Money in the Bank 2019: 5 Things WWE did right at the PPV

Depending on your feelings towards both winners of the respective Money in the Bank ladder matches, you either loved, hated or were likely split in your views.

Bayley finally regained credibility by not only capturing the MITB briefcase for the women but also by cashing it in later on in the night in order to become SmackDown Women's Champion.

We also witnessed if Becky Lynch's words could be backed up after becoming dual champion at WrestleMania 35.

There were some strange segments and matches that were spread out through the PPV, but 2019's first post-WrestleMania show had both positives and negatives.

With two of the most varied fields of competitors in both ladder matches in MITB history, the fans were almost guaranteed to have to worthy winners walking out with briefcases.

The dust still hasn't completely settled regarding the fallout of the PPV, but here are five things that WWE did right at its MITB show.

---

#5 Bayley wins MITB, SmackDown Women's Title

'The Hugger' is the new SmackDown Women's Champion

Someone who had been pushed to the back of the line in terms of the women's division in WWE was Bayley.

She did have a Raw Women's Championship reign under her belt, but since then, she had mainly been involved in storylines with Sasha Banks. Her other role was usually to make heels like Nia Jax, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey look better.

But after winning and losing the Women's Tag Team titles that she and Banks had both worked so hard to will into existence, her future was uncertain. She was moved to SmackDown Live during the Superstar Shake Up, giving her a fresh start on a new show.

Of course, she was joining a roster that had become extremely deep with the additions of herself, Ember Moon and Kairi Sane.

They joined the roster of Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, the IIconics, Flair, Carmella and Asuka. With such a diverse roster of talented women, the jury was out as to if Bayley would have any impact and when it would be.

The impact happened rather quickly as not only did 'the Hugger' capture the briefcase to a raucous crowd response but she also would cash-in later to become SmackDown Women's Champion.

Flair had taken advantage of Lynch in order to claim her ninth title but it was short-lived due to attacking Lynch and later Bayley after her win.

With Bayley now atop the blue brand's division, the storylines are endless in terms of her challengers. Lynch will resort back to being a member of Raw, but Flair will likely still linger around the title picture for the rest of the year.

But with potential matches against Rose, Deville, Asuka, Kairi Sane and her other best friend, Carmella, hopefully Bayley has a long and fruitful reign.

#4 The Cruiserweight Title finally gets a match on 'PPV proper' instead of pre-show

Tony Nese defended the Cruiserweight Championship on the actual PPV for the first time in a while

The purple belt had been defended by Buddy Murphy on PPV several times since he won the title at Super Showdown last Fall.

But each time he would defend the belt on a PPV, his matches were always relegated to the pre-show.

Despite that spot on the card, Murphy and his opponents always delivered fantastic matches that sometimes rivaled the matches that did make the main PPVs.

His matches at TLC, the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber all proved that Murphy was too good to remain on 205 Live.

Due to constantly putting the Cruiserweight matches on the pre-shows, it appeared that WWE might have been trying things differently by having new champ Tony Nese defend his title on the actual PPV.

The match was decent and finally gave the division and its new champ some much-deserved spotlight. This might have been a one-time thing, but it was good to see some of the hardest working men in WWE finally get a main-PPV match.

#3 Booking of men's ladder match (until the end)

The Men's MITB ladder match was shaping up to take 'Match of the Night' from Seth Rollins and AJ Styles.

This year's field of men in the ladder match was a mix of veterans, newer stars and former winners. Finn Balor was the current Intercontinental Champion while Baron Corbin and Randy Orton were both former winners of the match.

Exciting Superstars like Ali, Ricochet and Andrade got the biggest opportunity of their WWE careers.

A simple win in the match for Drew McIntyre would have solidified his standing as the newest superstar to mark his permanent presence in the Universal Championship title scene.

The match was filled with numerous spots that even left Michael Cole in shock. Andrade's Sunset Flip power-bomb off of one ladder and onto another to Finn Balor was the early front-runner for spot of the night.

But then Ricochet was tossed over the top rope and into a ladder braced between the ring and the announce table, breaking it in half in the process.

There were also several sequences involving Corbin and McIntyre in which they punished the smaller Superstars in the match.

It rivaled the match between Seth Rollins and AJ Styles for best match of the PPV, but the only thing that might have cost them that award was having Brock Lesnar win the briefcase.

Had the 'surprise entrant' been someone else that the fans could have gotten behind like Strowman or Bray Wyatt then it could have been one of the most memorable ladder matches for the right reason.

Instead, the WWE Universe was left with a sour taste in their mouths as 'the Beast' closed out the show holding the briefcase. Other than that, it was one of the best matches of the year thus far.

#2 Becky Lynch defeats Lacey Evans

Becky Lynch won the first of her two title matches of the night.

Once Lacey Evans solidified her spot as the first challenger for Becky Lynch post-WrestleMania, a lot of people were left asking why she was getting a title shot so soon into her career.

She had only recently joined the main roster in January and hadn't even had but two matches on TV since her debut.

Natalya and Evans battled it out for the right to challenge Lynch at MITB and it made sense for Evans to win only because she was a heel and doing great mic work. But the question remained, was she still getting an undeserved title shot instead of some other women?

Although the match wasn't great, it was decent and had the correct outcome of Lynch defeating Evans to retain the Raw Title.

Had she lost, it would have been a waste since Lynch defeated 'the Baddest Woman on the Planet' in Ronda Rousey for the title.

Simply having a rookie defeat 'the Man' would have been a huge mistake, especially if it was done for the shock factor.

Evans clearly has potential and will likely be a champion within the next couple of years, but it was not the time to have her beat Lynch at MITB.

#1 The Universal Championship Match delivers as advertised

Two of the best performers of this generation pulled out all of the stops at MITB.

The Superstar Shake Up provided the WWE Universe with a match they had been waiting for since AJ Styles joined WWE - Styles vs. Seth Rollins. With his move to Raw during the Shake Up, the fans knew it was only a matter of time before two of the best wrestlers in the world squared off.

WWE apparently didn't want to wait on things as they had Styles earn the right to be Rollins' first challenger for the Universal Championship after WrestleMania 35. It was a match that could have been held a little later in the year, but WWE decided to do it right away.

Because of that, there was little chance of Styles walking out as champ. Had the match occurred much later in the year, his chances of winning would have greatly increased. But since Rollins had only recently dethroned 'the Beast', the chances were extremely low that Rollins would lose.

Despite all of the mental gymnastics of some fans like me, it didn't matter who you routed for during the match because it was fantastic. It was 20+ minutes of two of the best performers of this generation showing the WWE what dream matches should be.

The matches Styles had with Shinsuke Nakamura should have been a lot better but they relied too much on false finishes. The same goes for Styles' matches with Samoa Joe over the WWE Championship.

Simply put, there have been a few good matches this year (Kofi Kingston's matches with Daniel Bryan, Buddy Murphy's defenses) but this one joined the list of 'Match of the Year' candidates. It's still only May but everyone else will have to up their game significantly if they have any hope of surpassing the classic put on by Rollins and Styles at MITB.