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At the start of the show a video package was aired which highlighted several important events that occurred over the past weeks of the John Cena – CM Punk saga. An excellent package which stressed on the impact of CM Punk’s words
Then, there was the usual pyrotechnics. The setting on the ramp and the tron are fantastic. The commentary team included of Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler and the cliché filled Booker T. It is strange that WWE is still persisting with Booker T in Smackdown and Pay per view Commentary teams even though he sucks at the job. The crowd was electric right from the start with loud chants of CM Punk echoing throughout the arena. To everyone’s surprise, the Smackdown Money in the Bank ladder match was announced as the first match.
Match 1: Smackdown MITB Ladder Match
Sin Cara was the first to make his entry to the ring. Instead of his blue-gold attire, he came out with white and gold attire. He was followed by Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Sheamus, Cody Rhodes, Heath Slater, Daniel Bryan and Kane in that order. The arena was filled with smoke at this juncture which formed due to the intro pyrotechnics and also due to Kane’s entrance. The match started and everyone tried to gain the upper-hand. After a while, only Kane, Wade Barrett and Sheamus are left in the ring. Kane overpowers the other two men and clotheslines both of them simultaneously. This is followed by plenty of action as Sin Cara and Justin Gabriel provided a lot of high flying action in and out of the ring.In fact, Sin Cara got power-bombed on a ladder bridge formed between the announcers table and the ring apron, by the “Celtic Warrior” Sheamus which god a hug pop from the lively Chicago crowd.
Smackdown MITB Winner Daniel Bryan
However immediate medical attention was provided to Sin Cara and he was stretchered to the back by paramedics. Barrett, Gabriel and Slater teamed up and gained the upper hand over the others. However that didn’t last for too long as Wade Barrett tried to retrieve the briefcase and was promptly stopped by Gabriel and Slater. There was several high moment for everyone with all of them having a go at the briefcase hanging above the ring. Sheamus and Kane dominated most of the match. Then Kane got a beat-down from the others and went through the wasteland of Barrett and 450 splash of Gabriel. We finally had Rhodes, Barrett and Bryan on the ladder. Rhodes went down leaving it to Bryan and Barrett. Barrett tried to go for wasteland. However, Bryan delivered a kick which sent Barrett down. Daniel Bryan unhooks the briefcase and he is our Smackdown MITB winner. He can have a go at the World Heavyweight Championship at any time and any place, within a period of one year. Daniel Bryan truly deserved it and beat all odds to win the match. This match was fast and furious from the beginning to the end and the effort of all the guys has to be commended considering the fact that only 2 of the 8 contestants (Kane and Cody Rhodes) had the experience of being in a MITB ladder match before. Great match to kick off the show.
Match Rating: 5/5
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Match 2: Kelly Kelly© Vs. Brei BellaWWE Divas Championship MatchThe Bella Twins make their entrance to the ring first followed by the champion Kelly Kelly. Kelly is accompanied by Eve Torres to provide support at her corner. The match was completely dominated by Kelly and there was little or no interest from the fans during the entirety of the match. There was a lot of screaming and screeching during this match which made it dreadful to watch. Suddenly Kelly hits the finisher and wins the match to retain her divas title. This match was the worst of the night in my opinion and the only one in which the crowd never got involved into.
Match Rating: 2/5Winner and still Divas Champion: Kelly Kelly
Match 3: Big Show Vs. Mark HenryA detailed video package of this feud was shown before the match began. Then Mark Henry comes out followed by Big show. Big Show dominated the initial parts of the match. But Mark Henry came back with a lot of attack on the injured knee of Big Show. Then Mark Henry got into the match and hit the Big Show with a few good moves. However, the match was slow paced and got mediocre interest of the crowd. Big tried to hit the chokeslam on Henry but was countered by the world’s strongest man with his world’s strongest slam. However, Big Shows kicked out at two when he was covered by Mark Henry on the first instance. Then Henry hit another world’s strongest slam to gain a clean pinfall victory. After that, he grabbed a chair and placed Show’s leg inside it. He then hits a vader-splash to injure Big Show’s leg. Big Show was helped to the back by the paramedics. The finish was good but the match was a tad on the slower side. Mark Henry’s victory pushes him to the next level to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Match Rating: 3/5Winner: Mark Henry
Match 4: Raw MITB Ladder Match
Alberto Del Rio Holds Rey Mysterio's Mask
Before the match began, Josh Mathews interviewed Mr. McMahon on the CM Punk contract issue. The Chief of Talent Relations of the WWE, Johnny Ace was present with him. Vince McMahon confirmed that CM Punk had not sign the contract and it was his decision taking into account that he offered a very lucrative deal with all the need of Punk being satisfied. He also sent out warning to John Cena saying that he is the one to blame for all of this. This was a good segment and a nice way to add more drama into the burning issue. Some hardcore wrestling fans thought the situation in Montreal 1997 was also similar with Patterson and Brisco being present in Montreal. They say that their roles were reprised by Johnny Ace and a Lawyer. Strange comparison!We go back to the ring where Alberto Del Rio makes the first entrance. Then come Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne, Alex Riley, R-Truth, The Miz and finally Rey Mysterio. There were pretty loud cheers for The Miz as well as R-Truth when they made their entrances. Everyone grabbed a ladder each and the match begun. Alberto Del Rio was the first to bear the brunt of his past as he was attacked by everyone and got buried under a pile of ladders outside the ring. There were plenty of dives especially from Mysterio and Kingston. Evan Bourne did a shooting star press from the top of a ladder outside the ring to ground all 7 other men.
