WWE Money in the Bank 2016

[Migs]

Big pop for the Rollins win, bigger pop for Ambrose.

[...TG]

What a day for Ohio, first the Cavs win and now Ambrose cashes in! Except that Dean is from Cincinnati and we don't care about the NBA.

[Al]

Hell of an ending but man, I hate how this is the Money In the Bank cash in every, single, time.

[NintendoLogic]

I figured Ambrose would cash in as as soon as Seth won. I thought it would come after a Roman beatdown, though.

[Migs]

The smarks are saying what a F***** waste and it should of happened at Mania, but to those people, you don't matter. A good decision tonight. Reigns heel turn now happening.

 

The money is in the Shield 3 Way and they haven't done it. Curious whether they pull the trigger at Summerslam or try to draw it out to Mania.

[Strummer]

The Shield 3 way program for the title on Raw this summer should be great. It's going to be real tough make Reigns the main guy here but this is great for Ambrose and Rollins

[Strummer]

Have to give kudos to Vince here. I think they realized Reigns as the ace who drops all the challengers just wasn't going to work no matter how much they wanted it. This is much more intriguing and creates 3 top guys instead of one

[clintthecrippler]

I am loving that Ambrose is WWE Champion and am looking forward to the 3way Shield feud over the title.

 

I would have preferred that Cena kick out and THEN get hit by another move for the 123 but overall loved the match, even though I know Cena is going to win all the rematches.

 

Also (warning: tin foil hat time) I am legitimately curious if WWE went long and intentionally held off the WWE Title Match until after Game 7 of the NBA Finals were over, thinking that Network subscribers would switch over after the game ended so they could have maximum audience for a title change. It just seems like a random PPV to go long that it can't be a coincidence.

[El Dragon]

Yeah, for as much shit as I give WWE bookers, they clearly knocked it out of the park in the main. Rollins winning clean gave the Rollins/Reigns storyline much more weight then it had before, because you were expecting Reigns to win still, and the Ambrose cash in, even though I'm far from crazy on Dean, was a wonderful call at the perfect time.

[NintendoLogic]

Also (warning: tin foil hat time) I am legitimately curious if WWE went long and intentionally held off the WWE Title Match until after Game 7 of the NBA Finals were over, thinking that Network subscribers would switch over after the game ended so they could have maximum audience for a title change. It just seems like a random PPV to go long that it can't be a coincidence.

 

I'm certain that's what they did. In fact, I was one of the people who was watching the game and tuned in to the PPV after I found out it was still going on.

[Strummer]

Have to think crowd reactions to Reigns played a huge part in this decision. I doubt this was the plan even a month ago. Maybe a week

[fxnj]

You know, there are jokes about Cena being incredibly loud in the ring calling stuff, but sometimes it really is jarring.

I agree and I am surprised the ending seems to be the main complaint about the match. The ending was to be expected given AJ's character and the need to give him a needed big match win while protecting Cena. The blatant spot calling, though, did a lot more to take away from what was otherwise a great match.

[...TG]

 

Also (warning: tin foil hat time) I am legitimately curious if WWE went long and intentionally held off the WWE Title Match until after Game 7 of the NBA Finals were over, thinking that Network subscribers would switch over after the game ended so they could have maximum audience for a title change. It just seems like a random PPV to go long that it can't be a coincidence.

 

I'm certain that's what they did. In fact, I was one of the people who was watching the game and tuned in to the PPV after I found out it was still going on.

 

 

I saw somewhere on Twitter that they told cable companies they'd be running long tonight. Who knows if that's true but it seems logical.

[hammerva]

I would like to think they have build for a couple months and then have the 3 way at Summerslam. But it wouldn't surprise me if he loses the belt tomorrow. But at least this former CZW wrestler bleeding buckets for next to nothing was a WWE world champ. Guys like AJ Styles and Cesaro and Kevin Owens are going to be waiting a long time for this.

[Al]

 

 

Also (warning: tin foil hat time) I am legitimately curious if WWE went long and intentionally held off the WWE Title Match until after Game 7 of the NBA Finals were over, thinking that Network subscribers would switch over after the game ended so they could have maximum audience for a title change. It just seems like a random PPV to go long that it can't be a coincidence.

I'm certain that's what they did. In fact, I was one of the people who was watching the game and tuned in to the PPV after I found out it was still going on.

Thirded. I tuned into the NBA game after the ladder match. It was tied with 2:50 on the clock. Lindsey Adler on Twitter tweeted there had been 20 lead changes. It was apparent that it was a special championship game, and the main event would have been ruined by people distractingly checking their phones.

[Infinit]

If they knew how they were going to book the AJ/Cena finish at MITB, shouldn't last Monday's contract signing segment have been saved for the Battleground rematch?

[Matt D]

It was to show that Styles was a hypocritical heel. Cena can come out tonight and call him on it and Styles can call him a loser and they can build to the next match.

[PhilTLL]

 

 

Also (warning: tin foil hat time) I am legitimately curious if WWE went long and intentionally held off the WWE Title Match until after Game 7 of the NBA Finals were over, thinking that Network subscribers would switch over after the game ended so they could have maximum audience for a title change. It just seems like a random PPV to go long that it can't be a coincidence.

 

I'm certain that's what they did. In fact, I was one of the people who was watching the game and tuned in to the PPV after I found out it was still going on.

 

 

I saw somewhere on Twitter that they told cable companies they'd be running long tonight. Who knows if that's true but it seems logical.

 

 

FWIW, they only have to tell the carriers if they want the program guides updated and such. If they just want to go over, they only have to ask/tell USA.

