Money in the Bank 2015

Money in the Bank 2015 Review



To start off the show, the entire roster comes out for ten rings of the bell in honour of Dusty Rhodes. I was tearing up here and you can just see how much respect everyone had for the American Dream, especially the guys and girls from NXT. RIP Dusty.



Time for a ladder match!


Roman Reigns vs Sheamus vs Kane vs Neville vs Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston: Money in the Bank
The MITB match is almost always the perfect way to kick off any show and this one was no exception. Ziggler is one more piece of 80s clothing away from becoming Patrick Swayze. I've heard a lot of people complain that there weren't really any big spots like there usually is, but I'm personally glad they're keeping the wrestlers safe, especially with all the recent injuries we've been hearing about. I think everyone and their dog thought Reigns was winning this, but surprisingly he lost yet another big match, but this one thanks to Bray Wyatt in an upcoming feud I look forward to seeing. Sheamus ended up winning the thing and I look forward to seeing what he does with the case in the future. Overall this was a fun match that kept things simple and it worked out in the end. Great start, ***3/4



Paige vs Nikki Bella
The Divas Title is on the line. It feels like these two have been feuding for ages. I was really surprised by this match, and it's the first time I'll say I agree with some people that Nikki has really improved in the ring. This match got around eleven minutes which is long for a divas match, but this was entertaining all the way through. I even liked the Rampaige nearfall towards the end. Don't get me wrong, the twin magic stuff was still stupid and the referee looked like an idiot because of it, but this was a damn good back and forth match up until that point. Good stuff from the divas. ***



Ryback vs The Big Show
The IC Title is on the line. What the hell happened here? I was looking forward to a fun power match and they ended it like that? The five minutes of action we got was actually pretty damn good and I was enjoying it until they blew it with an awful DQ finish that would even look embarrassing on Raw. Just a total forgettable fail here. *



John Cena vs Kevin Owens
Why isn't Owens World Champion yet? Seriously why isn't he? This match was just amazing and judging by everyone else's reaction, I'm definitely not the only that thinks so. I thought this was going to be an exact carbon copy of their match at the Chamber show, but they changed up almost every aspect of it. Owens going for the five moves of doom was just spectacular and he just looked like a total star the entire time he was in there. I know a lot of people are pissed that Cena won, but it took him everything he had to take out Owens and Owens still got the bigger win in my opinion. The stuff after the match was just the icing on the most delicious cake with Owens being a total dick and taking out Cena with the apron powerbomb and just laughing at him. Amazing stuff and this is my new Match of the Year and I don't see it being beaten anytime soon. Just fantastic pro wrestling. *****



The New Day vs The Prime Time Players
The Tag Titles are on the line. Now this one really confused me. I thought New Day were going to stay the champs up until SummerSlam until the Lucha Dragons take the titles from them. That could still happen as I don't see the PTPs being the champions for long. It was nice they finally achieved a title reign, it's just a shame it happened in a slightly dull and heatless match. Still it wasn't bad and New Day was awesome as usual. **



Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose: Ladder Match
The WWE World Championship is on the line. It feels like this match has been built up for a year and that's awesome. There is a lot I loved about this match. I loved that there was not one single bit of Authority interference which felt so refreshing. I loved how great Ambrose was made to look. He took so many brutal powerbombs at the end and he still managed to get up and attempt to stop Rollins. I didn't like the fact that he sometimes no sold his leg injury but at least he went back to it some of the time. Rollins finally looked like a true champion that could do things on his own without any help which I loved. Just a great match that didn't need to be a spotfest and instead felt like a war. Ambrose said Rollins would have to kill him to beat him and that was almost true. Awesome match and a great main event for the show. ****



8.5/10 Great show here and one of the best of the year so far. I was only looking forward to the three main matches, and all three of those delivered with Owens/Cena going way over my expectations. This show is worth seeing for this match alone and there's still more enjoyment to be had with a good divas match and a decent Tag Title match. Only the IC match lets things down, but that's only about five minutes long anyway. Great show worth checking out.

