Money in the Bank '11

Legacy Review
Money in the Bank '11

July 17, 2011 from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL

Commentary: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Booker T

Going into the summer of 2011, WWE was in a rut. For better or worse, John Cena had been the man for 6 years. Though he was slowly but steadily improving in the ring, his promo work veered from outstanding to phoning it in and playing the hits. Most of the stars of the previous generation had retired (Shawn Michaels, Edge) or transitioned to part-time (Triple H, Undertaker, Chris Jericho). Though WWE did sign a few big indy stars, two of whom made major impacts on this show, they were mostly interested in growing all their new talent from scratch in-house, with mixed at best results. The brand split was starting to collapse due to the thin roster. The two hottest angles of the past year, The Miz's rise to main event level and the Nexus invasion, had both been killed by the John Cena Heel Credibility Destroying Machine, a style that worked in the 1980s but wasn't as suited for modern wrestling audiences. Most mainstream media outlets had little interest in covering anything wrestling related. Basically, WWE needed something to shake things up. Enter CM Punk. This was the second stand alone Money in the Bank show, and the first where a MITB match had not been held the previous Wrestlemania. It was an event all its own now.

In a statement of how the titles were treated in this era, neither secondary champion (IC champ Ezekiel Jackson and US champ Dolph Ziggler) is booked in this show, and there's no tag team matches at all.

SmackDown Money in the Bank competitors: Daniel Bryan- When "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson signed with WWE in late 2009 he was generally considered the best technical wrestler in the world, as well as one of the top submission specialists. He was a Founding Father of Ring of Honor, had a 462 day reign as ROH World Champion, unified the ROH World and Pure championships, was a 2 time PWG World Champion (a title who's list of winners is even more a who's who of current stars than the ROH title) and had made regular tours in Japan, including an IWGP Junior Tag Team title win. His run in WWE had gone less smoothly. He was part of the inaugural season of the original "game show" format of NXT, where he was consistently losing matches and was often on the receiving end of sharp barbs from both The Miz and Michael Cole on commentary, who made fun of the "losers on the internet" that were for some reason fans of Bryan. Then he was fired after the original Nexus invasion for using a tie to choke Justin Roberts, a no no in the post-Benoit era. He was quickly re-hired, made a surprise return at Summerslam '10 and the next month won the US title, but he still had trouble getting a consistent wins. Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel were also part of the Nexus. Slater was already showing his skill as a comedy jobber, reliable ring hand and tag wrestler, while Gabriel had trouble distinguishing himself beyond "that guy that does that one cool move". Cody Rhodes was doing the Masked Cody gimmick, had gotten the biggest win of his career the previous Wrestlemania over Rey Mysterio and was weeks away from his first IC title win. Former Nexus leader Wade Barrett was now leading The Corre and had just dropped the IC title. Sheamus was already a 2 time WWE Champion despite being in the company less than two years. It paid to be Triple H's workout buddy. Sin Cara was one of Mexico's most popular luchadores and a high profile signing by WWE with the intention of him being the next Rey Mysterio. Unfortunately, Cara had a difficult time adjusting to the American/WWE wrestling style and his matches were mostly memorable for their botches and the silly special orange lighting they were given. Kane, is Kane. 

SmackDown Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Daniel Bryan wins in 24:27- Crickets from the Chicago crowd for Cara's entrance. In fact, little reaction for anyone, even Bryan. A testament to how the booking was going in this era. Cole is still bashing Bryan on commentary, calling him a "nerd" at every opportunity. The match quickly breaks into mostly singles pairings. Cara goes on an early tear, getting some basic lucha moves in and looking as good as he has his whole WWE run so far. Maybe it was the lighting. He even hits a Spanish Fly on Bryan. But the fun doesn't last, as Sheamus absolutely MURDERS Cara, dropping him straight through a ladder on the apron. Cara gets stretchered out. The injury angle is cover for Cara getting suspended for a wellness violation. Everyone gets in and the hope ladder climb spots start. The first CM Punk chant of the night rings out about 15 minutes in. Barrett tries to get Slater and Gabriel to help him like old times but they turn on him. The crowd starts to get into the match. Kane comes in and kills everyone, but Bryan stops him on a ladder climb, giving us the first Bryan chant of the match. Cole forgets himself for a moment and actually puts Bryan over as a submission specialist, then spends the next two minutes straight burying him again to make up with Vince. Sheamus takes a chokeslam into a ladder that doesn't break. Ouch. Bryan fights Barrett and Cody off the top of the ladder and grabs the briefcase to a huge pop and Bryan chant. This was slower than most multi-man ladder matches and did a bit too much one on one in the first part, but it was a very logical match that depended on a natural, realistic approach instead of high spots and in the end succeeded wonderfully. Bryan would cash in to win the World title at TLC in December and invent the Yes! chant the same night. ****1/4

