Money In The Bank XI - 5/10/2020

[Craig H]

6 minutes ago, paintedbynumbers said:

Wasn't an awful show, the cameo's were fun.  Had no clue Otis was going to win so the surprise was there.  I have a feeling they are going a different route for the hacker. Maybe they changed their minds and are going with Eva Marie.  It would suck but it's  a name no one would predict.   Also thought it was odd Rollins only had the 1 glove on until they did the handshake when it all made sense.  #covidsafety

Rollins has been wearing one glove for weeks/months. It started because he broke a finger and could work with the broken finger, but needed to find a way to stabilize it with the splint not falling off. The glove was the answer to that. And then the glove became part of his gimmick.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Craig H

[Overly Critical Man]

I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait for Darkside of the Ring: Baron Corbin.

[RIPPA]

I know people are mocking it but Dana Brooke took this like a fucking death bump

 

[Godfrey]

That MitB was a fun distraction and that’s all it was meant to be so it worked for me. Otis and Asuka are the MVPs of the empty arena era (the EAE) as they are by far the most entertaining characters and that translates better over TV than solid matches with no cheering. My expectations weren’t high and they were met. That’s a good review btw.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I like the winners (Otis and Asuka) quite a bit and I'm happy they climbed the corporate ladder.  However,  the match itself set cinematic wrestling back to Dungeon of Doom levels. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

I know WWE as a whole is struggling right now but Asuka and Otis are the clear MVP's (Montell has been solid too) of the Empty Arena Era.  Both of them are so entertaining.  

Honorable mentions: Zelina Vega, AJ Styles,  Bray Wyatt,  Sasha/Bayley,  Daniel Bryan.  

These are all performers who have excelled during this run. Happy for them. 

[BobbyWhioux]

Bayley heckling Michael Cole's commentary during her matches warms my heart in these dark times

[The Natural]

17 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I know WWE as a whole is struggling right now but Asuka and Otis are the clear MVP's (Montell has been solid too) of the Empty Arena Era.  Both of them are so entertaining.  

Honorable mentions: Zelina Vega, AJ Styles,  Bray Wyatt,  Sasha/Bayley,  Daniel Bryan.  

These are all performers who have excelled during this run. Happy for them. 

I'd agree with those picks. I'd throw Drew McIntyre and Cesaro in there as well. Daniel Bryan, Zelina Vega and Asuka be my top three.

Edited May 11, 2020 by The Natural

[Niners Fan in CT]

Just now, The Natural said:

I'd agree with those picks. I'd throw Drew McIntyre and Cesaro in there as well.

I was thinking of them too,  great choices Natty.  The one match/segment The Big Show had was really good I'd probably throw him in there if he was around more.  I believe in order to excel in these empty arenas you need to do as much as you can whether it's your offense,  aggression, shit talking, posing, etc..  to spice up that dead atmosphere and all the performers we are discussing have been able to do that. 

[The Natural]

7 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I was thinking of them too,  great choices Natty. 

Cheers, @Niners Fan in CT.

[The Natural]

 

Yes, please.

Edited May 11, 2020 by The Natural

[ReiseReise]

Okay, everyone calm down. Aleister Black is a higher vampire and will be alright. 

Rey Mysterio's fall is just a setup for him coming back with his old theme. No need to worry. 

[odessasteps]

Rey can fall off a building, but not step off a curb. 

[Guest Edwin]

Bryan almost breaking character during his intro had me screaming at home. The dude walked out with a hilarious smirk as if he knew the entire thing was ridiculous, yet he knew he was going to have a ton of fun.

[Ziggy]

I want fully paying attention to last night but I rewatched Rollins vs McIntyre and it was really good.  I don't watch the shows week to week but I think this was one of Rollins better matches as of late. His Match at Mania was good as well. I hope he sticks to doing these straight up pro wrestling matches and not do anything of the theatrical stuff. We saw how the Fiend match turned out for him in front of a crowd. I love Drew's Glasgow kiss Headbutt, it's not a Headbutt use can really see through like most guys. Both guys brought it here, I know WWE likes to run matches into the ground but I'd like to see these two go at it again.

[Peck]

 

[RIPPA]

Whoever in the thread said they will use the "secondary roof" as the reason Black and Rey are fine - you win nothing

[ApolloReed]

To let you all know where I'm coming from, I haven't watched consistently since around 2005, I used to post here quite regularly, I remember the great sleaze thread and the birth of 'matches matches everywhere', even contributed to them but I started watching MMA instead around that time and just forgot about wrestling with very few exceptions. It seems I wasn't the only one either. I got the Network because of Covid 19 and decided to check out Mania and this.

Mania was ok, while I don't love the concept of movie matches I didn't mind them and kind of understand why. The AJ match was basically like an old WCW angle we'd all laugh at but it was at least filmed and 'wrestled' well. The Fiend stuff was just a WCW angle through the mind of David Lynch.

