Money In The Bank (2011) review

Big Show on the poster

Match #1: Heath Slater vs. Kane vs. Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Sin Cara vs. Justin Gabriel

Now, you might say, why is there a picture of Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater trying to grab the briefcase. It's because the neckbreaker off the ladder was just my favorite spot. The entire match had a pretty amount of great bumps. botches were scarce and Daniel Bryan winning the briefcase was a well booked finish. Before this there was an amazing CM Punk  vs John Cena promo package. Wade Barrett looks suave as ever, certainly as suave as ever. Interestingly Heath Slater came out to the theme from his team with Gabriel "Black or White" by Bleeding in Stereo but Gabriel came out to Otunga's theme, it kind of made me laugh. There was a pretty smart ladder spot when Sin Cara went for the typical baseball slide into the ladder held by Gabriel and Slater but then the pulled the ladder up and then Sin Cara just slid out of the ring and out of the barricade. There was a surprisingly athletic springboard corkscrew plancha by Slater which took out the grotesque, Rhodes. But the highlight that people probably remember from this match, other than Bryan winning, was Sheamus knocking Sin Cara out with a Brogue Kick and then powerbombing him through a ladder, sending him backstage on a stretcher. Later on, there was a pretty nasty bump when Sheamus and Kane did the doomsday device on Bryan, almost killing him. Throughout the match, Kane was pretty dominant, dishing out chokeslams from hell to everyone. He also got a pretty descent pop. Another nasty spot was Sheamus Bicycle kicking a ladder into Barrett's face. As much as Sheamus was dealing out bumps, he took a chokeslam off the ladder and onto another ladder wedged between a corner and ladder step. Another highlight was Gabriel doing a 450 Splash from the top of a horizontal ladder on the top rope and which was pretty impressive. A nice Pumphandle Slam by Barrett deserves a mention. In one of the strong spots on in the match, Bryan put Rhodes in a Guillotine Choke on top of the ladder while Barrett scrambles to get the briefcase off the distraction. The last part was Bryan hitting a pretty strong roundhouse kick on Barrett's cranium, knocking him off the ladder and cementing his name in the history of the WWE SmackDown briefcase. As evident by how much I could write about this single match, I really loved it.

Match #2: Kelly Kelly (c) w/Eve Torres vs. Brie Bella w/Nikki Bella

K2 by Kelly Kelly

This match was pretty short. I like Kelly Kelly and I think if they had it going on longer, the Divas could showcase more of their wrestling skills. The leg drop bulldog pictured above was the wrestling highlight of the match. Also there was a little funny quote from Nikki, justifying Brie's loss, "She doesn't even eat!"

Match #3: Big Show vs. Mark Henry

The World's Strongest Slam didn't work its magic

This match started even but then there were two falling powerslams but to make sure he stood down (like I do on wrestling games so the opponent would stay on the table and wouldn't move). There were two more World's Strongest Splash by Henry to solidify a win. Again, a short match but the running splash at the end could have been done with a little resistance from Big Show. Henry beat up Show to a pulp and basically obliterated him. But the post match assault made a funny yet bad spot. Henry tries to solidify his territory in the WWE jungle, he wedged Big Show's leg in a steel chair. Then he slingshotted off the ropes onto Show's leg. Now, this is just pure speculation, but I think Henry botched it. It looked like it had to be a lighter splash but it turned into a double knee drop creating a FATALITY!!!!!! This lead to a funny moment of Big Show keeping himself but then yelling F*ck. It looked like a bad situation and it became funny.

Match #4: Evan "Air" Bourne vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. "The Truth" R-Truth vs. Alex Riley vs. The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio for the RAW Money In The Bank Briefcase

619 on the LADDER!!!!!! This is back when Rey was athletic as hell

The start was something else. Everyone started grabbing ladders to combat everyone. This match was filled with more spots rather than bumps. Kofi and Bourne held a ladder and then Rey jumps off the ladder and hurricanrana sending his opponent out. While everyone is on the outside Bourne did a Shooting Star Press off a pretty high ladder. In this match Kofi was nothing short of Spider-man in the match. There were many nasty falls though which looked more like botches than intentional. Del Rio almost broke Miz's knee by pulling the ladder and Miz grabbing the briefcase for a moment. The end came when Del rio unmasked Rey on the top off the ladder, tossed him off but that caused his ladder to fall. He had to put it back up and then took the briefcase.

Match #5: Randy Orton (c) vs. Christian for the World Heavyweight Championship, in case of Orton getting disqualified or poor officiating Christian would win the belt

Christian wins the BELT!!!!

There's a terrifying and brutal moment in the match where Christian did a diving headbutt. Orton kicks out of a Killswitch. Lawler mistakes the gutwrench elevated neckbreaker for an RKO which is forgivable . In the end Christian spat in Orton's mouth and got Orton mad who kicked him in the man bits which caused Christian wins the belt on the special stipulation. I personally prefer Christian to The Viper because he is just a better performer. Orton didn't take the loss lightly and hit Christian across the face with a TV monitor. Two RKO's on the announcers table sends the Chicago crowd into chaos. In the replay it looked like it was Orton's fault with him pulling his head up in the last moment. Anyway, it was a descent match.

Main Event: John Cena (c) vs. CM Punk for the WWE Championship, if Cena lost he would be fired

CM Punk sets up the Go to Sleep

The promo package is outstanding editing. There was a point where Michael Cole said Cena has never been in such an environment (in enemy territory), which just reminded me of 2006 when Cena took on Rob Van Dam in the Hammerstein Ballroom at ECW One Night Stand 2006. At that event there wasn't a single Cena fan in that crowd but there were a couple in MITB. Also Cole starts mentioning great WWE champions but he forgot Mick Foley. There were two Juggalos in the crowd. I don't know what purpose did the RAW General Manager laptop and podium serve. There was a pretty brutal spot in the ring. Cena was on the apron and then Punk did a diving knee drop to the back of Cena's head. Another awesome spot was the suplex to the outside, which I have always seen attempted but never actually done. The entire grappling of this match was five star. There's a moment when Cena put Punk in the STF but then Punk masterfully switches it into an Anaconda Vise. Cena later powers out and hits an AA. There was a moment where Punk hit the GTS but Cena fell out of the ring. Then Vince McMahon shows up which almost makes the Chicago Screwjob a reality but Cena punches Laurinaites in the face but as soon as he gets back in, out of the distraction, Punk hits the Go To Sleep.