greatly.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Natalya vs. Dana Brooke vs. Naomi vs. Nikki Cross vs. Bayley vs. Mandy Rose vs. Ember Moon vs. Carmella (Money in the Bank Ladder Match for a Women’s Championship Match Contract)
Reactions: BAYLEY DID IT! Watching her grab the briefcase was quite the shock. I figured Ember Moon would get the nod since she was a fresh face who could do great things with a MITB win. Anyways, this was easily my favorite Women’s MITB match thus far. Everyone who was included here meant something to the overall structure of the bout. The ladders expectedly provided a whole lot of entertaining car crash moments.
Naomi’s flips and dips were a definite highlight alongside Ember Moon’s ladder assisted Eclipse to Natalya. Everything else this match consisted of was just as exciting to watch. The story of Carmella fighting through an unfortunate injury to almost claim victory was also a cool little nod that made this bout more of a heart tugger. The action never slowed from start to finish, which helped this match move at a good pace and keep the crowd in its grasp all the while.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE United States Championship)
Reactions: HUH? Samoa Joe’s shoulder was clearly off the mat when the ref counted the “winning” pinfall for Mysterio. That shocking finish was kind of a let down since it was pretty clear that the ref made a mistake that should have been fixed immediately. The post-match beatdown was par for the course as far as Joe is concerned. I wasn’t a big fan of how this all went down, to be honest…
Rating: SURPRISE ROLL UP FTW!
The Miz vs. Shane McMahon (Steel Cage Match)
Reactions: Not only was this bout your run of the mill Steel Cage match, it took a hit in the common sense column. So the ref didn’t allow Shane to break up the Figure Four Leglock put on him, but he was totally cool with letting Shane break up a match ending pin via a robe grab? Sigh…WWE loves to forget their own match rules when it’s convenient for them. As for the match itself, it was a pretty uneventful affair with an incredibly flat ending. Their ‘Mania 35 match was much better than this plodding and entirely confusing specialty match.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Tony Nese (c) vs. Ariya Daivari (WWE Cruiserweight Championship)
Reactions: At first, the apathetic crowd and submission slip-up from Daivari did no favors for this match. But the longer it went on, the better it got. This title defense wasn’t up to the high quality of the matches we got used to seeing from Buddy Murphy, but it was still a fun time. Daivari’s “I’m rich and you’re not!” gimmick is pretty blah, but he’s still a decent hand in the ring. Nese is an okay champion, but I’m just not as enamored with him the way I was when Murphy was running 205 Live. Let’s get Nese some more character development and a better challenger for the next PPV, please.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lacey Evans (WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Reactions: We can award Lacey with “Attire and Entrance of the Night” honors for this show, right? Ok cool. JBL and Okada should be proud of Lacey’s personal dollar bill tribute. This was a pretty good match. If this was meant to showcase even more of Lacey’s in-ring prowess and showcase her as a future champion, then this was largely a success.
We already knew Lacey’s character work is on point, but now we all know her wrestling ability clearly matches up with her strong gimmick. Becky and Lacey were especially rough with each other here, which made a ton of sense considering the bad blood developed between them lately. Lacey’s moveset is pretty interesting and Becky did a good job of maintaining her intensity during the entirety of this title bout. Lacey impressed here, so you know I can’t wait to see even more of her in the near future.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship)
Reactions: Round of applause for “The Man!” She followed up a good match with Lacey with an equally good match with Charlotte. Don’t get me wrong – I’m pretty tired of watching Becky and Charlotte compete against each other, but they’ve never had terrible matches with each other. Charlotte was her usual sly and vicious self, so you know her and Becky put on their usual brawl fest mixed in with some solid submission work.
The ending for this one was pretty unexpected – Lacey’s interference ended up costing Becky the SD Live Women’s title. The follow-up closing stretch was even more of a shocker – Bayley came out to put an end to Lacey and Charlotte’s beatdown on Becky, which led to her cashing in her MITB title shot on Charlotte. Moments later, Bayley landed a finishing flying elbow drop and quickly ended Charlotte’s SmackDown Women’s title reign. What. A. Moment!
