WWE Money In The Bank 2012
WWE Money in the Bank 2012 (7/15/2012)- Phoenix, AZ
PRE-SHOW MATCH: R-Truth & Kofi Kingston vs. Hunico & Camacho- 5/10
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE CONTRACT MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: Christian vs. Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara vs. Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Tensai (w/Sakamoto)- 7.25/10
Great match, but no real story. Tensai was nowhere near as effective a monster in this match as guys like Kane and Sheamus have been in the past.
SHEAMUS PROMO- good
MIZ PROMO- good… and Miz is getting babyface pops? WTF?
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sheamus(c) vs. Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez)- 7/10
AFTERMATH- When Ziggler came out, I thought that WWE had finally gotten it. That it isn’t cashing in MITB that is important to creating good angles with it as much as is it is the circumstances surrounding it. I thought that Del Rio would run in and cause Ziggler to be DQed, using up the MITB title shot without a title change, but still using it to set up an angle to sell Summer Slam…, but instead we got more of the same â€"the bell never rung†teasing that WWE has become obsessed with since 2010.
DANIEL BRYAN PROMO- good
THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS (w/Abraham Washington) vs. PRIMO & EPICO (w/Rosa Mendes)- 5.5/10
So they are putting this on PPV with no hype? I would have given it a 5.75, but the wrong team went over. Young & O'Neil shouldn't lose until they get their title shot.
MATT STRIKER INTERVIEWS AJ- well done, but I feel like AJ saying what that she knew Dragon was just trying to use her kind of took some suspense out of this match.
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH FOR THE WWE TITLE WITH AJ AS THE SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: CM Punk(c) vs. Daniel Bryan- 8.25/10
Awesome match, that told it's story well. I thought they did a good job with the spot where Veronica dropped the baton right between Archie and Mr. Touchdown... I mean when AJ dropped the chair right between Dragon and Punk. This whole angle has been the quintessential example of an angle that I don't like and don't think is a good idea, but is definitely telling its story very well. I don't like it, but I can appreciate.
When I saw that this wasn’t the main event, I was very unhappy. It has been the main event angle on TV for most of the last two months, and it just doesn’t make logical sense that the MITB match, which, in essence, is a match to determine a future contender to the WWE Title, would be more important than the match for the title itself. Then I remembered the rule of questionable finishes, which basically states that if you are ending your main event by doing something that you think there is a major chance that the audience won’t react positively to (whether it is something negative like a screwy finish, or even just something that hasn’t been done in a long time, so you don’t know how the crowd will react [which is why Gabe put Punk and Joe’s first 60 minute draw in the semi-main event spot]), you don’t make that the main event, and give the fans a good finish in the main event to send them home happy. This match certainly has the set-up for that. So the question was, which would this be? Was there a screwy finish coming, or is WWE just massively undervaluing Dragon and Punk? Based on the finish... unfortunately, it seems like the latter.
HANDICAP MATCH: Ryback vs. Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks- wow. They actually had Ryback sell. No rating. Decent advancement for Ryback, as he takes on some non-jobbers but still dominates most of the match.
TAMINA, LAYLA, & KAITLYN vs. EVE TORRES, BETH PHOENIX, & NATALYA- 2.25/10
A random clusterduck that had no reason to be on the card.
WWE TITLE CONTRACT MONEY IN THE BANK MATCH: John Cena vs. The Big Show vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. The Miz- 8.5/10
Hmmm... not really sure if that was exactly supposed to end like that, as Cena's celebration seemed a bit longer than necessary. An awesome match, though. I loved the spot that Cena and Jericho did with the sleeper on the ladder, I loved everything they did with Big Show.
Overall, a GREAT show from WWE.
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Booker T (after AJ took her bump off of the apron)- â€"If we had an experienced referee, that never would have happened!â€
Yeah, because regular referees never get accidentally bumped into by the competitors.
PRE-SHOW MATCH: R-Truth & Kofi Kingston vs. Hunico & Camacho- 5/10
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE CONTRACT MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: Christian vs. Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara vs. Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Tensai (w/Sakamoto)- 7.25/10
Great match, but no real story. Tensai was nowhere near as effective a monster in this match as guys like Kane and Sheamus have been in the past.
SHEAMUS PROMO- good
MIZ PROMO- good… and Miz is getting babyface pops? WTF?
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sheamus(c) vs. Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez)- 7/10
AFTERMATH- When Ziggler came out, I thought that WWE had finally gotten it. That it isn’t cashing in MITB that is important to creating good angles with it as much as is it is the circumstances surrounding it. I thought that Del Rio would run in and cause Ziggler to be DQed, using up the MITB title shot without a title change, but still using it to set up an angle to sell Summer Slam…, but instead we got more of the same â€"the bell never rung†teasing that WWE has become obsessed with since 2010.
DANIEL BRYAN PROMO- good
THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS (w/Abraham Washington) vs. PRIMO & EPICO (w/Rosa Mendes)- 5.5/10
So they are putting this on PPV with no hype? I would have given it a 5.75, but the wrong team went over. Young & O'Neil shouldn't lose until they get their title shot.
MATT STRIKER INTERVIEWS AJ- well done, but I feel like AJ saying what that she knew Dragon was just trying to use her kind of took some suspense out of this match.
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH FOR THE WWE TITLE WITH AJ AS THE SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: CM Punk(c) vs. Daniel Bryan- 8.25/10
Awesome match, that told it's story well. I thought they did a good job with the spot where Veronica dropped the baton right between Archie and Mr. Touchdown... I mean when AJ dropped the chair right between Dragon and Punk. This whole angle has been the quintessential example of an angle that I don't like and don't think is a good idea, but is definitely telling its story very well. I don't like it, but I can appreciate.
When I saw that this wasn’t the main event, I was very unhappy. It has been the main event angle on TV for most of the last two months, and it just doesn’t make logical sense that the MITB match, which, in essence, is a match to determine a future contender to the WWE Title, would be more important than the match for the title itself. Then I remembered the rule of questionable finishes, which basically states that if you are ending your main event by doing something that you think there is a major chance that the audience won’t react positively to (whether it is something negative like a screwy finish, or even just something that hasn’t been done in a long time, so you don’t know how the crowd will react [which is why Gabe put Punk and Joe’s first 60 minute draw in the semi-main event spot]), you don’t make that the main event, and give the fans a good finish in the main event to send them home happy. This match certainly has the set-up for that. So the question was, which would this be? Was there a screwy finish coming, or is WWE just massively undervaluing Dragon and Punk? Based on the finish... unfortunately, it seems like the latter.
HANDICAP MATCH: Ryback vs. Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks- wow. They actually had Ryback sell. No rating. Decent advancement for Ryback, as he takes on some non-jobbers but still dominates most of the match.
TAMINA, LAYLA, & KAITLYN vs. EVE TORRES, BETH PHOENIX, & NATALYA- 2.25/10
A random clusterduck that had no reason to be on the card.
WWE TITLE CONTRACT MONEY IN THE BANK MATCH: John Cena vs. The Big Show vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. The Miz- 8.5/10
Hmmm... not really sure if that was exactly supposed to end like that, as Cena's celebration seemed a bit longer than necessary. An awesome match, though. I loved the spot that Cena and Jericho did with the sleeper on the ladder, I loved everything they did with Big Show.
Overall, a GREAT show from WWE.
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Booker T (after AJ took her bump off of the apron)- â€"If we had an experienced referee, that never would have happened!â€
Yeah, because regular referees never get accidentally bumped into by the competitors.