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T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas, NV – Sunday, June 19, 2016
Michael Cole, JBL, and Byron Saxton are on commentary.
~MATCH #1~
WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston, w/ Xavier Woods) defeat Big Cass & Enzo Amore, The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows), and The Vaudevillains (Simon Gotch & Aiden English) in a Fatal Four Way Match at 11:43 to retain the titles. New Day have been the Champions since 8.23.15, and this is their thirteenth defense. Everyone gets a chance to do some stuff in the early going. It quickly turns into a pier-six brawl, and the babyfaces clear the ring before turning their attention to each other. The action continues at a breakneck pace, with no team staying in control for very long, and at one point Gallows misses his spot when Amore has Anderson covered, and the ref actually counts three. Hate when that happens. The Club hits English with the Magic Killer, but E breaks that up and the New Day hit Anderson with the Midnight Hour. Kingston then pins English to get the win. Good choice for an opener here, with tons of action.
Rating: ***
~MATCH #2~
Baron Corbin defeats Dolph Ziggler at 12:24. Last month at Extreme Rules these two had a No Disqualification match. Obviously, the natural progression then is to have a match WITH disqualifications, am I right? Corbin uses his blend of size and speed to keep Ziggler grounded. The crowd unleashes a “boring” chant. Ziggler eventually comes back and fires up, waking up the crowd. They spill to the floor and Corbin catches Ziggler with the Deep Six. That’s almost enough for a countout win, but Ziggler just makes it back in. Not long after that Corbin connects with the End of Days to get the win. This wasn’t horrible but seemed to lack direction. It was just stuff
Rating: **¼
~MATCH #3~
WWE Women’s’ Champion Charlotte & Dana Brooke defeat Natalya & Becky Lynch at 7:00. Becky and Natalya control the early going, and momentum shifts back and forth. Late in the match, Natalya locks Charlotte in the Sharpshooter. Dana breaks it up and Becky goes after Dana, but gets pushed into her own partner! That allows Charlotte to hit Natalya with Natural Selection to get the pin. Standard TV-style match here, not much to see. A frustrated Natalya attacks Becky after the bell and leaves her laying.
Rating: **
~MATCH #4~
Apollo Crews defeats Sheamus at 8:36. On paper I like this match a lot. Both men are aggressive in the early going, and I like it. When Sheamus takes control he grounds Crews, which is smart to do against someone with so much power and agility. They brawl in and out of the ring, and Sheamus hits a big move – White Noise from the second rope. He covers and only gets two, and as Sheamus argues with the referee, Crews surprises him with a crucifix to get the pin! This started out strong with all the aggression, but quickly became JAM.
Rating: **¼
~MATCH #5~
AJ Styles defeats John Cena at 24:10. The crowd is moist for this one before the bell rings. Styles pretty much dominates the first 10-15 minutes, as the commentators mention several times that Cena is off his game. Finally, Styles misses a dive to the floor and crashes hard. Cena tries both the Attitude Adjustment and the STF, and has much more success with the latter. Styles is able to escape though, and he continues to counter Cena’s attacks and keep him on the defensive. Both men utilize finishers, as Styles tries to Calf Crusher but Cena reaches the ropes. Cena connects with an AA but Styles kicks out. That’s’ fantastic. Cena returns the factor when Styles hits the Styles Clash but it only gets two. Styles then tries the springboard 450 and Cena gets his knees up. The referee takes an inadvertent bump, and no one is there to see Cena hit the AA and cover for much more than three seconds. Anderson and Gallows come out and hit Cena with the Magic Killer and they put Styles on top to get the pin! I know that finish isn’t exactly popular, but I think it works in the overall context of their feud. Plus, Styles dominated almost the entire match so it’s clear that the purpose of this was to make him look good. They would go on to do better, but this was really good.
Rating: ****
~MATCH #6~
Dean Ambrose defeats Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn at 21:37 in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. In past MITB matches, Del Rio is 1-0; Cesaro is 0-1; Jericho is 0-4; Ambrose is 0-2; and Owens and Zayn are making their first appearance. Of course, this is chaotic right from the start. It’s nearly impossible to keep up with the amount of action going on. Everyone gets a chance to shine here, and they use the ladders in some creative ways. The undercurrent of hatred between Owens and Zayn runs throughout the match. Ambrose and Owens find themselves on top of the ladder and Ambrose smashes Owens’ face into the ladder multiple times to knock him down. That allows Ambrose to retrieve the briefcase. This was fun enough, and there’s no faulting the effort. But it really takes something special to make these matches stand out nowadays, since there have been so many of them.
Rating: ***½
~MATCH #7~
United States Champion Rusev defeats Titus O’Neil to retain the title at 8:13. Rusev has been the Champion since 5.22.16, and this is his second defense. The challenger looks to be in over his head from the get-go. You see, Rusev is a good wrestler and O’Neil is a bad one. O’Neil uses his power to fight back, but he gets thwarted with kicks to the face. Rusev locks on The Accolade and gets the win. Total TV-style match there, with a challenger no one in their right mind took as any kind of threat. After the match, Rusev tells O’Neil’s kids (seated in the front row) that their dad is a loser. Rusev then wishes the arena a Happy Father’s Day.
Rating: *¾
~MATCH #8~
Seth Rollins defeats WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns to win the title at 26:00. Reigns has been the Champion since 4.3.16, and this is his third defense. Rollins hasn’t been in a match since November, but he shows little signs of rust in the opening minutes. They fight in and out of the ring, trading control back and forth. These two were brothers in The Shield, so they clearly know each other very well. Reigns busts out a Splash Mountain, which is such a cool move. It only gets two. Rollins counters with moves like a Frog Splash and a Falcon Arrow but he can’t get a pin. He hits a Buckle Bomb but Reigns pops out with a Superman Punch and both men are down. They take it to the floor and Reigns misses a Spear against the barricade and crashes into it. Rollins hurries Reigns back into the ring but can’t hit the Pedigree and gets drilled by a Spear. Reigns goes for another Spear but Rollins awesomely counters it with a Pedigree but it only gets two! One more Pedigree and Rollins pins Reigns clean as a sheet to win the title. This was a very good match between two guys that compliment and know each other’s styles. They did lots of cool reversals and counters, and a squeaky-clean finish is nice to see.
Rating: ***¾
As Rollins, celebrates, Dean Ambrose’s music hits! While Rollins waits for him, Ambrose attacks him from behind and hits him with the briefcase!
~MATCH #9
Dean Ambrose defeats WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins at 0:08 to win the title. Rollins has been the Champion for about a minute, and this is his first defense. One Dirty Deeds is all it takes, and Ambrose wins the title to a big pop.
Rating: DUD
A2Z Analysiz
They relentlessly hyped this show as “the greatest Money in the Bank ever” before it even happened, and that’s a lot to live up to. The show is three hours and 23 minutes, and that’s much too long, especially since about half the matches were totally pointless. Cena v Styles is very good, and the ladder match and main events are enjoyable. Ambrose cashing in made for a cool scenario in which all members of the Shield held the WWE Title in the same night. Cut about a half hour from this show and it would be much easier to digest.