WWE Divas Championship: Kelly Kelly (c) (w/Eve Torres) def Brie Bella (w/Nikki Bella) in 4:54- Unlike today, the Bellas are pretty much indistinguishable from one another. Kelly yells when she's selling. Kelly yells when she's on offense. She's like a one woman tennis match. Kelly hits a Zig Zagish something to win. Like most Divas era matches it had enough to look mostly competent but not much else. Divas era matches weren't piss breaks because we hate women, they were piss breaks because the wrestling was completely unmemorable. Booker gets his shucky ducky quack quack in after the match is over. 1/2*

Mark Henry def The Big Show in 6:00- Henry was in the early days of his Hall of Pain gimmick, though that name hadn't been come up with yet, and was at his peak as a wrestler. Shockingly, they go to the power moves right away. Henry is in control most of the match, and works Show's knee. Show tries a comeback, but Henry counters a chokeslam attempt into a World's Strongest Slam. Show has the gall to kick out, so Henry gives him a second one and then two big splashes to finish it. Considering who was in there this actually isn't bad at all. Keeping it short and sweet was smart. After the match Henry pillmanizes Show's leg and Show gets carted out, with another CM Punk chant in the background. Henry would go on to win the World title and he and Show spent the fall feuding over it, including the second ever ring collapse spot in WWE history. **3/4

Backstage, Vince and Johnny Ace confer. Vince says he's been negotiating with Punk all week with no movement. Vince tells a baby faced Josh Matthews that there is no deal done and blames Punk for walking out on Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Raw Money in the Bank competitors: Alberto Del Rio came to WWE in 2010 and was instantly pushed to the moon. He won the 2011 Royal Rumble and was a Vince favorite at this point. Alex Riley was in the second game show season of NXT with The Miz as his pro, then worked as Miz's lackey before turning on him just a couple of months before this show. Evan Bourne, AKA Matt Sydal, had a few years in the indys before joining WWE and had mild singles pushes, but found most of his success in tag teams and hadn't quite reached the level as a worker that he would after leaving WWE and heading back to the indys. Jack Swagger was a champion collegiate wrestler, former WWEECW champ, won the last MITB match held at a Wrestlemania (26 in 2010) and cashed in to win the World Heavyweight Title the next Smackdown. Kofi Kingston was already a multi-time secondary and tag champ, and had inherited the King of Ladder Match Spots crown from Shelton Benjamin. The Miz had won MITB the previous year and ran with the WWE title through Wrestlemania before getting destroyed by Cena. R-Truth had just had the biggest push of his career, challenging Cena for the WWE title at the last PPV in the feud that gave us crazy R-Truth and Little Jimmy. Rey Mysterio, is Mysterio. 

Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Alberto del Rio wins in 15:54- Del Rio is still coming out in fancy cars, but no Ricardo intro here. Shame. Nice pop for Kofi. Truth has no music on his entrance. Miz gets a bit of a pop, while Chicago boos Mysterio right from the start. Everyone grabbed a ladder coming down the ramp, and as soon as the bell rings they go right after del Rio. They throw him to the floor, throw the ladders on top of him, then for good measure Miz throws Mysterio on top of the pile. They do the multiple dives to the outside spot, topped by Bourne diving off the top of the tallest ladder. After falling off the ladder in the ring Miz hurts his knee and leaves the match. Kofi runs through multiple nice high spots, then gets a 619 around the ladder from Mysterio. They set up four ladders in the ring and all seven guys climb up and have a fight for the briefcase in a great visual. Most are thrown down, but Kofi lays on top of two ladders and goes for the briefcase. Swagger makes the save. Miz limps back into the match to a HUGE pop and goes for the briefcase, but Mysterio pulls him down, starts to climb himself and gets booed out of the building. He's stopped by del Rio, who pulls his mask off then grabs the briefcase to win. Unlike the SD match this was very much a classic multi-man high energy spotfest, and it's hard to go wrong with that kind of layout. ****