Ross' NXT Review 10/06/15

NXT Review: 10/06/15 or 06/10/15



It's been almost a month since I've reviewed NXT, so I'm glad to be doing it again especially after a boring Raw episode earlier in the week. Last week Rhyno attacked Finn Balor after their match, and this week Samoa Joe looks set to debut. Let's get going shall we?



Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley vs Mike Rallis & Elias Samson
Finally they're putting Zack somewhere he can actually shine and can do some good things, and it's nice to see Mojo Jo Jo back as well. Their opponents didn't even get an introduction and I had to do some digging around the IWC to find their names. Pretty obvious who's winning then. This was almost a squash match, but Elias got some offense in. Fun, short match though as Ryder and Mojo just work as an entertaining duo and the crowd loved both of them. Good stuff here. *1/2



We get a vignette for Finn Balor arriving at the July 4th Tokyo show. Awesome video and I love the idea of Balor embracing his demonic side only when he needs to.


Evil Emma vs Blue Pants
Holy shit, Blue Pants got one of the biggest pops I've ever heard in NXT for an entrance. That girl is over. Strange what some weird gimmicks will do but it works. Apparently it's her birthday too so, Happy Birthday! Fun match with Blue Pants looking like she had a chance to win, and the crowd was way into it too. Emma looks good with a nice submission win and the NXT women's division is still leagues better than the main roster's. *3/4


Next week we're getting a Six Person Tag Match featuring Enzo, Big Cass & Carmella vs Blake, Murphy & Alexa Bliss.



Bull Dempsey vs Tyler Breeze
Man, Bull quickly went from an undefeated force to a major jobber quickly didn't he? Damn that Baron Corbin. Funny moment during the match as Bull chases Breeze around the ring and he runs out of breath quickly. Very short match, but it was pretty entertaining and Breeze looked clever in the way he defeated Bull by tiring him out and then hitting the Beauty Shot. 1/2*


We have footage from Unstoppable showing the crowd respecting Becky Lynch after her epic match with Sasha Banks. I have that match rated at ****1/2 by the way.



Becky Lynch vs Jesse McKay
Great to see Becky back in action and nice to see that she still has her awesome attire of a leather jacket and steampunk goggles. Also love the new 'Lass Kicker' shirt. Good, short match here that got to showcase Becky and she even got to debut a new signature move that looked pretty cool. I wish this had been longer as these girls had a good rhythm going. Good stuff. **


Backstage, William Regal talks to Bull Dempsey about his cardio and eating problems. Regal is an awesome GM.


I've only seen about 30 seconds of Chad Gable but he may be one of my favourite things already.


Baron Corbin vs Angelo Dawkins
I'm not a big fan of Corbin, but if he was to answer John Cena's US Challenge, I'll admit I'd go apeshit with excitement. This was just like every other Corbin match: he gets some offense then hits End of Days. His pinning towards the hard camera is getting a bit distracting though. SQUASH



Our Hope and Savior Kevin Owens joins us at commentary.


Samoa Joe vs Scott Dawson
It's amazing to finally see Joe in a WWE ring, and I can't wait until he hits the main roster. Immediately the crowd goes with a 'Please Don't Die' chant. Good luck Scott. Of course this was basically a squash but it was here to show off Joe and he looked awesome. He showed some great intensity in there too, and of course we got to see the musclebuster in action. Cool debut. *1/2


After the match, Joe calls out Owens and they have an awesome talking segment with Owens amazing line of 'You can't just challenge for the NXT Title after only one match'. Owens is the best thing about wrestling today. Regal comes out and announces Samoa Joe vs Kevin Owens for next weeks NXT! Holy shit! Next Wednesday can't come fast enough.



Great episode of NXT as it just absolutely flew by and while there weren't any great matches, it still felt like they were progressing down the right path and next week sounds like an awesome episode.

