5 Booking Decisions WWE Got COMPLETELY Wrong At Money in the Bank 2018

Money in the Bank is finally in the books. The WWE had to put on a stellar event after the sub-par show that was Backlash. They were mostly successful and while it can be argued that the NXT Takeover event the previous night was considerably superior, Money in the Bank was a pretty great show in its own right.

Despite all its positives, there were a number of questionable booking decisions that put a damper on the show and you can't help wonder why the WWE did what they did. Some of the calls were real head-scratchers, so let's check out the 5 things that WWE got completely wrong at Money in the Bank.

#5 Having Rollins retain his Intercontinental Title

There is no denying that Seth Rollins has been absolutely fantastic as the Intercontinental Champion. He has been a fighting champion, has been regularly involved in the best segments of the night and has put on stellar performances without fail. However, all good things must come to an end.

Elias has gone from strength-to-strength with every passing week and is destined for gold. He could have potentially won his first title at Money in the Bank but was ultimately unsuccessful. His loss stung, but it was understandable. However, the next night, Rollins lost his title to Dolph Ziggler on Raw! Putting the belt on Ziggler may be WWE's way of segueing Rollins into a feud with McIntyre, but there must have been a better way to do it. Ziggler winning the belt from Rollins is rather underwhelming and it hurts all the more knowing that Elias lost out to Ziggler, who has struggled for relevancy for a long time while Elias has thrived.

If the plan was always for Rollins to drop the belt, then he should have dropped it to Elias. The Drifter would have made a fantastic champion and the win would have established him as a threat to the main-event elite. Alas, that did not happen and now The Show-Off is IC Champion once more.

#4 Alexa Bliss winning the briefcase

Bliss really needs a break from the title scene

Alexa Bliss is great. She's amazing on the mic and is no slouch in the ring either. But the fact of the matter is that she has been hovering around the Women's title scene for a long time now. With Ronda Rousey and Nia Jax doing battle for the Raw Women's Championship, assuming that Natalya would win the briefcase and cash in on Rousey would have been a safe bet.

Audiences everywhere got swerved when Bliss not only won the briefcase, but she also cashed it in on the same night to become the champion once more. Bliss has been champion on Raw and Smackdown Live and has had pretty lengthy reigns and perhaps it was time for some fresh blood. She didn't need the win and while a feud with Rousey has the potential to be great, Natalya winning would have been the better choice. This felt like a swerve for the sake of a swerve.

#3 Asuka losing. Again.

Just a few months ago, Asuka was an unstoppable force of nature. Her unbeaten streak was amazing and it took something extraordinary from Charlotte Flair to pin her at Wrestlemania 34. After that defeat, the aura surrounding Asuka had not disappeared, but it had faltered. However, after her loss to Carmella at Money in the Bank, it has disappeared completely.

A warrior like Asuka should not be getting pinned by Carmella. Sure, it gets Carmella heat, but at what cost? Asuka was made to look like a fool in the process by getting distracted by a returning James Ellsworth and it is now highly unlikely that Asuka will ever hit the same heights she did before Wrestlemania 34. Asuka should be Smackdown Live's Women's Champion and the fact that she is not, is a travesty.

#2 Giving Styles the win

The Last Man Standing match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura was the best match in their feud. It was wild, it was brutal and there was a sense of finality to things. However, the wrong man won. AJ Styles has had a great run as WWE Champion, but Nakamura needed this win. The WWE made him appear strong in defeat, but on paper, he still lost. Where does he go now?

Nakamura should have captured his first WWE Title at Money in the Bank. People will likely say that this would have meant a rematch between Styles and Nakamura at Extreme Rules which would have been overkill, but former champions don't get rematches all the time (case in point, Kevin Owens and Finn Balor). A Nakamura win could have brought an end to the feud and we would have had a new face at the top of the mountain on Smackdown. But that didn't happen and The Champ that Runs the Camp now awaits his next challenger.

#1 Braun Strowman winning the Men's Ladder Match

Braun Strowman is essentially bulletproof at this point and is one of the most over Superstars on the WWE roster. Historically, the Money in the Bank briefcase has often been used to establish wrestlers in the main event and there were a number of Superstars who could have benefited from this win a lot more than Braun Strowman.

Strowman winning the Universal Championship is not a possibility, it is an eventuality with or without the briefcase. He did not need this win. His win is especially odd considering that Alexa Bliss had already won the Women's briefcase earlier in the night. Both the briefcases were ultimately won by Raw Superstars and stronger cases could be made for Kevin Owens or Finn Balor (who are both on Raw as well) to have won that match. Every Superstar in the match (with the exception of Kofi Kingston and Bobby Roode) would have massively benefited from the win, but WWE ultimately chose the one man who needed it the least. One can't help feeling it was a missed opportunity.