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Roman Reigns vs. Elias
Reactions: You know what? I might have to gift Elias with an honorable mention for “Best Attire of the Show” ’cause that white robe of his was pretty sweet. This was more of a extended concert that led into a squash instead of a full match. Reigns got smashed in the back with an acoustic guitar by Elias, Elias entered the arena to do his usual musical performance, then he walked down the ramp to catch a Superman Punch from Reigns. Reigns then ended this “match” by cutting through Elias with a final Spear. This was…decent. I wasn’t looking forward to this match at all, so I’m kinda relieved that it ended so quickly.
Rating: SQUASH!
Seth Rollins (c) vs. AJ Styles (WWE Universal Championship)
Reactions: Dream match fulfilled! I wanted to see Seth and AJ fulfill the promise of a great match that everyone expected of it. And thankfully, that’s exactly what they did. The methodical pace helped this championship encounter increase in intensity the longer it went on. Rollins relied on his slick strikes and high-flying repertoire, while AJ responded with his unique suplexes/slams and concentrated submission work.
The most noteworthy portions of this title match have to be Rollins’ devastating top rope reverse suplex/reverse DDT to AJ and AJ’s Curb Stomp counter that led into an out of nowhere Styles Clash. AJ looked to be on the verge of winning the Universal Championship several times, but the end result was never truly in doubt. The first ever WWE meeting between Rollins and AJ was worth all the hype and more. Here’s hoping that we get a part two and possibly a third in-ring continuation of this rivalry.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Kevin Owens (WWE Championship)
Reactions: While a step below the Universal Championship match, this WWE Championship grudge match was still a pleasure to sit through. Owens’ constant verbal assault of his foes and the crowd is always a treat, plus Kofi’s newfound singles revival is a 2019 highlight. Those factors helped make this match worth getting excited for.
Owens got in a ton of offense on Kofi and focused on further injuring his back with repeated Boston Crab attempts. Kofi did everything in his power to escape that debilitating submission hold and responded with his signature strikes. The action put on display here was fun for the time given, but it didn’t hit the “great” match quality ranking by the time it ended. With 5-8 more minutes tacked onto it, this could have been so much more. All in all though, this was still a good WWE title match.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Baron Corbin vs. Finn Bálor vs. Ali vs. Randy Orton vs. Andrade vs. Brock Lesnar (Money in the Bank Ladder Match for a World Championship Match Contract)
Reactions: God bless Finn. The man took some of the most hellacious bumps I’ve ever seen during this Men’s MITB Ladder match. The back pain he must be enduring right now has to be on another level. Prayers up for Ricochet, too – that toss he took from McIntyre that sent him crashing through an ladder on the outside was insane! This was the perfect match to close out the show, honestly. Orton played his role well here as the sneaky veteran who picked his spots well. Finn, Ricochet, Andrade, and Ali provided us all with their high-flying expertise (that insane Sunset Flip Powerbomb from Andrade to Finn and that beautiful ladder assisted Spanish Fly were definite jaw dropping moments).
McIntyre and even Corbin looked great out there too, plus it was fun watching this partnership break down near the end. This was an awesome ladder match that was capped off by a shocking ending. So it turns out Brock Lesnar, the winner of this bout, was the one who ambushed Sami Zayn and stole his spot in the match. At the very last second, he sped past the rest of the pack, prevented Ali from grabbing the briefcase, and stole the win for himself. I’m not even that mad at this result – the match was great and the finish was pretty damned cool to boot!
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Match of the Night
The Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match!
Final Verdict
So it turns out that the follow up PPV to WrestleMania 35 was actually better than the big show itself. Money in the Bank 2019 featured two standout matches that deserve repeated viewings – the Universal Championship match and the Men’s MITB ladder match. The rest of the card provided fans with some decent to good action as well. The women especially delivered some quality action on this evening. Becky’s back to back title defenses and Bayley’s shocking MITB cash-in/title win were definite standouts from this event.
The nonsensical moments that popped up (Rey defeating Joe even though Joe’s shoulder was clearly off the mat and the ref forgetting the rules of a Steel Cage match during Shane/Miz) hampered the show a bit. Plus the unnecessary Lars Sullivan squash segment and lame meeting between Reigns/Elias knocked this show down a peg, too. I still enjoyed the majority of this show, however – the good certainly outweighed the bad. I even enjoyed seeing Brock claim the MITB briefcase! MITB 2019 was an easy and overall enjoyable watch.
Final Score: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
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WWE Money in the Bank 2019: Reactions & Review