Money in the Bank 2023 Review: Merry Old England
On July 1st we had the first ever Money in the Bank in England. And it was a hell of a premium live event. The atmosphere in England as rambunctious as ever. We had 2 Money in the Bank ladder matches, men’s and women’s. We also had the Bloodline Civil War. And Seth Rollins defending against Finn Balor for the World Heavyweight Championship. So let’s break down each of the matches and see what we thought of it.
Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Damian Priest vs Santos Escobar vs Butch vs L.A. Knight vs Ricochet vs Logan Paul vs Shinsuke Nakamura
Damian Priest won the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder match. The match featured a group of elite Superstars fighting tooth-and-nail in a life-changing showdown in the hopes of climbing the ladder and seizing the prized Money in the Bank contract, which guarantees a future World Title Match. Not only is this a good choice to lead off Money in the Bank in London, but having Butch come to the ring first is also a smart move to whip the fans into a frenzy.
The fans cheered for Shinsuke Nakamura, Santos Escobar, and Ricochet while booing Damian Priest. But by far the biggest fan reaction and favorite of the match was L.A. Knight. The crowd was firmly behind him and had he grabbed the briefcase the place would have erupted.
Women’s Tag Team Title Match: Ronda Rousey and Shayna Bazler vs Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan
This was a pretty decent match when suddenly out of nowhere Shayna Bazler turned on her tag partner Ronda. This led Liv and Raquel to reclaim the Women’s Tag Team titles. It would be interesting to see where the story between Ronda and Shayna goes from here. And if you’re like me then this is what you’ve been waiting for.
Intercontinental Match: Gunther vs Riddle
Oof. This was a hard-hitting match. As all good Gunther matches should be. The best part of this match was when Gunther started slapping Riddle’s foot. Note that Riddle came into this match with a foot injury and a wrapped foot. Gunther saw this as a clear target and ripped off the wrapping and slapped the hell out of the foot and put Riddle in a hold to make him tap out. After the match, Drew McIntyre showed up challenging Gunther to an IC match. I Guess Drew is going to stick around in WWE for some time.
Cody Rhodes vs Dominik Mysterio
Honestly, this was the weakest match for me in the whole card. Dominik just ran around a bunch trying to keep out of the way of Cody but the moment he was caught the match was basically over. I think they wanted us to focus on the fact that Cody was fully healed and didn’t need his cast anymore but the way it was haphazardly mentioned didn’t really convey any amount of importance to that fact. And where is Brock? They really need to continue back the Cody vs Brock angle some more before the heat has completely disappeared.
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Trish Stratus vs Becky Lynch vs Zoey Stark vs Iyo Sky vs Bayley vs Zelina Vega
This was a pretty decent Money in the Bank match. Clearly, the A story is the schism between Damage Control members Iyo and Bailey. Bailey knocked down Iyo when she was about to reach the briefcase. But Iyo got her revenge in the end, handcuffing Bailey and Becky through a rung in the ladder and climbing over Bailey in order to get the briefcase. We are all just waiting for Damage Control to implode. Let it happen.
World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor
What was hailed as a true successor to their match at Hell in a Cell 7 years ago, this match was a bit underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, these two are top performers, some of the very best in their generation. But the match just lacked any amount of urgency. Damian Priest, the Money in the Bank winner, did make his way to the ring, but without much urgency which didn’t make us believe for a second a cash-in might happen anytime soon. So with a minor “distraction” from Priest, Seth Rollins managed to claim victory over Finn. Could have been a lot better if there was more tension of a cash-in.
Bloodline Civil War Match: USOS vs Roman Reigns and Solo
Oh Boy. This match was a hell of a good time. The Bloodline story has been on fire for the past year and could easily be considered the best long-term story in wrestling. Period. This match started out pretty slow in terms of action but it was heavy with storytelling. With Roman barking orders at a reluctant and always angry Solo, you always have the thought at the back of your head that Solo is going to snap at any moment and spike Roman in the throat. But that didn’t come to pass…yet.
The finish was a bit typical for a Roman Bloodline match. A ref bump later the USOS got a virtual win with the audience counting to 10. But Roman and Solo took the lead and managed to stack the USOS by the time the ref stirred back up. At this point, I thought the match was over but the USOS kicked out. I could not believe it and neither could Roman. He was distraught. And Solo was looking at him with what might be considered as disgust at the inability of the Tribal Chief to compose himself.
Solo took the initiative to beat the USOS and Roman followed suit. At the end though the USOS superkicked Roman a bunch of times and threw Solo out of the ring before Jey did a splash on Roman for the win. This was a very emotional and heavy story-driven win for the USOS and especially for Jey Uso. I cannot wait to see where this story goes from here on. Roman is not infallible. He is not in God Mode anymore. He is a mere mortal. This is a turning point for the longest-reigning champion of the modern era.
Conclusion
This was a very good premium live event. Maybe not the best in this year but very good indeed. Summerslam is approaching fast and could end up being one hell of a premium live event. If you like this review maybe check out our reviews of recent movies here. And if you like more wrestling content please check out this great podcast Steve and Larson’s Going in Raw.