Rey Mysterio Unmasked
The Miz got himself injured while landing from the top of ladder which was pulled down by Del Rio. He was taken to the back in the middle of the match. Everyone tried to get the momentum and hit several special moves during the course of the match. After some time, no one was on their feet, leaving a window of opportunity for The Miz to come back with a huge pop from the crowd, and do what he did last year at the same event. However, he was stopped by Mysterio was consistently attacked Miz’s injured knee. Surprising, the crowd hated Mysterio for doing so. However, they cheered when Alberto Del Rio unmasked Rey Mysterio and climbed the ladder to grab the brief case. What a match! So much thrills and spills than any ordinary Hollywood movie. Del Rio gets an easy chance to fulfill his destiny. Awesome!
Match Rating: 5/5Winner: Alberto Del Rio
Match 5: Randy Orton© Vs. ChristianWorld Heavyweight Championship Match
Randy Orton Vs Christian
With the odds firmly stacked against his opponent Randy Orton, Christian made his entrance cool and composed. The viper came in later with seething anger due to Christian’s actions on smackdown last week. Immediately after the bell rang, Christian intimidated Orton by throwing a steel chair into the ring and asking Orton to use it. Orton avoided the chair knowing that he would get disqualified by doing so which will result in Christian becoming the champion. The match continued with plenty of back and forth action. After a while Christian hits the killswitch on Orton and covered him. However, the legend killer kicked out to the surprise of everyone including Christian. Similarly Orton was surprised when Christian kicked out from his power-bomb cum neck breaker move. Both men got frustrated. Orton got totally pissed off when Christian spat on his face. He got very angry and delivered a low blow to Christian which resulted in his disqualification. Christian won the championship. However, Orton got crazier due to the result and brutalized Christian by delivering back to back RKO’s on the Spanish announcers table. The funny thing is that the table did not even tumble after two vicious RKO’s. Christian was left under the trauma of the attack and a lot of people (including me) thought that Daniel Bryan would cash in his contract at that juncture. However, he did not do so to my disappointment.
Match Rating: 4/5Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: Christian
Match 6: John Cena© Vs. CM PunkWWE Championship Match
CM Punk's NEW T-Shirt
The video package was aired again and the moment that it finished, there was very loud “CM PUNK” chant from the crowd in the arena, which lasted for about 30 seconds. After some time, CM Punk came out to a vivacious roar from the Chicago crowd. He sported a brand new white colored T-shirt which had the sentence “Best In The World” and also had the date and place of the event. He acknowledged the crowd and even said hello to his friend Colt Cabana who was sitting ringside. Then John Cena came out with plenty of boos filled with hatred from a hostile crowd in Chicago. He was very grim and focused at the start. The crowd went beserk from the moment the match started. It was largely pro-punk but the kids and women supported Cena as usual. There was even a Cena look-alike on the front row along the barricades. The atmosphere was totally electric. Most of the people in the crowd cheered loudly for CM Punk. For a neutral fan, it was very hard to distinguish the face and the heel. The match begun and there were plenty of submission attempts from both the men. Then both men traded blows to each other which ended up in CM Punk gaining the upper hand. Punk hit the bulldog to bring down Cena, and then mimicked the ‘U can’t see me’ gimmick of John Cena. He then went to hit the attitude adjustment but was countered by Cena. The match continues even after the half hour mark. In the mean-time, John Cena got his leg injured. However Cena managed to get CM Punk into the STF. However, Punk escaped by getting to the ropes. Both men hit their respective finishing moves only to see their pin attempts go in vain. Then Punk hits the GTS which puts Cena out of the ring. On this instance, Vince McMahon and Johnny Ace come out and stand down the ramp. Punk gets distracted because of this and John Cena capitalizes on Punk’s distraction by once again putting Punk into his STF submission move. McMahon ordered Johnny ace to ask the timekeeper to ring the bell to finish the match. However Johnny got smacked in the face by Cena who wanted to win fair and square in the match. When he returned back to the ring, Punk nailed him with a GTS and won the match via pin-fall. This left Vince McMahon furious.
CM Punk holds the WWE Championship after winning the match
Vince rushed to the announcer’s desk and ordered Alberto Del Rio to cash in his contract on CM Punk. Del Rio came out but he never cashed in because he was beaten down by CM Punk upon entering the ring. Then Punk celebrated his victory with the fans by moving to ringside and went to the top of the arena showing his title to Vince. This match was fantastic to say the least. The build-up was perfect and the crowd was electric which made it a perfect setting. The final few minutes in which Punk took the championship out of the arena surely raised many more questions, which will most probably be answers on the subsequent raw on Monday.
Match Rating: 5/5Winner and NEW WWE Champion: CM Punk
Punk kisses goodbye to Vince McMahon
The Bottomline: Money in the Bank was the best Pay-per-view of this year, to say the least. The action was fantastic and the efforts of the wrestlers were acknowledged by an active crowd. Many even consider it as the best in the PG era. Pay-Per-View Rating: 4.5/5So did you enjoy this PPV? Post your comments below.
