Here are my final thoughts on Raw and SmackDown’s Money in the Bank 2021!
Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: I figured The Usos were gonna leave with the titles here! And to be honest, I’m a bit disappointed by that result since Jimmy Uso just got busted for a DUI. It’s not a good message for WWE to send to the fans – you can’t keep someone on TV and give them championship victories after they just got caught for doing something illegal. Ain’t this the same company that punished Rob Van Dam by taking away both his top titles back in 2006? Ya hate to see it.
Anyways, this match was a nice piece of work. I expected more from it considering the level of talent competing in it, though. The shocking near-fall from Rey Mysterio near the match’s end and the final result are what kept it from not being a complete letdown, however. This was good but didn’t really hit that higher tier of a truly memorable PPV matchup. Well, it was a Kickoff Match after all. But my point still stands. I enjoyed this to a certain extent, but it never hit that next level of quality I’ve come to expect from The Usos’ matches.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Asuka vs. Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki A.S.H. vs. Liv Morgan vs. Zelina Vega vs. Natalya vs. Tamina (Money in the Bank Ladder Match for a Women’s Championship Match Contract)
Reactions: This Money in the Bank match was your usual paint by the numbers rendition of the lauded multi-person ladder affair. There weren’t any truly standout moments to speak of from start to finish. And the usual innovative and jaw-dropping spots you get from a great MITB match were non-existent here. And my biggest fear came true! Alexa Bliss and her spooky BS disappointingly played a part here – she actually used it during the match against Zelina Vega during a truly horrible moment and almost took me completely out of it! Her presence here did a way more harm than good. The rest of the action that was put on display here was uninspired and the finish also did nothing for me. This was one of the most uneventful MITB matches I’ve ever seen.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
AJ Styles and Omos (c) vs. The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: This was another example of a good match that gave WWE’s tag team some shine. Coming into this one, I didn’t expect much from it. But it ended up being a bit better than I originally expected (which is the total opposite of how I felt coming into the Blue Brand’s tag team title match). This one got a good amount of time to flourish. And I gotta hand it to Omos – he didn’t look like a complete clumsy oaf and made sure to put his big man dominance on display with some simple but effective maneuvers. AJ Styles and The Viking Raiders put in a ton of work to make the most of their time given, which was effective. Erik and Ivar’s offense never bore me, so it’s hard to ever hate their matches. Good effort from everyone involved here.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Bobby Lashley (c) (with MVP) vs. Kofi Kingston (WWE Championship)
Reactions: Remember when Brock Lesnar completely dismantled John Cena back at SummerSlam 2014? This was pretty much a replay of that assault. Kofi Kingston got one move in throughout the entire match, which was a simple rollup at the very start of it. As soon as Bobby Lashley got back to his feet, he proceeded to decimate Kingston and do it without breaking much of a sweat.
While it pained my soul to watch a former WWE Champion in Kingston get treated like a 205 Live jobber, I can’t say I wasn’t entertained by the manner in which Lashley tortured him. Lashley played to the crowd as he pulled out his most painful maneuvers and delivered them to his helpless opponent. Now would I have liked to have seen Kingston mount some sort of comeback at some point? Of course! But it just wasn’t meant to be. Lashley destroyed Kingston and did it in an impressive fashion. And to be quite honest, I quite liked it.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Reactions: So the first half of this match started out slow and didn’t really do much to grab the attention of me and the crowd. And that was quite evident as the fans in attendance began chanting for Becky Lynch. But once this match got to its halfway point, both ladies kicked things up a notch and pulled out some big moves and crowd popping near falls. Charlotte Flair’s DDT counter to Rhea Ripley’s finisher, Ripley’s deadlift suplex spot, and Flair’s top rope-assisted Natural Selection definitely got me out of my seat. While this match didn’t surpass both ladies’ amazing WrestleMania 36 matchup, this rematch was enjoyable in its own right and managed to turn the crowd from bored to highly appreciative. Flair winning the Women’s Championship made me audibly yawn out loud. But that tired result didn’t take away from what was a pretty strong matchup.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Ricochet vs. John Morrison vs. Riddle vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Big E vs. Kevin Owens vs. King Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins (Money in the Bank Ladder Match for a World Championship Match Contract)
Reactions: GET YOUR ISH TOGETHER, PEACOCK! Moments before this match got underway, the stream started stuttering and made everyone on Twitter make their displeasure quite known. I missed damn near everything this bout had to offer since Peacock turned the match I wanted to see the most from this event look like a slideshow.
In times like this, I get really nostalgic for how good the WWE Network turned out to be once all the kinks got ironed out. I barely had these sorts of streaming issues when the WWE Network was intact here in the United States. I can’t even give this match a proper rating cause I could barely see what was going on. Damn you, Peacock! It’s a shame I had to watch Twitter clips just to see all the cool stuff Ricochet ended up doing here. And Big E won, which is super dope. But once again, Peacock’s streaming issues kept me from truly basking in his emotional win.
Rating: Could barely see what was going on…
Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Edge (WWE Universal Championship)
Reactions: First off, lemme acknowledge Pat McAfee for that fire line he dropped on commentary during this math. Man’s said Edge’s eyes were fluttering like Peacock. That was an awesome roast, Pat! So this match was painfully slow. Getting a rest hold near the starting moment of this thing was definitely one of the reasons why. The pacing for this one was off and made most of it a complete chore to sit through. When the action finally picked up, it arrived a bit too late for my tastes.
But I still have to give props to both men for eventually making me care about the war. Edge’s comeback added some much-needed fire to the whole proceeding. And we got a slew of cool spots that mostly took place on the outside. After the ref bump took place, this match got even crazier and produced some crazy moments with The Usos, The Mysterios, and Seth Rollins. The repeated interference from Rollins was definitely a bit much, but it made sense since Edge and Rollins are obviously going head to head at SummerSlam. This match was cool at points, but its slow start and overabundance of Rollins kept me from giving it a higher grade. And speaking of SummerSlam, it looks like Roman Reigns vs. John Cena is a go!
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Match of the Night
From all the clips I watched on Twitter, the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match!
Final Verdict
This year’s MITB PPV was perfectly serviceable. The only match that was downright boring in my opinion was the Women’s MITB Ladder match. The rest of the card featured some good to halfway great matches (make sure you check out Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair!), but they didn’t really do enough to lift this show to a level higher than just good. The stuttering issues on the Peacock app kept me from watching every portion of the Men’s MITB match, which forced me to head to Twitter to see what all the fuss was about. And from the looks of it, that match was awesome. The main event was solid at best, but the post-match appearance of John Cena was definitely a nice surprise. This year’s show falls right in the middle as far as its overall quality goes.
Final Score: 3 out of 5 Stars
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WWE Money in the Bank 2021: Reactions & Review