This Saturday is the first-ever UK edition of WWE Money in the Bank, and there's a pretty strong card lined up. I still have major gripes about WWE's long-term decision-making though. Let's get right into it.
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship: Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler vs. Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan
Not much heat for this one I feel like; Raquel and Liv were the champs till Liv got hurt, Ronda and Shayna won the vacant titles and now this match is just about the undefeated former champs challenging the new champs. That's all fine. It's hard to believe Ronda's been back for longer than she was here the first time; her second run has felt very uneventful to me and she's just one of the women now. This match should be ok but probably won't get much time.
Pick: Ronda & Shayna retain
Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Matt Riddle
This should be a helluva match as Gunther's matches always are. Riddle is a good babyface who can deliver in the clutch. Not much else to say other than Gunther isn't losing the title anytime soon (Nor should he). This could steal the show though.
Pick: Gunther retains
Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio
Well the heat for this oughta be pretty spectacular. Cody's the most over babyface, Dom is hated vehemently everywhere he goes. Again, no real suspense over the result but the match should be quite entertaining. Cody is just biding time till I guess 'Mania 40 when maybe he'll finally win the fucking belt and hopefully the company won't have waited too long.
Pick: Cody
Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs. The Usos
Okay so here's where my gripes are. The booking of both Roman and Cody since WrestleMania just confirms to me that Cody should have won the title then (and despite reports saying otherwise I still suspect he was supposed to). Cody's been having singles PPV matches with Brock (after Brock attacked him for no reason) and now Dom, while Roman has been appearing on PPV in tag matches instead of defending his title (which isn't needed at all for this Bloodline implosion). It simply doesn't make sense for Roman to still be the champion just to break some arbitrary number of days, nor did it make sense for the company to create a brand new title because Roman doesn't defend his enough. Nor does it make sense for Roman's two belts to be combined into one only to have Paul Heyman still carrying around the two old ones. This is all just dumb. Cody's feud with Brock would've meant way more for the title, and Dom challenging him for it here would help elevate Dom. I know the company did away with the 30-day title defense rule a long time ago but having Roman wrestle numerous PPV matches without defending his title is pretty flagrant. It's just gotten stupid now. Anyway, Roman and Solo are obviously going over here.
Pick: Roman & Solo
World Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
Oh yeah, here's another thing. Why in the FUCK did they have Finn lose to Edge at WrestleMania if Edge was just going home and Finn was going to be pushed as a title challenger? Yet another example of "I'm pretty sure Vince fucked with the 'Mania Night 2 booking" (along with having Bianca beat Asuka only to lose to her a month-and-a-half later with less heat, because "we have to beat a record"). There was zero reason for Finn to come up short if they had plans for him to be a credible contender now. No one buys Finn beating Seth for this title; the guy hasn't been properly pushed on the main roster since 2016. This match should be great and maybe the UK crowd will rally behind Finn, but he's not winning.
Pick: Seth retains
Women's Money in the Bank: Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus vs. Iyo Sky vs. Zelina Vega vs. Zoey Stark vs. Bayley
I say this every year but I'm tired of this concept and these matches. WWE's "producers" generally don't let anyone do anything innovative anymore and the MITB gimmick hasn't permanently elevated anyone in years. Both these matches should be entertaining junk food but I don't care much at all. I hope Iyo wins and challenges Asuka to a proper match because that could be great. But they'll probably just do the cheap cash-in shit like always.
Pick: Iyo Sky
Men's Money in the Bank: Logan Paul vs. LA Knight vs. Ricochet vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Butch vs. Damian Priest vs. Santos Escobar
This is a weird lineup. All midcard guys they don't use well, plus Logan Paul. I'd love to believe either Ric or Nakamura finally gets a push out of this but I ain't holding my breath for that. Knight is the favorite apparently, and I'll be honest, I really don't see what the big deal is with him. He's a decent talker and competent in the ring but not much else. I have to think Logan Paul wins this so they can do a rematch with Seth for the title, while the other six continue languishing in midcard hell till their contracts are up.
Pick: Logan
So yeah, good lineup for this card but WWE's big-picture plans continue to piss me off because they're immune to basic logic.
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