Courtesy of WWE
Money in the Bank brought back memories of a spring night from four years ago.
In June of 2019, NXT ran TakeOver: XXV in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The show was headlined by a 30-plus minute bout pitting Adam Cole against Johnny Gargano, where Cole won the belt.
Looking back four years later, the moment that stands out most happened after the show went off the air. Paul “Triple H” Levesque conducted his post-show media press conference, then ended the call and gave extra time to those who covered the event in-person. In a small back room with less than five people present, Levesque discussed Punishment Martinez, an 11-year wrestling veteran who had just signed with WWE and been repackaged as Damian Priest.
“That’s a dude with a lot of aura and a lot of mystique,” commented Levesque. “He has this charisma about him—talk about an x-factor when he walks about the room.”
Despite his impressive frame at 6'6", Priest—whose name is Luis Martínez—was overweight throughout his career and largely unnoticed. When he finally started to commit to the craft, he found success in Ring of Honor in 2018. But ROH aired at peculiar times, and despite a brief run as the ROH television champion, Priest somehow remained hidden. In an era where everything is visible, this made him even more valuable to Levesque.
“I always felt he was under-utilized,” said Levesque. “[He is] a guy that just has a presence, and I’m excited to build that presence and to showcase it to the world. What he does with it, we’ll see. But I’m very excited about it.”
Priest has had a tremendous year. At 40, he carries a presence and confidence only few others in the industry possess. He is playing a starring role in Judgment Day, and gained a tremendous amount of respect for the way he ensured Bad Bunny shined in their match at Backlash. That night in Puerto Rico was a moment for Bad Bunny; two months later, Priest seized his opportunity, winning the men's Money in the Bank ladder match.
Priest’s victory was a highlight of Money in the Bank in London, though far from the only one. John Cena returned, Iyo Sky won the women’s Money in the Bank match in incredible fashion, Shayna Baszler turned on Ronda Rousey and—like Cena—Drew McIntyre also made his first appearance since WrestleMania 39 in April.
Cena made an electric crowd nearly combust when he announced that he wanted to bring WrestleMania to London. Amid that joy, Grayson Waller interrupted Cena, relishing his chance to play the villain. To Waller’s credit, he wasn’t phased by a very vocal crowd, and he hit his high notes, mainly about moving WrestleMania to his native Australia instead of London, as well as detailing Cena’s ongoing losing streak in the ring. Naturally, he was booed endlessly as he offered to save Cena’s career. When Cena rejected—even creatively mentioning he was “spending time with my friends”, which went viral earlier this week on TikTok—Waller dropped him. Cena quickly gained control, hitting an Attitude Adjustment and ending his brief return in a crowd-pleasing manner.
Have an AA, @GraysonWWE!@JohnCena and London bring the excitement at #MITB! pic.twitter.com/GAW8HoGHmN
— WWE (@WWE) July 1, 2023
This was WWE’s best pay-per-view of the year. Clearly, the company is aware of rival AEW’s success, and the talent took pride in delivering an even better show than last week’s Forbidden Door. (To be fair, it was helped by fewer matches, leading to a tighter show with world-class matches.) It also showed that WWE is well aware of AEW’s success internationally. If WrestleMania comes to London, then it would make sense to hold it at the famed Wembley Stadium, which is the exact spot where AEW is running All In in August. If that happens, it will undoubtedly be a battle to see which company sells more tickets at the venue.
All of that occurred, as well as The Usos finally seizing some revenge on Roman Reigns.
Here are the results from Money in the Bank:
- Damian Priest won the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match
- Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez defeated Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler to win the women’s tag team titles
- Intercontinental champion Gunther defeated Matt Riddle
- Cody Rhodes defeated Dominik Mysterio
- Iyo Sky won the women’s Money in the Bank match
- World heavyweight champion Seth Rollins defeated Finn Balor
- Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa defeated The Usos in a Bloodline Civil War match
On the heels of a tremendous video package detailing the emotion and significance of The Bloodline, Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa wrestled Jimmy and Jey Uso in a magnificent main event. The key takeaway is that Reigns is not unbeatable, as Uso finally pinned him to win the match.
In case anyone was wondering, yes, there was a ref bump. The referee was knocked out, preventing The Usos from pinning Reigns after hitting him with a 1D. The spot from WrestleMania 37 where Reigns stacked and pinned both Daniel Bryan and Edge was brought back to life, but every time The Usos appeared to be finished, they kicked out.
Jey Uso hitting a top-rope splash on Reigns, then pinning him, opens the possibility that the same result could happen in a singles bout. With SummerSlam only a month away, Jey Uso now steps up as Reigns’ next challenger—this time, however, with the added plot line that he has already scored a win against the supposedly unbeatable Reigns.
1! 2! 3!#MITB pic.twitter.com/HNdII4T7Zc
— WWE (@WWE) July 1, 2023
In the men’s Money in the Bank match, Ricochet was sensational. While he may never become world champion, his matches succeed because of the way he allows his opponents to shine. The match also highlighted the vastly talented Pete Dunne, who is attempting to succeed despite being saddled with the ridiculous gimmick of Butch.
