What a big fight feel the main event of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, which took place last night (Sun., July 18, 2021) from the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, had.
Roman Reigns got the better of Edge in their first lock up. But the second time, Edge slapped Reigns in the face. The crowd cheered for Edge there. Reigns had a dominating shoulder tackle and the crowd showered him with boos.
Edge worked on Reigns’ left arm and and threw him into the ring post and Paul Heyman shouted at him to teach Edge about fear. What a great moment.
Reigns baited Edge into a Samoan Drop outside the ring and he then broke the count to attack Edge again.
Reigns kept it to the outside and threw him around the ring area. He got mad that Edge would disrespect him and kick out, so he gave Edge a flurry of stiff elbows to the head and threw him into the ring post.
Reigns kept wearing Edge down and Edge was trying to power out, but Edge tried powering out. Reigns trash talking has survived out of the ThunderDome era thankfully and he screamed at the crowd “Don’t clap!” But they did and he was able to power out, and into an elbow to knock him down again.
Edge countered a Superman punch into a backslide for a near fall. He got a great clothesline in and another near fall. He got Reigns up on the top turnbuckle and slammed his head on the top of the ring post.
Edge locked in a cross face minus the piece of the chair of course and man did they tease a tap out there. Edge’s face went to that really crazy place that looks legitimately frightening and he set up a spear, but Reigns countered into a Guillotine. He started fading but charged himself and Reigns out of the ring.
Reigns speared himself into the barricade, and then Edge speared him into another barricade to break the referee’s count. The referee then got knocked down on a Superman punch to Edge, and he used it to his advantage.
The piece of chair came into play again and the Usos and Mysterios got involved. And then Seth Rollins attacked Edge. and all this time, the whole company just decided that officiating the match was not necessary.
Edge speared Reigns and a new referee finally graced us with his presence for Reigns to kick out at 2. Rollins came out again and cost Edge the match.
And then the part that really mattered happened.
Reigns told the crowd to acknowledge him, and someone came out to do just that!
@JohnCena is BACK!!! #MITB pic.twitter.com/QsXF8OxDr2
— WWE (@WWE) July 19, 2021
John Cena is back! And Reigns can’t see him, which means that we’ll be seeing Cena vs. Reigns for this year’s SumerSlam!
I needed Cena’s return and the crowd’s epic reaction to bring me back into this, because I was not happy with how the ending of this match went down. Nearly 5 minutes of no referee, and how stupid the officials who ran down to help Charles Robinson looked just turning their backs to the whole thing. This is a huge main event!
But Cena, and really that incredible reaction for him, brought it back. This is going to be an epic summer blockbuster.
Let’s get to the rest of the show. For a full rundown of Money in the Bank, check out the live blog by Claire Elizabeth!
The most deserving winner
Well then.
Our friends overseas and in Canada and Mexico were able to see the first 5 minutes of this match, so I encourage you to comment your lovely WWE Network experiences for us U.S. folks.
When my feed returned, Kevin Owens rolled into the ring and Seth Rollins and John Morrison teamed up to take him out. They both then planted him spine first on the ladder in the ring. Rollins grabbed a ladder and cleared Drew McIntyre and Morrison from the ring.
And then Riddle did an RKO! Really outta nowhere style. Then McIntyre did a Claymore outta nowhere to Shinsuke Nakamura and Riddle. McIntyre dove over the top rope and took out the competitors.
Jinder Mahal and his lackeys then decided to make sure McIntyre didn’t win. Mahal attacked him with a chair and they dragged him out of the arena.
Ricochet is an absolutely insane man. He is NOT human. He leapt off the ladder and hopped on the top rope into the damn sky to take out the competitors on the floor.
Nakamura took out Rollins and climbed up the ladder and then Morrison squirted him with the drip stick. Owens took out Ricochet and then ROLLINS POWER BOMBED HIM THROUGH A LADDER OUTSIDE OWWWW! Even Riddle couldn’t believe it.
And then the man did it. He did it. A GINORMOUS ENDING to Rollins from Big E and he climbed up that ladder and got the briefcase.
