Five years ago: WWE Money in the Bank (2011).

[The Natural]

This month means Money in the Bank 2011 in Chicago turns five years old. With the quality of the show, it needs talking about again. I watched the top four matches for the first time in years yesterday…

WWE Championship. John Cena (c) vs. CM Punk, Money in the Bank 2011.

CM Punk vs. John Cena was excellent from beginning to end. The opening feeling out process and the respective targeting on body parts with Punk on Cena’s neck and Cena on Punk’s torso. The counters of each other’s main moves such as Punk escaping the Attitude Adjustment pushing Cena into the ropes to the running knee Punk usually does in the corner. The second one was right on the jaw. Punk followed up with the bulldog and the springboard clothesline. My favourite exchange in the match is when CM Punk went for the Go to Sleep, Cena catches the leg midair putting Punk in the STF and Punk after staying in the hold for some time turned into an Anaconda Vice. The near falls from the previously mentioned combo CM Punk uses and Punk kicking out of two Attitude Adjustments when this was a rare event.

The perfect finish as Cena had Punk in the STF in the middle of the ring. Vince McMahon told the timekeeper to ring the bell which he didn’t so he sent John Laurinaitis out to do it but was stopped by Cena who nailed him with a punch. Cena went back into the ring and walked into the match ending Go to Sleep. All this played before a hot crowd. One of the longest non gimmick matches in WWF/WWE history. One of the greatest wrestling matches of all time. Watching this back reminds me WWE fucked up the storyline of CM Punk leaving WWE with the WWE Championship.

World Heavyweight Championship. Randy Orton (c) vs. Christian. If Randy Orton is disqualified, he loses the World Heavyweight Championship.

Great match. The chemistry the two had with one another. The reversals in this match and Randy busting out his over the shoulder gutwrench to a neckbreaker for the first time in years. You knew what was going to happen with the stipulation. Christian spat in Randy Orton’s mouth, Orton hit Christian with grounded punches and a kick to the groin so Christian regained the World Heavyweight Championship. We can change Creepy Little Bastard to Cheating Little Bastard. Memorable post match with Randy going all IED you know with two RKO’s on the announcers table. You’ve a challenge trying to find short World Title matches at the quality here.

Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder match. Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus vs. Kane vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Wade Barrett vs. Heath Slater vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Sin Cara.

This remains my #1 MITB Ladder match and one of the best Ladder matches ever for the content, the pacing in it and the big spots. There’s Daniel Bryan’s perseverance, Sheamus Powerbomb putting Sin Cara through a ladder. Kane’s chokeslam on Sheamus onto a ladder which Sheamus fucking bounced off and Justin Gabriel’s 450 splash from a flat ladder laying across the top turnbuckle on Kane. The match resulted in a surprising but a very worthy winner in Daniel Bryan which added to my enjoyment off the match.

RAW Money in the Bank Ladder match. Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz vs. Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley.

The RAW MITB Ladder match couldn’t match Smackdown’s but it was still really good and I found myself liking it more than I once did. I still aren’t keen on the beginning with the small dueling stepladders but this had some nasty bumps particularly Miz’s on his knee, Jack Swagger getting folded up on his bump with Kofi Kingston falling on top of him and Rey’s sunset flip powerbomb to Miz from a ladder. I liked the finish with Alberto Del Rio exploiting Rey Mysterio’s main weakness, the mask.

Thoughts on the show five years on?

[mattdangerously]

Great show.  Even Brie vs Kelly Kelly is worth watching.

[NikoBaltimore]

I was so excited for this show that even watching with super annoying wrestling fans (friends of a friend) couldn't dampen it much.  Yet as annoying as they were it still made for an exciting show.  There was obvious rooting for Daniel Bryan and Punk due to them being indy stars, so needless to say we flipped out seeing the results.  I'd need to see the other matches again, because as good as they were I only remember two matches.

What bummed me out is the audio for Punk's reaction must have changed over time.  On the Network last I saw it wasn't as thunderous as it was initially, even though the crowd was clearly losing their minds.  And with Bluray discs for the big shows starting out I was annoyed that it only ever went on DVD.

It's also unfortunate with the walkout and lawsuit Punk will never get the credit he truly deserves.  I feel due to him (and Bryan later on) having this kind of success it made it possible for those that wouldn't be thought of before to be brought into WWE.  Stuff like this had to have opened that door for guys like Sami, Cesaro and others to get in.

[Greggulator]

Punk/Cena had the best "home field advantage" ever. They really set his win up perfectly with the hotness of the angle in the weeks before building to his big win and the epic kiss-off at the end. The match itself was perfectly built for the event. Punk and Cena were amazing dance partners and they had so many great matches together. (Punk/Cena was the match the Nexus invaded to start that angle.) It was just a wonderful time to love wrestling and one of the most fun events to see.

Punk's reign as one of the top guys on the roster was some of my favorite things ever. His evil sXe gimmick on Smackdown when he was tormenting Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio was so gold It was just really surreal to see some dude referencing Youth of Today and Minor Threat in his promos, let alone doing it to get heel heat.

I've watched the "shoot" promo a bunch of times. Shoot things get old pretty quickly, but his was the best. It was great because the core of it was Punk wanted to beat Cena, and he wanted to beat him because he knew he was better but didn't have the same opportunities. It also reintroduced HHH and Stephanie and introduced John Laruanitis as characters. The whole "Hi, Colt Cabana!" stuff was the initial stuff that got attention but it was such a great plot development, too. The framing of it, with him sitting Indian style wearing an Austin shirt homage, was so well done. The WWE really knows production better than any other company.

The angle itself afterwards definitely had its weak spots and it got a little too confusing and the shoot aspects of it were going to wear out. But Punk was at the top for a really long stretch. He feuded with Cena, Taker and Brock. He nailed what he was given. Then he flamed out. But he still had an awesome stretch of wrestling.

[Web Conn]

Watching Cena vs Punk live on PPV rivaled Taker vs Shawn 2 as possibly the best match I've ever seen and just in unpredictable excitement I didn't know who was gonna win and what was gonna happen. 

Plus what great storytelling it was "the voice of the voiceless" the outsiders champion vs the carbon copy company man the "machines champion" if you week, to paraphrase Colt Cabana. Punk walking out of the building void of contract as champion was the way to do it too. Of course they screwed it up not being patient and shotgunning the angle but that's a different story for a different day.

 

 

[Cristobal]

In the grand scheme of things, the speed that they brought Punk back with was less of a problem than the HHH/Nash nonsense that he got stuck with.