WWE Money In The Bank 2021
July 18, 2021
Fort Worth, Texas
Dickies Arena

Watch: Peacock & WWE Network

Meet Our Reviewers

Steve Case: There will be ladders. There will be fans, so maybe, MAYBE no monologues. There will be adults definitely not portraying children. Will it be good? Lord knows. Follow Steve @coachcase44

Sean Sedor: Between F1 and NASCAR, Sean has been watching a very….controversial day of racing, but now he’s strapped in and ready to review WWE’s first PPV in front of a full indoor arena crowd since March 2020. You can follow Sean on Twitter @SASedor2994. If you’re interested in some other stuff he does, you can check out his YouTube channel (just search his name) if you’d like to see him play the Formula 1 game. You can also check out Sean’s Extreme Warfare Revenge thread on the Be The Booker forums (if you’re into those kinds of games).

WWE SmackDown Tag Team Titles
The Usos def. Rey & Dominik Mysterio (c) 

Steve: You have to love a company where a guy who just got his third of three DUIs and is still on television. Rey and Dominik’s entrance was one of the worst things I’ve seen in a while. That looked like a junior high kid made a music video for his horrible Sepultura influenced death metal garage band. I finally understand Rey’s game here. Dominik is bad, and he knows this. He’s clunky, slow, and would be third from the bottom on an indie show. Whenever Dominik is in the ring, the match slows and looks choreographed to the maximum. But when Rey tags in, there’s energy and some pace. Dominik makes his dad look even greater than he already is. I respect that hustle Rey. The match was standard fare, with the crowd waking up for Rey and the finish. The Usos got a big pop with the pin, which is confusing since I think they were the heels here. They even cheated with the assisted roll up. I already forgot this match. **1/2

Sean: The Mysterio Family had a very wacky entrance where they were shown in front of “Aztec Temples” before walking through a magical portal into the arena. That is a 100% accurate description, I assure you. The Usos ultimately won the SmackDown Tag Team Titles via a rollup where one of the twins was helping the other out behind the referee’s back. So just a few short weeks after getting a DUI, Jimmy Uso….gets rewarded with a championship? WWE’s gonna WWE, I suppose. The match itself was perfectly fine. Dominik was his usual bad self, but the other three did a good job here, as you would expect. I honestly don’t have any other hot takes here, as I’m also trying to watch the end of this NASCAR race. ***

Money In The Bank Ladder Match
Nikki ASH def. Natalya, Asuka, Tamina, Naomi, Zelina Vega, Alexa Bliss & Liv Morgan

Steve: This has to be the worst lineup for a Money in the Bank match ever right? Well, they also produced one of if not the worst Money in the Bank ladder matches I’ve ever seen. The Alexa Bliss mind control Fiend meets Harley Quinn cosplay is absolute garbage. That Zelina Vega spot at the top of the ladder is the kind of stuff that makes me embarrassed to be a fan at times. Liv Morgan and Naomi at least looked like they tried hard, but that effort was far from saving this train wreck. Nothing had any flow, a number of clunky botched spots, and the finish saw a Super Hero (NOT) In Training make half the women’s roster look like imbeciles. DUD

Sean: I just got done watching the best second half of a NASCAR race all year, which I promise you will be 1000% better than this match, or anything on this PPV. Alas, we’ve got the Women’s Money In The Bank kicking off the show, and when the dust settled, Nikki ASH emerged with the briefcase in one of the silliest finishes I’ve seen in a long time. While the other seven people were battling it out on the ladders, they completely missed Nikki ASH climbing up around them and grabbing the briefcase. Those seven looked like the dumbest wrestlers in the universe. It was a finish straight out of a cartoon. Some of the action in the match itself was….fine, I guess, so I’ll throw a generous two stars at this (and maybe that’s overrating it). It was a horrible finish, but there were far worse matches this year. **

WWE RAW Tag Team Title Match
AJ Styles & Omos (c) def. The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar)

Steve: AJ Styles came out to a real pop for the first time all night, which was nice to hear. I remember watching War Machine tear the house down in Dearborn, MI against Tanahashi and Jay Lethal in 2017. Those were the days. This Omos and AJ act has some life to it. Omos is a monster with a great presence and seems to even have some natural charisma. He will never be a great wrestler, but you don’t have to be to be a great big man. Maybe use less nerve holds though. The Raiders looked great using their double teams and throwing AJ around like a rag doll. AJ bumped around for them like a madman, looking like he was jazzed up bigtime from the crowd. Outside of when he was selling like a frat boy walking home at closing time, Omos dominated the ending stretch leading to the win. Easily the best match on the show so far, but that’s not the highest bar. ***1/4