World Heavyweight Championship (stipulation: Orton could lose the title by DQ): Christian def Randy Orton (c) by DQ and wins the title in 12:20- This is the really good "ONE MORE MATCH!" feud, when Christian kept losing title matches and always demanded one more match. For this one got a really good lawyer to throw in the DQ stip. Usual high pitched pop for Orton. As soon as the bell rings Christian rolls outside, grabs a chair, and offers it to Orton. Orton refuses and they work a standard match for a while. It's a good back and forth, no one stays in control, and after several PPV matches they have nice chemistry, but are only working "good", not "great". Orton kicks out of the Unprettier (I always preferred that name). Later on Orton teases the skull punt. After the usual he goes for the RKO, but Christian retreats to the corner and spits right in Orton face. An enraged Orton grounds and pounds on Christian then hits him with a low blow to get DQ'd and fall right into the trap. Christian wins the title. Orton jumps Christian on the outside and gives him TWO RKOs on the Spanish announce table, and the table doesn't break on either. Owie. If Orton hates getting spit on that much it's a good thing he's never wrestled Naito. ***1/4

Main event feud recap- On the June 27th episode of Raw, Punk, already declared the #1 contender the week previous, cost Cena a non-title tables match against R-Truth, grabbed a mic, assumed Punk promo position at the top of the entrance ramp, and delivered one of the most famous promos in wrestling history. The worked shoot (Punk had gotten permission from Vince beforehand to say whatever he wanted) was to become known as the Pipebomb, immediately catapulted Punk to megastar status, and caught the attention of media outlets and created buzz in a way nothing in wrestling had done since the Attitude Era. Much as Punk did in his first heel feud in WWE with Jeff Hardy when he essentially recreated his first Ring of Honor feud with Raven, here Punk drew inspiration from the famous Summer of Punk storyline that ran as he was leaving ROH. Punk admitted that his WWE contract was expiring the night of Money in the Bank (and there was truth to this, his real contract would be up later that week) and he was going to win the WWE title and leave the company with it. The following weeks of Raw saw Punk suspended, reinstated at Cena's insistence, and a very public contract negotiation between Punk and Vince where, among other things, Punk demanded the return of WWE Ice Cream Bars. In real life a new contract was already set, in storyline terms Punk was leaving. A desperate Vince even threatened to fire Cena if he lost the match.

WWE Championship: CM Punk def John Cena (c) in 33:04- To say the crowd is nuclear hot is an understatement. On a 1-10 scale they're at about a 15. Punk gets a pop for the ages and gets time before Cena's entrance to soak everything in. When Cena's music hits the boos are so loud that even Lawler exclaims "Man oh man!". To Cena's credit he plays his role perfectly, walking straight to the ring and making no effort to engage the crowd. The match starts slow with mat wrestling and counters, not unlike an 80s NWA World title match or New Japan match. As it slowly builds Punk takes a suplex from inside to outside the ring. These two have amazing chemistry and work so smooth together. In keeping with the old school theme, Cena gets out the old abdominal stretch! The pace of this match is outstanding, everything is building at just the right rate and rhythm. There's a nice counter sequence where Punk goes for the GTS, Cena counters into the World's Worst STF, then Punk counters that into the Anaconda Vice. Punk kicks out of an AA. After a top rope legdrop, Punk kicks out of a SECOND AA! I remember watching this show live and that near fall scaring the hell out of me. Punk fights off the Super AA and hits the GTS but Cena falls outside. Vince and Johnny Ace come out, while Punk is distracted by them Cena hooks in the WWSTF. Vince calls for the bell Montreal Screwjob style, then sends Ace out to ring it. Cena rolls out and decks Ace, saying that's not the way he wants it done. When he gets back in Punk grabs him, nails the GTS, gets the 3 count and the most epic pop you will ever hear in the history of wrestling. Vince looks like someone just took away his hot secretary. He grabs a headset on commentary, says kill the music and get del Rio out here for the cash in. Del Rio runs out, but the second he gets in the ring Punk takes him out with a roundhouse kick. Punk then takes the belt, jumps the barricade, in one of the most iconic images in wrestling history blows a kiss to Vince, and leaves through the crowd. Everything, everything in this match was as perfect as you could ever ask for. ***** match, ****** moment

Later that night, Punk tweeted a photo showing that the WWE title belt was safe and sound......in his refrigerator. 

Overall Show Thoughts: Everything changed for WWE this night, though there would still be speed bumps. Punk came back just two weeks later and beat Cena again at Summerslam, but this time del Rio successfully cashed in on him, with the help of....Kevin Nash, leading to a less than thrilling conclusion to Summer of Punk II. Punk would get the belt back at Survivor Series and begin the 434 day reign. But in my mind, all the good things WWE has done the last few years, the rise of NXT and WWE's willingness to get the best wrestlers in the world no matter where they came from and (mostly) use them right all started right here. In addition to Punk, Daniel Bryan became a main event player, there were two great MITB matches, a good WHC match and an inoffensive undercard. This is one of my favorite shows of all time.

OVERALL GRADE: A+