[MikeCampbell]

Have to think crowd reactions to Reigns played a huge part in this decision. I doubt this was the plan even a month ago. Maybe a week

 

Meltzer thinks it's partially because major market house shows, headlined by Roman, have gone down a lot. The B-show markets, headlined by Ambrose, have been doing about the same business.

 

I like the timing of the title change, and the way it was done makes a three-way feud between all of them totally believable.

[Cap]

I thought this was a really solid show, capped off by an on point main event (pretty good match, perfect angle). Everything has been said, but I will add that I am a little surprised/sad that they didn't make Reigns' first clean job a bigger deal. I mean he has kicked out of EVERYTHING to the point where I was starting to dig his tough guy/impossible to keep down thing as an underplayed but super important wrinkle in his character. I thought (yes, perhaps foolishly) giving that to someone clean on a big show was going to be meaningful, but the whole thing tonight sort of overshadowed it. I guess maybe the thought is this doesn't count since they did the ref bump and the visual pin, but this still seemed like a bigger deal that then immediately didn't feel like a big deal. I think - well... . I hope - they play it up in the ongoing feud between the three at least.

[WingedEagle]

Watched the show last night. Cena/Styles was good but far from the MOTYC I wanted and talked myself into in advance. Cena looked a bit off in his return and the finish did them no favors, even if designed to extend the feud. They just didn't have a good rhythm most of the way and it felt like they were jumping from spot to spot without of a plan for tying them together. The stretch run was pretty hot and exciting and I even dug the near falls until the Club showed up.

 

The ladder match was about as good as it could be at this stage in its lifeline. We've seen most of what can be done in this setting, but they found creative ways to let almost everyone shine, and between the Cesaro springboard and Owens suicide bump there were more than enough cool and fun moments to make this enjoyable. Just not sure there's any juice left for the match to steal the show as it might in earlier iterations.

 

I loved almost everything about the main event. From a strong lockup to Reigns acting as a smug heel early on and Rollins delivering hot babyface comebacks to Reigns's power offense and ability to sell as a big without playing dead, this was fantastic most of the way. Then he takes out the barricade in a spot we've seen on multiple occasions, but with the added wrinkle of doctors coming out to sell some sort of injury. Which at no point looked like death. Then 2 delayed Pedigrees to finish him? Really don't understand that as it didn't seem to put him over as resilient before going down, nor Rollins as a killer. Why not have Ambrose cash in on Reigns and not paint the title with quite so stark a shade of hot potato?

 

These 5 minute title reigns don't benefit anyone as far as I can tell, so very curious what the long-term plans may be for everyone involved coming out of this. Hoping they have something very big planned for Summerslam. They've put together some great three-ways over the last 2 years (Rumble '15 and Fastlane this year), so while I'm not exactly hot for this one, the potential is there and with the backstory you'd think it would headline a "big" show rather than build towards such a big show.

 

On to Raw tonight and Dominion tomorrow!

[The Thread Killer]

Cena/Styles was good but far from the MOTYC I wanted and talked myself into in advance. Cena looked a bit off in his return...they just didn't have a good rhythm most of the way and it felt like they were jumping from spot to spot without of a plan for tying them together.

Glad to see somebody else (whose opinion I respect) say that. I agree with you.

 

Some times when you watch this stuff alone, you see something and you're not sure if you're seeing into some things due to preconceptions or expectations. I too was hoping for a bit more than what we got, not due to any faith in Cena's ability (of which I have little) but more out of respect for Styles (of which I have much, even more so after the two matches with Reigns.)

 

To me, that match seemed lacking something and was kind of paint-by-numbers, not a bad match per se, but more just a collection of fairly well executed moves that lacked total cohesion. After, I wasn't sure if it was just me, maybe I had been spoiled into expecting too much after the Reigns matches, or maybe Cena had more ring rust than I expected. Whatever it is, I think you hit the nail on the head.

[fxnj]

I had the exact opposite impression in that I felt that Cena/Styles did a good job of having a unique layout and cohesive narrative to make it feel special and separate from WWE's usual self-conscious epics. For most of it, you had AJ Styles as the technically superior wrester cutting Cena off at every turn and proving everything he said going into the match. As it progressed, though, the tide slowly turned through a combination of AJ's cockiness giving Cena openings and AJ having difficulty keeping up with Cena's grit and determination. Then you get the ref bump and the finish because AJ is a heel and that's how heels should win.

 

I wouldn't call it a MOTYC but I'd put it around ****.

[Gutenberger]

I liked ths show.

 

The first matches were all pretty fogettable, but nothing too offensive.

 

Styles vs. Cena had, for me, a lot of hype going in just becuase I'm a huge AJ fan and Cena has sneakily grown on me over the last 1 or 2 years. I can't say I was disappointed, but I got a feeling it could've been better. Although, similiar to fxnj, I really liked the story they were telling, with AJ wanting to shine and really ridicule Cena but realizing more and more just what he is in for. The ending made perfect sense storyline wise, so not much to complain there.

 

The MITB match I found to be spectacular. At this point, I agree, it's hard to come up with something that steals the show or wows everybody. But between that ladder-second rope- flying European Uppercut, that insane KO bump and all the rest, I just found this to be very enjoyable and caught myself popping for the big moves. Well done.

 

I'm still not the biggest Reigns fan, but this nonsensical hating him just becaus he exists and isn't Daniel Bryan is just so bad. The match itself was good, although I gotta admit I was just a bit burned out by then and couldn't fully get into it. So I won't be judging this too much.

 

Dean Ambrose as ne champion? I like it, because I like this unhinged character. And if Raw is an indicator, this could be a really fun run.

 

So, tough start, but beginning with Styles Cena easily thumbs up. Not the best MITB of all time as advertised, but very much enjoyable.