Logan Paul and Ricochet combined for an outrageous risk, off the ladder and onto the ropes before crashing through tables (rich in irony since those were tables that Paul had set up earlier in the match). Paul nearly went through head first, with his head and shoulder taking the brunt of the fall, and a number of referees immediately went to check on him.
That built to the finish, where crowd favorite LA Knight went one by one through his remaining opponents. Knight was about to seize the briefcase until Priest stopped him with a Broken Arrow that sent him flying. That opened the window for Priest to win, beginning the pursuit to his first-ever run as world champion.
The women’s Money in the Bank match also delivered. A key moment built around Trish Stratus and Zoey Stark attempting to handcuff Becky Lynch outside the ring, which would have immediately prevented her from winning. But Lynch avoided that indignity, at least temporarily, as a match with high spots from Iyo Sky and Zelina Vega continued.
Sky was on the cusp of winning, which Bayley prevented by pushing over her ladder. What should have been a compelling moment was instead a headache, as WWE production team’s decision to limit what viewers see on screen again harmed the product. Cameras were zoomed in on Sky on the ladder (a clear giveaway that that was not the finish), but the moment would have been far more meaningful had the cameras actually showed Bayley sneak up and hurt her Damage CTRL partner.
Fortunately, the finish was excellent. Sky used the handcuffs on Bayley and Lynch, trapping them on the ladder, then climbed over Bayley to reach the briefcase. It was a perfect sequence, adding a figurative and literal meaning to Bayley holding down Sky over the past 11 months in Damage CTRL—and Sky finally overcoming it. Bayley and Sky were together and united as the post-show press conference, but the split is inevitable. The best pound-for-pound wrestler in the world, Sky is an excellent choice for Money in the Bank winner, and hopefully it leads to a lengthy world title run.
日本の皆さん、 #IYOSKY 勝ちましたよ👍🏻 https://t.co/hDw193Ubfy pic.twitter.com/d32jkxAVyp
— IYO SKY (@Iyo_SkyWWE) July 1, 2023
During the show, WWE ran a fascinating video package on Ronda Rousey that detailed her work as a revolutionary force. While that was the case in MMA, it couldn't be further from the truth in WWE. Despite all the victories, Rousey simply has not connected with the fan base like Becky Lynch or Sasha Banks (or Bayley or Charlotte Flair or Rhea Ripley or Bianca Belair). Despite the propaganda, this was an interesting look into the way WWE wants Rousey to be viewed. After the video, as if on cue, Rousey and Shayna Baszler were booed in their tag team title match against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.
The victory was never in doubt for Rousey and Baszler, until Baszler turned on Rousey. In a surprising moment, Baszler attacked Rousey and laid her out. Morgan pinned a vulnerable Rousey for the win, crowing herself and Rodriguez as the new champs. Michael Cole sold the turn as shocking, and while it could lead to a compelling singles program, the turn feels incredibly rushed. There was potential for Rousey and Baszler as champs, but they only held the belts together for 33 days. Why not wait longer and add meaning to this? They will likely have a singles match at SummerSlam, but the risk now is that this is all happening without enough build.
Gunther also wrestled at Money in the Bank, defending the IC belt against Matt Riddle. Unlike their back-and-forth classics on the indies, the purpose was to showcase Gunther, and that is exactly how it was designed. Riddle was capable of doing a lot more here, but in a humbling moment, his job was to illustrate the dominance of Gunther. Riddle tapped out to an Achilles lock, and the focus then quickly changed to the returning Drew McIntyre. This marked McIntyre’s first appearance since losing to Gunther in a triple threat match at WrestleMania, and he welcomed himself back by dropping Gunther with a Claymore Kick. One of the best in the world, it is massive for WWE that McIntyre is back.
He's baaaaaaack!@DMcIntyreWWE returns at #MITB with a message for Intercontinental Champion @Gunther_AUT! pic.twitter.com/IpxJ7vDQdE
— WWE (@WWE) July 1, 2023
In a match that featured a foregone conclusion of a finish, Cody Rhodes defeated Dominik Mysterio. There was no chance Rhodes was losing to Mysterio, and this served as a quick detour before Rhodes resumes his program with Brock Lesnar. Unlike this past March, when Rhodes got a world title endorsement from Cena on Raw, Cena’s segment at Money in the Bank did not include Rhodes.
The world heavyweight championship match pitting Seth Rollins against Finn Balor featured some outstanding callbacks to their SummerSlam 2016 bout. That was the infamous match where Balor got hurt when he won the Universal title, losing the faith of Vince McMahon in the process. This was a solid match with a cliche ending, with Balor was briefly distracted by Money-in-the-Bank-briefcase-carrying Priest at ringside. That allowed Rollins to regain momentum, hitting a Curb Stomp for the win. Priest never cashed in, instead arguing after the match with Balor, hinting at dissension within Judgment Day.
Money in the Bank stands as a prime example of WWE’s dominance. The roster is stacked with stars, and this card—with two Money in the Bank matches and genuine surprises in returns from Cena and McIntyre, capped off with another pristine performance from Reigns—made a convincing argument from WWE on why it remains the industry leader.
Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.