Ross' Raw Review 08/06/15

Ross' Raw Review 09/06/15 or 06/09/15



I'm gonna be honest and say that this is the first full Raw I've watched in a long time. I think the last time was in October last year. The three hour Raws were just becoming so tiring and since then I've only been watching the highlights on YouTube, but now that I'm reviewing again I'm gonna have to start watching the whole thing again.

I'm not expecting much from the show although it is the go-home show for Money in the Bank so we might get some desperate selling. I'm also hoping to see our Lord and Saviour, Kevin Owens taking someone out, whilst we wait for our other Lord and Saviour, Brock Lesnar to return.


Better get started.



And we're starting off with John Cena. Well it's better than the Authority anyway. Byron Saxton is replacing Booker T tonight. Oh joy. Trading shucky ducky quack quack for a boring bastard. Great.

The hard selling begins quickly with Cena promoting the MITB ladder match on Sunday as well as his rematch with Owens. We get the usual Cena schtick as he says he also fights for those who chant 'Cena sucks' which starts a half-assed chant from the crowd. Thankfully that brings out Owens. Why is Owens even in a rematch? He proved himself against Cena.


Owens says what we're all thinking and says that we're all tired of Cena coming out at the start of Raw. And he also wants to issue an NXT Open Challenge right now instead of a US one. Hell yeah! Cena agrees and tries to accept the challenge. Owens calls him delusional and Cena cuts a promo. Cena starts his US Open Challenge. Owens isn't interested and wants the next wrestler to come down to choose which Title he wants to fight for.

That brings out Neville. Neville's had awesome matches with both of these guys so I'm fine with either. Neville chooses Owens and it looks like the match is happening right now! The promos didn't really go anywhere but this match should be good.



Kevin Owens vs Neville
The NXT Title is on the line. This'll be Owens first official Raw match then. I'm pretty sure Owens was the one that put Neville out of commission in NXT so I don't know why they didn't use that as a small backstory that could have made it a bit more interesting. This was a great match with Owens getting to show his dominance while Neville got to show off his high flying skills. There was some great drama towards the end as it looked like Neville would hit the Red Arrow, but Owens got the better of him and retained the gold. ***1/2


Owens invites Cena into the ring and then leaves the ring holding the NXT belt up high. Great way to kick off the show.


We get a recap of the Ambrose/Rollins match at Elimination Chamber. I know I've not reviewed that show so here's the quick ratings.


Tag Team Chamber: ***1/2
Divas Title Match: *1/2
Cena vs Owens: ****3/4
Bo Dallas vs Neville: **
Intercontinental Chamber: *1/2 (Worst Chamber match ever, so congrats to the ECW Chamber finally being beaten)
Rollins vs Ambrose: ****


Rollins is backstage embarrassed by the fact that Ambrose is parading around with his WWE Title belt. Rollins is looking for help from HHH and Stephanie and they aren't interested in giving it due to what Rollins said last week about not needing anyone's help. Rollins is allowed to pick his own opponent tonight.


We get a recap of last week's Divas Title match with the stupid twin magic move even though Brie barely looks the same as Nikki anymore. Good god just bring in the NXT women already.

We're getting Nikki vs Summer Rae tonight. You can just hear my excitement can't you?


Summer Rae vs Nikki Bella
Nikki starts doing press ups in the ring for no reason. I've seen a lot of people praising the Bellas for improving but I don't see much improvement, and while the NXT girls exist, they are always going to look like low level workers in comparison. The match here was about a minute long and not much happened until the finish with Nikki hitting the rack attack. 1/4*


We get a recap of all three of Reigns' matches last week where Bray Wyatt took a completely unnecessary loss.


Roman Reigns is here but not for action, just to talk. Reigns once hated that briefcase but now it doesn't seem so bad and he wants to cash in against Ambrose once he beats Rollins. Yeah Reigns is totally winning this thing. This brings out Kane to explain his place in the MITB match. Why the hell is Kane in there? Wasn't there anyone more entertaining available? Speaking of entertaining, here's Dolph Ziggler. He's here to insult Kane with tool jokes.