Sean: I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from this, but it turned out to be a pretty solid tag team affair. AJ Styles and Omos have become an entertaining act with a fun dynamic, and they worked well with The Viking Raiders here. We got a couple of nice nearfalls, AJ bumping like a crazy person at points, Omos doing the limited big man stuff he can do, and The Viking Raiders looking the best they have in who knows when. Not a must-see match by any means, but a very solid tag team encounter. ***1/4 

WWE Title Match
Bobby Lashley (c) def. Kofi Kingston

Steve: There’s a different feel when Lashley comes out. He carries himself so well. He’s a legitimate ass kicker and acts like a champion. He’s not a cartoon character and it’s refreshing. Kofi came out hot out of the gate, but after the initial flurry, Lashley destroyed Kofi in and outside the ring. It RULED. It felt like one of those early Brock squashes before they got tired. Kofi did a great job in taking the beating, but this was the Lashley show. He looked like a world beater. Hopefully this isn’t just to feed him to Goldberg in a month. ***1/4

Sean: While Kofi Kingston got some hope spots in the early moments, Lashley pretty much dominated the bout once he took control. After several minutes of destruction where Kofi was essentially Lashley’s personal crash test dummy, the champion finally put away Kingston with the Hurt Lock to retain. This was very similar to the recent Brody King/Jay Lethal match on the ROH PPV, in terms of its structure. One guy gets the early edge, but then the monster gains control and destroys the other guy. This was pretty effective in getting Lashley over as this unstoppable force, but I find it hilarious that this is all to set up Lashley for a match with Goldberg (a guy who’s lost his last two title matches) at SummerSlam. We’ll see how that goes when we get there, but tonight was a good night for Lashley. ***1/2 

WWE RAW Women’s Title Match
Charlotte Flair def. Rhea Ripley (c)

Steve: It took four matches for the crowd to hijack a match on this show. Rhea and Charlotte were going through the motions early in the match, prompting a “We want Becky,” chant. Charlotte flips off the crowd and actually shows a little life…..for about ten seconds. After that it was right back to paint by numbers. Weirdly enough, the crowd was mostly pro Charlotte throughout. We got a basic match that the crowd was itching to turn on for the first half of this match. Rhea would then barely pull off a weird ripcord suplex that got the crowd back in and things picked up from there. Charlotte carried this match from that point on, hitting her moonsault to the outside, countering Rhea’s finish with a big DDT, and really bringing the intensity throughout. After destroying Rhea’s knee between the ring steps, Charlotte would tap her top with the Figure 8. Rhea did not look good in this at all. The can’t miss prospect she was when she was first called up is gone. I don’t know if she can be repackaged or find her confidence again, especially in this company, but something needs to change. ***1/2

Sean: Remember when Rhea Ripley was cool, and on the verge of being WWE’s next big women’s star? Remember that night in December 2019 when she won the NXT Women’s Title over Shayna Baszler while AEW was putting on that universally panned Dark Order segment on the other channel? That all seems like a lifetime ago. Now, Ripley has been involved in one of the worst feuds of the year with Charlotte Flair. Anyway, the first half of this match was marred by “We Want Becky” chants, as the crowd clearly wanted to see a real star. Plus, they also want to see someone they can actually get behind….and these two have been presented as totally unlikable jerks. What is there to like about them?

With all of that being said…..the match itself was actually really strong. I was not looking forward to this at all with the build coming in, but they worked very hard, and managed to actually get the crowd into it by the closing stages. I have to give these two women credit. They worked hard, and they put together the best match of the night so far. Their feud might be atrocious, but I have to give credit when it’s due. They delivered here in the ring. ****

Money In The Bank Ladder Match
Big E def. John Morrison, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, & Riddle

