After a month of April with three PPV events, wrapped up in style by Backlash (an aptly named show as WWE are in danger of facing a backlash from fans due to their uninspiring booking), we now thankfully have a gap of several weeks to Money in the Bank. We will be straight into establishing the card tonight with men’s and women’s qualifying matches announced. With both MITB matches to feature stars from both shows, it hopefully means we get spared a month of six-person tag matches as well.
Kurt Angle Announcement
The GM seems to think that the last month of PPV specials has been a roaring success before starting off the road to Money in the Bank. He announces two triple threat matches – Ember Moon v. Ruby Riot v. Sasha Banks and Roman Reigns v. Finn Balor v. Sami Zayn – with the winners earning their spots in the ladder matches.
Braun Strowman storms out and… tells a story about some kids building a treehouse. Kurt Angle says the Monster Among Men deserves to be in the MITB match, which draws Kevin Owens out. He calls himself the MVP of RAW and demands an automatic spot in the marquee match. He insults both Strowman and Angle but soon regrets it as the GM books a qualifying match for Braun and KO right here and now.
Braun Strowman v. Kevin Owens
A ref bump occurs moments into the match but the speed with which the man in the stripes gets back up suggests it was unplanned. This is all about Strowman in the early exchanges as he dominates Owens. KO gets the upper hand when he delivers a Tornado DDT from the barricade to the floor, almost earning him a count-out victory.
Another count-out nearly costs Strowman after he smashes into the post. Each time Braun gets back in, KO looks distraught. With the Monster dazed, Owens goes on the offensive. A frog splash gets him a two-count. After a superkick, he goes for a pop-up powerbomb, but Braun easily counters.
Strowman then engages in his new hobby of charging and flattening Owens on the outside. Back in the ring, a powerslam gets him an emphatic victory.
Winner: Braun Strowman
A great match to kick off the show. Owens got a decent amount of offence in and did enough to convince us that he might win. Ultimately, Strowman went over and immediately becomes the favourite to win!
Titus Worldwide & No Way Jose v. Baron Corbin & The Revival
After an age of backstage promos about Money in the Bank, we get a completely random six-man tag match. Sure, No Way Jose and Corbin have had issues and Titus Worldwide have been hanging out in the conga line but how did The Revival end up in this mess?
Not much of note happens in the match until late on when Corbin pulls the top rope down to make Apollo Crews spill to the outside. He then botches a blind tag, instead making a very obvious tag that No Way Jose somehow does not notice. The End of Days gets him the win.
Winners: Baron Corbin… and I’ll guess we’ll give The Revival an assist too
So, the superstar shake-up shifted Corbin from the Smackdown midcard to the bottom of the RAW card. He was apparently on a quest to rid RAW of silliness (I guess he wasn’t watching Backlash then) – hopefully that’s that then.
Sasha Banks v. Ruby Riot v. Ember Moon
This match starts off at a fast pace with a succession of near falls. Ember Moon and Ruby Riot control large portions of the match harking back to their clashes last year on NXT. Sasha Banks, meanwhile, seems to spend most of the match recovering on the outside.
The Riott Squad attempt to interfere on a couple of occasions and save their leader as the break up a roll up by Sasha Banks. With no DQs, the match continues as Logan and Morgan beat on The Boss. Bayley comes out to make the save as the on-off friendship between her and Banks never ends.
As Riot and Banks grapple in the ring, Ember Moon (who disappeared for the last several minutes) delivers an Eclipse to both of them and pins Riot for the win.
Winner: Ember Moon
After the commentary team spend most of the match building up Ruby Riot and her recent run of victories, it was a shame that she had her momentum halted by taking the pin. While Ember Moon will no doubt be an exciting element in the MITB ladder match, she obliterated any remnants of the mystique she had early in her NXT run by making a groanworthy pun about being ‘over the Moon.’ Who writes this crap?
Jinder Mahal v. Chad Gable
After a lengthy interview to get over how bland Bobby Lashley is, we get a rematch from a couple of weeks ago. This was set up earlier in the night when Kurt Angle challenged Mahal to prove himself in this match to earn a qualifying spot for MITB. It’s a qualifying qualifier then (Goldust was also in that segment for no apparent reason).
Mahal starts the match as the aggressor, overpowering his smaller opponent and bouncing him from pillar to post. Gable briefly gains the upper hand after an armbar over the ropes and a moonsault for a near fall. A big boot from Jinder and the Khalas finish him off quickly in a dominant victory.
After the match, Sunil Singh gets in Gable’s face and gets shoved to the mat as a result. Mahal then lays Gable out with a post-match beatdown. He then goes back to Angle’s office and demands to be added to the triple threat later in the evening. The GM brushes him off with a Zack Ryder line (Zack having taken Goldust’s random spot from earlier in the evening).
