For the first time in a very long time, I watched a PPV live this week. WWE Money in The Bank this year was, for me anyway, a must see for one reason. We had a couple of matches where predicting the winner was always going to be pretty tough, and that uncertainty is what will get me watching.
The two MITB matches,at least before the PPV started were, I think, pretty wide open. In the traditional briefcase match we had Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, which gave the suggestion that the two would scupper each others chances, leaving the field open for all the others. The only real problem was none of them were ever going to win. RVD, Kofi,Swagger… the future? But still, at least it was a choice between two.
In the main event, and I cannot believe I am saying this, I totally did not expect Cena to win. I know, I know,we should always expect Cena to win. I have made a lot of points on the prediction league betting on Cena, so why would this be any different?
Looking at the guys in the match, the winner had to come from Cena, Orton or Kane. Much as though wrestling fans would have loved to see Roman, Cesaro or Bray pick up that title, it was just never going to happen. Del Rio and Sheamus were really only making up the numbers, so that left the other three.
If we work on the assumption that the belt will go back to Bryan when fit, then no way could any of the first three win that belt for the first time as a filler champion. To have any of them win it, then lose it back to Bryan would be damaging to them. To have Del Rio win the title would have been damaging to WWE, the arena, and most of Boston. Sheamus is already holding a belt, (or was the last I checked) so that would rule him out.
So that left us with three. Orton was in my opinion, the best option. With the Authority and Kane behind him, a win for the Viper would not have damaged anyone else in the match. The deck was stacked, no-one could have overcome those odds, blah de blah de blah…
Kane winning made a bit of sense as well, he was the one who put Bryan on the shelf, he has been feuding or teaming with Bryan for forever, and they had choices how to do it. Kane goes rogue, because nobody really controls The Demon, or Kane takes the belts just to stop someone else winning them. Sets up Bryan for a title shot on his return, job done on that storyline.
Cena was a contender only because he is John Cena. Whatever anyone thinks of him, he always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and as someone pointed out afterwards, WWE is having financial hiccups, and in that situation, they like to revert to the tried and tested. Cena makes money, Cena gets the belt.
And of course, Cena is the only guy stupid enough to offer Bryan a shot at the titles as soon as he returns, because he always does the right thing.
So, thats the winners from MITB, so who are the losers? Where you have winners, you must have losers.
Well first off, we have the pre show panel of experts. As soon as I saw that, I lost a bit of interest. As soon as two of the ‘expert’ panel picked Orton, I had that feeling Cena would win.I knew for certain Randall had zero chance. So the question is, why not have at least one of those ‘experts’ pick the winner?
Now if your rhetorical question alarm was not going off there, let me just say, that was a rhetorical question. The pre show panel are there to divert attention away from any winner, play up the strengths of anyone else, let people know how unpredictable things are, and NEVER mention the eventual winner. Unless its a one on one match, where you have a split panel, usually two picking the loser.
Next we have Roman Reigns. Before the injury to Bryan, MITB looked like the PPV for Roman, win the briefcase, and WWE has a year to decide when they want him to win the belt. With Bryan out, and the main event turned into a title match, Reigns went from probable winner to also ran in one fell swoop. No way WWE were putting the belt on him at this point.
Bray Wyatt is another loser, simply because his feud with Cena pretty much ended at MITB. He cant be losing title matches to Cena, he certainly cant be winning title matches against Cena, so where does he go from here? Although this feud had probably run its course for most of us, I am not sure WWE saw it that way, and for Bray, the only way is down after a feud with the top guy in the company.
Then, of course, we have anyone who had to sit through the Summer Rae and Layla match. Does Fandango pick girlfriends/dance partners this way all the time? Was Fandango going to finish with Layla if she lost? What exactly were they fighting for? And if he is not going to be a factor in the match, why was Fandango there?
Overall though, this was a pretty good show,not good enough to make me want to watch the next PPV live, but apart from that ending, which will annoy the bejasus out of the IWC, it was OK. It did highlight the benefit of watching the next day and having the use of a fast forward button, particularly during the love triangle match and the 78 times the commentary team mentioned the amazing value of the WWE Network.
Now this week, instead of my usual recommendations of reading all the articles here on SLTD, I would like to point out a growing concern I have. When I started writing, I pretty quickly picked up on the idea of using lyrics from songs to title my articles. This gimmick was soon infringed by the ever excellent Duckman, and well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Now I hear rumours of another pretender to my crown, and anticipate with much eagerness the return to SLTD tomorrow of the guv’nor, GeorgeSLTD as he is known on twitter. Word on the Street is I will soon need to call the Hulkster to sort out this mess.
Seriously though, SLTD has some super knowledgeable writers in the field of wrestling, and while my ramblings might amuse some, for anyone wanting some real wrestling stuff, check out all the great articles already up on the site, and keep coming back, as more go up all the time.
And please, leave comments. The writers go out of their way, take time out of their days to put articles up for you, and I am sure they would all appreciate some feedback.
And listen to SLTD radio and the mfx podcast. Unless you are under 18, then don’t. Both are superb listening experiences,but possibly sometimes stray into the NSFW category.
And finally, Twitter. You Bastards!! All I want is to be able to pretend I am popular. All I want is the chance to tell my girlfriend I have more followers than her, and where am I? 15 behind! Get on that twitter and get following me, Dont listen to Sir Ian Trumps. @GrantCookDFC is the place to be for witticisms of less than 140 characters, about twice a week. Seriously, go do it. Every time someone does not follow me, an angel cries.And nobody likes crying angels…
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