BRM Reviews WWE Money in the Bank 2021

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews WWE Money in the Bank 2021

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 19th, '21, 01:39

WWE Money in the Bank 2021 (7/18/2021)- Fort Worth, TX


WOMEN’S MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka vs. Nikki Cross vs. Liv Morgan vs. Carmella vs. Natalya vs. Tamina Snuka vs. Zelina Vega- 6.5/10
Liv Morgan got herself some MITB-specific gear… complete with something hanging from her nipples. I’m a little suspicious that some of the reactions are being piped in because I can’t imagine that many people in any one city are that into Alexa’s terrible gimmick or generic Liv Morgan, but Nattie got what felt like a big and genuine pop to me (mostly because I’m pretty sure she’s a heel so I doubt they would pipe in cheers for her). Naomi also got a big reaction. Vega got pretty much no reaction. I think Asuka got the biggest reaction of all, but it’s WWE and she’s a babyface so I’m a little suspicious.
We started off with everyone but Alexa spilling to the outside to brawl. Alexa just stood on the ropes, like she had been since her entrance. Alexa then skipped to the middle of the ring and went to- to quote Michael Cole- “use powers, I guess” to pull the briefcase down, but Asuka cut her off.
Whatever Nattie and Liv were doing with that ladder in the middle of the ring, looked extremely fake, especially when they were using it as a base for Naomi to do her stuff to Nikki. Speaking of Nikki and stuff that looked bad, her doing her pose for five minutes before doing that dive while all of the other women had to stand there the whole time she was posing made that whole thing look terrible.
There was a spot where Alexa hypnotized Vega when both were on top of the ladder, and Alexa had to walk down the ladder to convince Vega to do the same. Why not just push her off?
Regular ladder match stuff happened, occasionally interrupted by some dumb Alexa Bliss stuff. It was a bunch of bumps and spots that we’ve seen a million times before, and almost no story. I’m not saying that they didn’t work hard; I’m saying that the end result was not very interesting or exciting. Nikki Cross won in her terrible superhero character. Uch.

I love how Michael Cole wasn’t certain enough to not use the word qualifying word “perhaps” when saying that last year’s MITB match- the one that took place in an office building, in front of zero fans, occurring simultaneously with another match- was the most unique MITB match.


THE USOS PRESENT THEIR NEWLY-WON WWE SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM TITLES TO ROMAN- good
Roman puts them over, then takes some of the credit for their work, but then praises them again before trying to get them to give him what he wants: help against Edge (though that wasn’t said out loud). I don’t know if this was on purpose or not, but the way Jimmy finally “acknowledged” Roman seemed very insincere ad almost mocking to me.

WWE RAW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: AJ Styles & Omos(c) vs. the Viking Raiders- 6.75/10
War Machine got to throw AJ around but always got destroyed by Omos.

WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Bobby Lashley(c) (w/MVP) vs. Kofi Kingston- 4/10
This was somewhere between Brock vs Cena and the Jay Lethal vs. Brody King match from last Sunday. Kofi got a little bit of offense in, but mostly this was a squash. I guess we know who Goldberg is com9nig back to wrestle.

WWE RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Rhea Ripley(c) vs. Charlotte Flair-8.75/10
This was f*cking tremendous. This was a tremendous clash of wills (with some good limb-work to boot)… and the unexpected addition of a crowd who wanted to see Becky Lynch more than it wanted to see either of these two, but with both women feeling like tweener-heels on TV, it allowed both of them to really show that that was fueling them and it felt like they were putting extra juice into everything. The last few minutes were excellent, with some extremely memorable spots, from the Avalanche Natural Selection to just the way Charlotte swung Rhea’s head into the post to set up for the vicious destruction of Rhea’s leg between to the steps and the ringpost. In just typing this up, I’ve talked myself into bumping the rating up a bit. You really should go watch it ASAP.

If you were one of the people chanting “WE WANT BECKY!” during this excellent match I sincerely hope your car, bus, or train breaks down on the way home.

Okay…this stream has turned to sh*t and Peacock sucks. Time to go watch some EVOLVE for BRM’s Monthly “This Day in Wrestling History” Review Series. I’ll check if thev’re gotten their sh*t together in a few hours. And just out of spite, I’ll be watching this EVOLVE show onmy DVD player and not the Peacock abomination.

MATT RIDDLE, SHINSUKE NAKAMURA, & BOOGS BACKSTAGE- terrible
Not only were they annoying, but the cameraperson couldn’t hold the camera steady. Either that, or this idiotic zooming in and out and swaying was on purpose, in which case I hope the person responsible for this idea is reassigned to the new developmental territory NXT Siberia.

MEN’S MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Matt Riddle vs. Big E. vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins vs. John Morrison vs. Shinsuke Nakamura- 7.5/10
The usual match with the usual Ladder match spots. Drew was taken out by Jinder Mahal and his crew. Big E. got the win, so hopefully they’ll go all the way with his push.
There was a kid who kept jumping into the corner of the screen over Cole’s shoulder. These things usually annoy me, but this one amused me.

KEVIN PATRCIK INTERVIEWS SETH ROLLINS- fine
He’s manic and blames Edge for losing tonight’s match because it’s Edge’s fault that he had to be in MITB, or something like that. He declared himself the #1 contender to whoever wins the…

WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE MATCH: Roman Reigns(c) (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Edge- 7.5/10
Edge got a HUGE pop. Roman got a very loud mixed reaction, about 80-20 against. They had a match that started to build up very well but it felt like it was just starting to get good when we got the ref bump and the interferences that made the ending hard to enjoy because 1) we know you have a million referees in the back so why couldn’t you send one of them out, and 2) I highly doubt they’ll be going back to Edge vs. Roman so we’re not going to get an actual winner between these two ever.
Edge had things won. The Usos tried to help Roman but were foiled by the Mysterios. Seth Rollins came out and screwed Edge twice, the second time giving Roman the win. F*ck finishes are annoying, but they’re even worse when the match goes half an hour. Is Gedo booking now?

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
Roman and Seth had a stare-down until Edge interrupted it by attacking Seth and they brawled away. Roman started to cut a promo but John Cena interrupted him (getting a huge reaction) and just ran around celebrating while Roman just stood there. I had two big issues with this. The first is that it’s hard for me to see Cena as this babyface savior when he was in the building but did nothing to stop Edge from interfering (or to stop Roman from trying to use that part of the chair as a weapon). The second issue I had with this was that it felt completely out of character for Roman to just stand there and let Cena upstage him (and I don’t think Cena looked very smart taking his eyes off of Roman, either).


This was a good show from WWE that still managed to be disappointing. I think I’m just over these big multi-person Ladder matches at this point, especially if they’re just going to be spotfests instead of trying to tell some sort of story with them. Throw in a below-expectations main event and the second world title match being essentially a squash, and all you really have is one awesome match between Rhea and Charlotte, and a bunch of matches that, while almost all good to great, were still below expectations.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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