I jumped off my couch and started tearing up. I am so incredibly happy that Big E won. He deserves it so much after the hard work he has put in. It’s his time.
This whole match (what us Americans could see at least!) was very fun and had so many crazy spots in it. Ricochet, Owens, and Morrison were insane. They deserve a lot of credit, too.
This was one hell of a match, with the right Ending. A Big and deserving one. Congratulations, Big E.
A superhero was born
The match started with Alexa Bliss just standing on a turnbuckle as everyone started grabbing ladders.
Liv Morgan at one point ran up the ladder as Tamina and Zelina Vega were fighting over it. Would have been an incredibly quick and awesome win. Morgan and Natalya worked together to assist Naomi and also take out Nikki ASH.
Vega and Bliss climbed up together and Bliss put the mind control to have Vega slowly walk down, but Natalya took her out and then suddenly Vega was okay.
Naomi took out the Women’s tag champions and planted Nikki on a ladder. That didn’t last long though, because Natalya had to get up the ladder with Vega on her back, and Morgan came in and knocked them both off.
Nikki then got the ability to fly for the moment and took out all the women in the ring. Her and Bliss brawled until Bliss hit her with a really nasty version of a Sister Abigail.
Everyone decided to bury Bliss in ladders and then two more ladders were brought into the ring. All the women were fighting on top and Nikki came from out of nowhere and grabbed the briefcase.
Okay, so totally not what I was expecting here. Like I was completely floored here. I had Liv, Zelina, even Naomi winning over Nikki.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy for Nikki. The “almost a superhero” thing still isn’t hitting with me, though. I was really thinking that Liv was going to win based off of the story they’ve been telling.
The Rest
Bobby Lashley defeated Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston tried to do 7 second magic winning on Bobby Lashley but it didn’t work and only angered Lashley even more. Lashley launched Kingston to the floor and sent him into the ring post twice. The more the crowd cheered Kofi, the more Lashley was pissed off. He put him in the Hurt Lock and then slammed him to the mat. Lashley rag dolled Kingston around and hit him with two Dominators. He locked Kofi in the Hurt Lock and Kofi was just able to tap as he faded out. Wow this was a real dominating performance from Bobby. It was a much more prolonged squash versus the 7 second one Brock Lesnar gave Kofi. The placement of the match made sure there were no cash in attempts, since they didn’t have the men’s ladder match yet.
Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley
Charlotte Flair flipped off the crowd! And Peacock (before its atrocious malfunction) cut out for a second. A nice back body drop to the apron, and Flair did a shotgun dropkick to Ripley into the barricade. Flair had an exploder attempt, Ripley landed on her feet and got chopped for her troubles. The crowd started off sort of hot for both women, more so for Flair which I don’t think is a surprise. WWE just shit the bed with Ripley’s booking. An awesome spot where the referee saw Flair use the ropes to pin Flair and he just was like “Hey don’t do that ma’am” and I laughed. Charlotte did a great moonsault to the outside, a staple of hers. Flair worked over Ripley’s legs and did the Figure 8 for the win. A good match but I feel bad for Rhea. WWE really did wrong by her since bringing her to the main roster, so I’m not sure where she goes from here. Props to them for getting the crowd back after they chanted “We want Becky” at the start.
AJ Styles and Omos defeated the Viking Raiders
Starting this match with what you could consider the “lowlights” instead of highlights of Viking Raiders and Street Profits nonsense from last year was certainly a choice. Styles was very over with this crowd! A really cool move happened where Omos picked up Styles and carried him out of the ring into a hurricanrana on Erik. A clothesline to Styles got Erik a two count. He tagged in Omos and he picked up Ivar and planted him. I thought it would be over there but Ivar kicked out. The Raiders knocked Omos out of the ring and they prevented a Phenomenal Forearm from Styles. Omos lifted Erik into the sky and planted him for the win. This was a ridiculously fun match that had a few moments where you thought the Raiders would win, but they looked great against Styles and Omos.
Thank God we have crowds back.
Grade: B
What were your thoughts, Cagesiders?