Winner: Jinder Mahal
Mahal finally wins on RAW but does so at the momentum crushing expense of Gable – all without direct interference from Sunil Singh either. Does that mean Mahal will get a MITB qualification match next week? Maybe. Does that mean he will qualify? Probably not – so what was the point?
Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler v. Heath Slater & Rhyno
This seemed like another random match up until the fans reminded me of the history with their ‘3MB!’ chants as McIntyre and Slater squared off (right after a dominant win from Jinder Mahal as well). Unfortunately for Slater, McIntyre doesn’t seem especially pleased to see him. After blasting Rhyno off the ring apron, he and Ziggler take out Heath with their Claymore-Zigzag combo for an easy victory.
Winners: McIntyre & Ziggler
So, are McIntyre and Ziggler officially part of the tag ranks now? If so, they would make interesting challengers for Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt (and AoP as well for that matter).
Elias v. Bobby Roode
After Elias does another fine job of trashing the crowd, he gets interrupted by Bobby Roode for the fourth time since Wrestlemania. They then start their third match since Wrestlemania with Roode looking to get his win back.
The match quickly undoes the work of the Artist Formerly Known as the Drifter though as a slow pace and plenty of extended holds soon mutes the audience. At one point, Elias teases the same exposed turnbuckle spot that hurt Roode so bad last week he took days to completely recover. That leads to nothing though as a Glorious DDT out of nowhere ensures 50-50 booking stays strong.
Winner: Bobby Roode
Bobby thinks that win is enough to earn him a spot in a MITB qualifying match, conveniently ignoring his defeats from the last two weeks. If I’m honest, I was never impressed by Roode in NXT and his main roster run so far has done nothing to change my mind.
Intercontinental Championship Open Challenge: Seth Rollins v. Mojo Rawley
After declaring himself a fighting champion, Seth issues an open challenge which is answered by Mojo Rawley. He slowly makes his way down the ramp as the Long Island fans chant for Zack Ryder declaring his intention to change Monday Night Rollins to Monday Night Rawley.
Rawley starts the match hot, overpowering the champ early on. Rollins makes a mini comeback mid-match as the action heats up with both guys earning near falls. Rawley nearly scores an upset after countering a Stomp attempt into a flapjack. That is Rawley’s last chance though as Rollins soon hits him with a superkick, the knee, and a stomp to retain.
Winner: Seth Rollins
A regular Rollins Open Challenge? Yes, please! This is exactly what the likes of Mojo Rawley need. Long may it continue.
Woken Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt v. Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel
Most of this match passes with Michael Cole trashing the world Matt Hardy has created while Corey Graves tries to induct him in the wonders of the Woken Universe. While all that is going on, the RAW tag team champions pick up a fairly easy win.
Winners: Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt
Not sure what the point of that match was other than to remind us that there are still tag champs after neither the RAW nor Smackdown belts were defended at Backlash.
Roman Reigns v. Sami Zayn v. Finn Balor
All three guys had backstage spots to hype the match during the evening. Definitely not company favourite Roman Reigns got a full interview in which he declared himself pissed off. Sami Zayn got a backstage segment in which he asked Kevin Owens to watch his back. Finn Balor? He got one of those delightful selfie video promos.
Roman starts the match like a big angry dog, dominating both Balor and Zayn early on. As a result, the duo forms an unlikely alliance both stomping on Rollins much to the delight of the crowd. They take the fight to the crowd with Zayn nailing a Helluva Kick in the production area, followed by the Coup de Gras from Balor.
With Reigns out of the equation for the time being, Zayn and Balor return to the ring where a Blue Thunder Bomb gets Sami a near fall. The two trade blows and again let the action spill to the outside. That allows Reigns back into the match, but his return doesn’t last long as Balor gets a huge cheer for shoving him into the ring steps.
The Superman Punches start to fly but Roman never gets to the spear as Jinder Mahal pops up to grab him round the ankles. A Helluva Kick takes the big Dog out of the match, but it is Balor who takes advantage with a Coup de Gras on Sami to qualify for MITB.
Winner: Finn Balor
A pleasant surprise as Finn earned his spot in the ladder match. I just hope the appearance of Jinder doesn’t mean Roman gets to beat the Modern Day Maharajah in a second chance qualifying match in the near future.
Final Thoughts
Tonight’s episode ebbed and flowed between great and forgettable matches. Strowman/Owens, the two triple threat matches, and the Intercontinental Title match were great, and the tag matches plus yet another Elias/Roode contest were forgettable. Perhaps the biggest story of the night though was Jinder Mahal. He looked stronger than he has done in a long time and seems set on a collision course with Reigns. I am strangely intrigued by the prospect of two of the most unpopular guys on the roster going head-to-head.
