Reviewing Money in the Bank 2023...and Its Many Shockers

The first thought I had as I watched the pre-show for this year's Money in the Bank event: the titular match has been around for 18 years! It doesn't seem like it. It seems like yesterday that I watched the very first Money in the Bank Ladder Match, but it was actually 18 years ago: April 3, 2005 at WrestleMania 21. In the years that have passed, Money in the Bank continued as a WrestleMania staple until 2010, when the namesake event was born. For those of you who are new to this phenomenon, here are the details.

The Money in the Bank Ladder Match is a specialty match that usually features at least six competitors; the first match did, though the match's population changes at times. Like the latter part of the title says, it is a ladder match, but the prize hoisted above the ring is a briefcase. Rather...what the briefcase holds. What's in that briefcase, you ask? Oh, nothing important. Just a contract for a World Championship match that's good for a year, that's all. The winner of that match will have that golden ticket, and it could be cashed in from that day up to the following year's event.

Again, the match was a staple at WrestleMania from 2005-2010, and it was later in 2010 that the titular event debuted. For the first few years, there were two MITB matches, one from Raw and one from SmackDown, but once the original brand split ended, only one match took place. 2017 saw the debut of the Women's MITB match, and we've seen a Men's match and a Women's match ever since. Regarding the male winners, only four have cashed in and failed to win, but on the women's side, every winner has successfully cashed in. The winners often targeted the World Champions, but in 2022, Austin Theory used his briefcase to go after the United States Championship, leading to the official rule change that the winners could go after any title.

The event took place in London, the first WWE Premium Live Event to emanate in London in two decades, and it kicked off with the Men's MITB match. The combatants were Ricochet, LA Knight, Damian Priest, Butch, Shinsuke Nakamura, Santos Escobar, and Logan Paul, and there were so many signs pointing to LA Knight winning the briefcase. In fact, I even read that there was a big push to have Knight win, but in a huge surprise, Damian Priest ended up knocking Knight off the ladder and winning the briefcase. I don't think anyone had Priest winning, but it's definitely the high point of what has been quite a year for him. Priest has been on the main roster for about two years, but it was after last year's WrestleMania that he became one of the founding members of the sinister faction known as The Judgment Day, which was (at that time) led by WWE Hall of Famer Edge.

I entered the event feeling so uneasy about this Women's Tag Team Championship match. For one, the champions were Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler, and it was documented that Ronda basically ordered WWE to put the titles on them. Raquel should have been in the MITB match, but I get the method to that madness: her and Liv being back together. However, they were up against a team who had not only just won the titles, they just unified them with the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship. So again, I was not feeling so positive about this match. My gut was screaming, "Ronda and Shayna are retaining."

Then this happened:

From out of nowhere, Shayna suddenly snaps and beats down Ronda, a swerve that literally no one saw coming! Ronda was left prone in the ring to the challengers, and that ended up being all she wrote, as Raquel and Liv regained the tag titles that they had to vacate. This is their second reign together, but for Raquel, counting NXT, this is her fifth time as tag champion. As for Shayna and Ronda, well, one has to believe that we will se these two go at it at SummerSlam. The funny thing: this is what Ronda asked for in those backstage segments months ago. The moral of this story: be careful what you wish for.

The event's two shortest matches would follow; first, Gunther had another successful defense of the Intercontinental Championship, this time against Matt Riddle. Afterwards, Drew MacIntyre would appear and confront Gunther, making a physical challenge for the very title he failed to capture at WrestleMania three months prior. MacIntyre wasn't the only one making his first appearance since WrestleMania, as John Cena made a huge shock appearance to a raucous reaction from the London crowd, and his mission was a simple one: to get WrestleMania to London. He would be interrupted by Grayson Waller, who made a failed request to get the grand event to his native Australia, and it was followed by a verbal confrontation that turned physical, ending with Waller receiving an Attitude Adjustment.

The Women's Money in the Bank Match followed, and the combatants in this year's bout were Bayley, Zoey Stark, Iyo Sky, Zelina Vega, Becky Lynch, and WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. The match would serve as the continuation of a pair of angles; the main one being Becky's feud with Trish, who has had Zoey Stark as her right hand woman since Night of Champions. The other angle was the dissension between Bayley and Iyo Sky, who have been operating as a duo since their Damage CTRL cohort, Dakota Kai, ended up injured. I was pulling for Zelina to win, but there was a belief that The Man would walk away with the case. Neither happened. After Bayley sent her own ally toppling off the ladder, Iyo Sky decided to handcuff Becky and Bayley together, and then climb over the latter to obtain the briefcase.

Iyo Sky joins Carmella, Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Asuka, Nikki Cross, and Liv Morgan on the list of Women's MITB Ladder Match winners. Speaking of MITB winners, Seth Rollins followed that match with his successful defense of the World Heavyweight Championship, despite Damian Priest looming at ringside with his newly won MITB briefcase.

And finally, it happened:

Roman Reigns was pinned. For the first time since December 2019--before the pandemic, mind you--Roman Reigns was pinned one, two, three, in the middle of the ring. The highly anticipated Bloodline Civil War served as the main event of Money in the Bank 2023, and on one side, Roman Reigns (the undisputed Universal Champion) and his cousin, Solo Sikoa. The other side: Jimmy and Jey Uso--Roman's cousins and Solo's big brothers, who ousted themselves from The Bloodline. This was a long time coming, though the build for this started when Roman started disrespecting the Usos following their tag title loss at WrestleMania. Jimmy delivered a long overdue superkick to the Tribal Chief at Night of Champions, and after weeks of speculation, Jey finally sided with his twin brother.

I loved everything about this match. The family ties, the portrayed family turmoil, pro-babyface Michael Cole providing a sympathetic voice for the Usos, pro-heel Wade Barrett blindly defending Roman Reigns--even after Roman insulted Barrett's homeland. All sorts of chaos took place in that match. Every time Roman arrogantly thought he had the match won, he didn't. In fact, one pinning attempt from Roman actually saw Jey kick out with an undetected low blow. The twins would capitalize, and it would be the man dubbed "Main Event" Jey Uso who delivered the winning pin on Roman.

As a sports fan, I'm familiar with this. The powerhouse, who had been dominating for nearly three years, finally suffers an ultimate bout of weakness. I often await the fallout of this, and in the case of the Bloodline Civil War, this is no different. Roman has been pinned for the first time in this decade. That is a huge shift on the WWE landscape. The fallout from everything that occurred at this amazing event will be amazing, but as the final countdown to SummerSlam begins, one has to really pay close attention to the aftermath of the Bloodline Civil War.