Steve: So Peacock decided to take a HUGE dump before this match. NEVER FEAR! I have my ways and found a squeaky clean way to continue watching for YOU dear reader. Within the first minute of this match, they had already cleared the obscenely low bar the opening match set. This was pretty much nonstop action from the get-go. There were lots of crazy, cringeworthy (in a good way) bumps, and this was the first match the crowd was into the whole way through. Now it wasn’t without its warts. We got a short lull with Rollins and Morrison teaming up and Morrison getting a little too ambitious with his flippy dos. There was Jinder and his goons coming in and taking Drew completely out of the match. There was something called a “drip stick” that is seemingly over with the crowd. You have to take the dumb stuff with everything in this company. In the end, we all got the feel-good moment of Big E, after years and years of being the guy the fans want to see moved up to the top of the card, finally gets his moment. Where they go from here remains to be seen. In the moment, you have to feel good about Big E. ****

Sean: In the time it took for all eight wrestlers to make their elaborate entrances (including Drew McIntyre with his sword and his brand new special rock), I was able to make and eat a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. Aside from Rollins and Morrison arguing at the start about who had the most drip (*shutters with disgust*), this started off fast and furious with bodies flying all over the place.

Now look, I know that WWE sucks ass. We all accept this as fact. However, I had some hope going into this PPV that this match in particular would deliver. Why? Well, you had a lot of guys in there that had the potential to do some really crazy stuff. In the end, we saw a lot of crazy stuff, and with a crowd that seemed to be very much into it (WWE crowds are always going to go nuts for these stunt show Ladder matches), we got a pretty great Money In The Bank Ladder Match. There were some bad/silly moments for sure, like Morrison using his drip stick, or Drew McIntyre getting taken out by Jinder Mahal and his cronies. However, for the most part, all the wrestlers involved worked hard, and they managed to put on a great match. Aside from the few things I mentioned, I don’t have a ton of complaints about this. Big E winning was an interesting move. Time will tell if they actually go through with pushing him hard and putting one of the big titles on him. As for this match though, I thought it delivered in a big way. ****1/4

WWE Universal Title Match
Roman Reigns (w/Paul Heyman) (c) def. Edge

Steve: Good for W Morrissey working back-to-back nights on pay per view. I kid I kid, but look at them! The crowd is very into this match at the start, making this feel like a big deal, even if these two are two of my least favorite pushed wrestlers of the last 20 years. Ugh. This match was 30 minutes that I will never get back and never think about again. There was decent work in short segments here and there, but it was mostly dull and worked at a snail’s pace. We got a ref bump, interference, and even two barricade spots. I’m sure many people will say this was great, but I’m tired of this type of long boring slog style. Roman wins. Then a real star shows up and the roof blows off. Save us Cena. **

Sean: Hoping this match is eighteen minutes or less so I can watch the new episode of Rick & Morty. Things got off to a slow start, and I soon realized that this show probably isn’t finishing before Rick & Morty starts. Edge started to target the arm/shoulder of Reigns by sending him into the post, but then Reigns slowly started to pick Edge apart after a Samoan Drop on the outside. We then got a very slow and not-very-interesting Roman control period before Edge finally started to make his comeback.

The crowd seemed to come back to life a bit as Edge started to put together some sustained offense. He manages to hit Edge-O-Matic and Edgecution for a pair of nearfalls. Reigns cut off Edge’s offense flurry with a guillotine choke, and they spilled to the outside, leading to the usual prerequisite WWE crashing through the barricade spots. The referee gets taken out eventually, and that leads to the broken piece of chair becoming involved. The Usos tried to save Reigns, but The Mysterios took them out before they could get to the ring. Seth Rollins then came through the crowd and kicked Edge in the face, setting up their SummerSlam match, I guess.

Edge manages to recover and hit Reigns with a Spear for a great nearfall, but then Rollins comes out again, distracts Edge, and Reigns wins with one spear. This was a very strange match. Parts of it were very boring, though it wasn’t horrible by any means. Then we got the second half with the usual WWE tropes of barricade spots, a referee bump, and interference galore at the finish (though I did like The Mysterios actually being smart babyface and cutting The Usos off at the pass). With all of the flaws that went with this match, the crowd seemed to be ON FIRE for it in the second half, so it must’ve worked wonders with that audience in Fort Worth, Texas. I guess these WWE crowds are going to be easy to please for a while. The important thing to remember, however, is that John Cena came out at the end of the show to confront Roman Reigns. Finally a real star has shown up on this PPV. Star ratings? Oh, I almost forgot. Eh….I’ll throw a Gentlemen’s Three at it, I suppose. It’s not like I’ll remember this match by next week. Now I can finally watch Rick & Morty. ***