After Kane talks back to Ziggler (more tool references) out comes R-Truth even though he's not in the match. Weird comedic moment there. And here comes the New Day. I love these guys. The power of positivity will lead Kingston to the top of the ladder to retrieve the briefcase. Before Kane can comment, out comes Sheamus. He's one Brogue Kick away from winning the briefcase.

Finally we have Randy Orton. And we cut to an ad break. Freaking weird segment. I'm not sure that it accomplished anything except to tell us who's in the MITB match on Sunday.


Randy Orton vs Sheamus
This is a rematch from last week where we got a shitty DQ finish. And in this rematch we yet again get almost the exact same finish except it's Orton hitting Sheamus with the chair. Up until that finish though the match was going good with some nice finisher countering towards the end. **1/4


We get more Instagram pictures from Ambrose going around the town with the belt.


J&J Security want to go back to Rollins but Rollins ain't having it. Jamie goes on a tirade about Seth and even calls the team Shield 2.0. Rollins picks J&J for his opponents tonight.


Kane vs Dolph Ziggler
Neither guy got entrances here. For goodness sake just let Kane have his mask and gear back. He looks ridiculous with work trousers on and I just cannot get used to it. The crowd's more interested in Lana than the match. Ziggler is distracted by Lana falling off the stage thanks to Rusev and takes a chokeslam from Kane to take the loss. Boring match. *1/2


God three hours is just way too long for this show. I'm bored already and next up we have Miz TV. Oh no.


Here's Miz TV with Ryback and Big Show. It has the potential to be a fun power match at MITB. Ryback says if he fought Miz last week he would have taken years off his career. Shoot comments that aren't supposed to be shoot comments everyone! I'm sure CM Punk would've laughed at that. Ryback's actually not too bad on the mic. I'm kinda looking forward to this match now. Miz is an idiot and tries to attack Show which earns him a beating, and Ryback hits an impressive Shell Shock on Show. Not a bad segment at all.


Harper & Rowan vs Los Matadores
Well I wonder who's going to be winning this one? Basically just a squash match here to put Harper & Rowan over here. When did they start using the 3D as a finisher? They need to bring the Dudleys back for a match with them. 1/2*


Kane is backstage with Rollins and tells him that he'll cash in his MITB briefcase on either Ambrose or Rollins to become the new champion. He's also going to be in J&J's corner tonight.


Titus O'Neil vs Big E
I like a good power match. By the way why is Xavier credited as one half of the Tag Champs? Is the Freebird rule a thing now? Pretty fun match while it lasted but it was only two minutes long. Big E hits the Big Ending after a distraction from the rest of New Day for the win. *1/4


No time to celebrate though because here comes Roman Reigns,


Roman Reigns vs Kofi Kingston
It feels like they're just trying to race through these matches tonight. Kofi's a good pinball for a big guy like Reigns. Xavier's reactions outside the ring are just awesome. Good match here as Kofi got in a lot more offense than I was expecting and I liked the finish with Reigns hitting the Superman Punch while Kofi was in the air. Good stuff. ***


Reigns grabs a seat and here comes Dean Ambrose as a member of the audience, with a huge bag of popcorn and a drink in tow.


Seth Rollins vs J&J Security 
I was kind of hoping that J&J would have found some ring gear, but their stuck looking silly in their suits just like Kane. Joey Mercury still has some moves! A weird match but it was kind of fun with J&J trying everything to beat Rollins, but it took the distraction of Ambrose to roll up Rollins for the upset win. **



This Raw started off amazingly well with Cena, Owens and Neville, but it took a major nosedive after that and didn't really become good until the Reigns/Kingston match and a surprisingly fun main event. Not a good Raw as there was just way too much crap and filler, and not enough good stuff.