Twisted Bliss, Monsters Amongst Men, and Other Stuff – Money in the Bank 2018 Recap and Reactions

For all the cautious optimism I went into Money in the Bank with, I was pleasantly surprised, as was one of our featured guests on The Dark Match Podcast, @LanceCoviello, who makes his debut providing his recap and reactions to Money in the Bank following my brief recap of the kickoff show, live from close to Chicago.

Money in the Bank Kickoff Broadcast (Matt)

• The Bludgeon Brothers defeated The Good Brothers to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championship.  This happened.  If you don’t remember it, don’t worry, neither does anybody else.  Some day they’ll find an appropriate use for Gallows and Anderson, but I do love the idea of Harper being opposite any member of Sanity sometime soon.
• This kickoff broadcast needed EC3.  Sorry…..all kickoff broadcasts need EC3.  He doesn’t even have to talk, just walk to the ring lip syncing to his own banging ass entrance theme.

Money in the Bank 2018 (@LanceCoviello)

• Daniel Bryan defeated Big Cass via submission.  Better match than I thought.  Leading into MITB I did not care about this match at all but overall I found it quite entertaining.  Cass tapping out was a let down to me.
• Bobby Lashley destroyed Sami Zayn (literally, Sami is in Birmingham with Dr. Dugas).  I just skipped it. I hated the lead up to this and felt that Sami did all he could but I couldn’t bring myself to waste anymore time on it.
• Seth Rollins defeated Elias Samson to retain the Intercontinental Championship.  Honestly I would be shocked if Rollins loses this match.  It could be a good upset so I’m excited. The crowd just wasn’t into it as much as they should have been which is sad.  Maybe because they just assumed Rollins wasn’t going to lose. But clearly they recognized that because the last 30% of the match was great. Except that ending. Crap.  (I have to chime in, because I think this match is yet another testament to just how damn good Elias is going to be when given the right opportunities.  Yes, he was working across from the top guy in the company right now, but he held his own and didn’t need much elevating).
• Women’s Money in the Bank Match – Alexa Bliss Wins.  Great start, frantic pacing. The speed is fantastic.  Though it  usually ends up being 1v1 most of the time.  Lana impressed, Moon didn’t. Of course Bliss won.
• Roman Reigns defeated Jinder Mahal (because of course he fucking did).  I wanted Jinder to win.  Maybe I was just hoping for a shakeup because I’m all about the underdogs winning. Jinder is excellent as the heel but I think it would be interesting to see him win here because I want to know what the crowd would do. Cheer? Jeer? Though I don’t see a lot of Jinder bts push, which for a bigish name is odd. Singh in the wheelchair is the best thing ever. The crowd decided to look away? Beach ball? The superman punch to Singh was just so weirdly timed I laughed my ass off. Of course Reigns wins. Yawn.
• Carmella defeats Asuka with a distraction from James Ellsworth, Lance references a Family Guy joke. I’m over Asuka. She “insists” upon herself. Which is hilarious to say when she’s against Carmella who is so full of herself, but it’s hilarious with her for some reason. I’m expecting a DQ victory for Carmella.  The two of them don’t seem to be in sync. What the fuck is that? Is that racist? YES! YES! YES! Racist maybe but who cares! The no chin does a great job.
• AJ Styles defeated Shinsuke Nakamura via the 10 count to retain the World Championship.  This match is diluted from the buildup for me. It’s been going on forever. Would be better if it went old school hardcore but that’s extremely unlikely.  That side hit to AJ on the table was brutal.  Side note, there’s been more Tables ladders and chairs so far then at TLC. AJ wins because who else?
• Ronda Rousey defeats Nia Jax via DQ, Alexa Bliss defeats Nia Jax on MITB Cash-In to become Raw Women’s Champion.  Jax is starting to use her size in interesting ways. When she swung the sandy hook denier into the wall that was great. I’m expecting Bliss to cash in tonight because two MITB contract storylines will dilute them. Rousey lit up when she got mad. It felt right for her. Don’t just be happy to be there, be badass. Still want Nia to win because I think they messed up the leadup to this and she deserved a better reign. A WILD BLISS APPEARS. The way Bliss was throwing around Rhonda was great. I mean I’m glad it went down this way but would have been better if they didn’t broadcast it for weeks. Jax vs Bliss at Summerslam? Nah it’ll be Rousey vs Bliss.
• Michael Cole’s voice broke and Corey Graves bit his tongue HARD.  This was hilarious to me.
• Men’s Money in the Bank Match – Mr. Monster in the Bank.  It’s going to be Braun let’s be real. After tonight they should make a slightly smaller briefcase for him so it looks super small in his ‘hands.’ Wait should the period be inside the quotes or outside? Doesn’t matter. Rusev should win because it is Rusev Day afterall. At some point I expect Strowman to throw the other 7 guys off him in a show of mystical strength. Strowman and KO always are able to have the hardest sounding hits. I think in the WWE universe Ladders are a rare object that only the rarest of people have ever seen let alone used. Also good on the WWE for not having a ladder sponsor.  Could easily make a few million bucks and they don’t.  Rusev throwing KO into the ladder had to hurt. Is braun just chilling under ladders pulling a Lesner? I bet he is about to rise up like a vampire.  Where is KO going? Is he getting a gun? No no no no no no no no no no no no is KO dead?????? Ok end the match now that was the highlight. WRONG. BROKE A LADDER. MIZ JUST RUN AWAY. Triple accolade? That’s 6 F5 dumb. Hilarious but dumb.  Strowman looks gassed.  This has been a long match for all of them.  But it’s been pretty darn good.  Annnnnd he won. Lets dream of Reigns winning against Lesner at Summer Slam and Braun immediately takes it away from him.

So there you have it folks.  The Money in the Bank PPV is in the books and we’re on the road to Extreme Rules.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Lance for providing his recap and real time reactions to the events of the PPV, and look forward to future contributions from him as a valuable member of The Dark Match team.

Tune in later this week as we give you the Week In overview of everything you get in the fallout and what we know so far going towards Extreme Rules.