As for the MITB match, I thought it was one of the worst things I've seen in wrestling.

I found everything about it so cringy, maybe the humor is just not my humor but it still all felt so low quality and childish. When you have backstage angles filmed from a magical camera nobody notices, thats fine, I learned to suspend my disbelief for that, however now we have multiple angles from people who aren't actually there, special effects, slow motion, music etc. While it's still seemingly filmed and wrestled like a normal backstage match. This just made it all look like a cheap bargain bin movie, something like Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies but with a lower budget, surely if they were going in this direction they could have made it more interesting, exciting, cooler stunts, more safe or just better?

There were so many dumb insult the viewers intelligence moments, I can't believe it's not just getting universally shit on. Stephanie obviously wasn't there, AJ clearly wasn't actually trapped under those weights and could have escaped anytime, somehow Asuka got into the elevator first and reached the second floor last, why didn't the wrestlers just take the elevator to the top floor? Then there's a food fight like it's some dumb 80's kids movie. Two wrestlers get thrown assumingly to their death. And why do two of their top stars act scarred of Vinces walking corpse, when Stone Cold would have walked right in that office and given him the stunner.

As for the wrestlers performance themselves, I guess they did their best with it even though their acting was terrible, I don't blame them for this I blame the people who greenlit and wrote this shit. Wrestlers fighting through Titan Tower gives me vibes of Fonzy jumping the shark, it feels desperate and I worry for pro wrestling as a whole.

There seems to have been a shift in what the wrestling fans want, I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion but if something like this happened years ago it'd be universally shit on and rightly so.

No longer are we looking for them to at least pretend it's real we're expecting them not to and now see them more as actors on some TV show other than athletes, tough guys, larger than life personalities. There's a reason kayfabe remained so long even after pretty much everyone knew it was fake, the attention received from the Attitude era was gotten by a seemingly real(but actually fake) angle between Stone Cold and Mike Tyson. The feeling of it being real is no more and new viewers are no longer getting invested, I certainly wasn't after watching MITB, ratings are down I hear, well no shit.

If kayfabe is dead and we're not going to attempt to preserve it, then it all just seems kind of pointless, why does wrestling even need to exist in that case? We have MMA, Theatre, movies and TV shows. Real fighting, real acting, quality filmed and written work from some of the best and most popular and talented people in the world.

Sorry for the blog post but I really, really didn't like what I saw. To reiterate my point on kayfabe, I've seen thousands of MMA fights and trained in BJJ so I know what a real fight looks like. I've been watching old ECW from around 94 and have been getting into that in part due to the subtleties used to preserve kayfabe. I know its fake but I still get into the matches, characters and storylines I still believe in what I'm seeing even though I'm very aware its fake.

Edited May 16, 2020 by ApolloReed

[Web Conn]

I watched Hardy vs Cesaro from the Kickoff Show, I liked it. It wasn’t out of the box extraordinary but it was a berry good wrestling match. Hardy’s first stop in his road to redemption, I’ve read he started a feud with Sheamas on like the go home Smackdown so  I’m sure a victory over Sheamus’s buddy isn’t go fly with the Irishman come Friday.

That tag match was really fun. It was a multi team spot fest, a well put together spot fest. It was cool to see Gunner from TNA randomly show up in WWE 8 years later and I got a kick out of Graves referring to Metalik as Juventud Guerrera. That Spanish Fly off the top into the guys on the floor was move of the match. New Day retaining isn’t surprising I wouldn’t think much is gonna change during this whole pandemic. I dont think I would have taken the belts off Miz and Morrison in the first place. If I wasn’t Kofi Kingston I’d be a little bit frustrated with where I’m at, last year he’s semi maiming as WWE Champ against Kevin Owens now he’s in the opening match defending the Tag Titles.

So what do I make of Lashley vs Truth? I was looking forward to Truth vs MVP when they announced it Saturday. The bait and switch was disappointing but idk it is what it is. The inadvertent slap of doom. Maybe Lashley is going to be MVP’s heavy, what a change in pace from being Mr Steal Yo Girl to being MVPs Heater in the matter of months.

I liked Baylay vs Tamina more than I thought I would. Heel Baylay continues to be the best Baylay. They are teasing a split between Sasha and Baylay in that pre match interview. Baylay is speaking for Sasha now. In the ring Mean Streak Baylay continues to be a lot of fun her talking shit to Tamina was gold so was Baylay and Sasha for that matter telling Tamina to cool it after she’s gets going I chuckled cuz they baited her to get mean then told her to calm down and have a match between two ladies. The super kick counter into a knee bar was pretty rad. Tamina finally got fired up and was about to win until Sasha who was smoking hot in that red leather one piece distracted her and Baylay squeaked our the victory. If they are reading the Sasha face turn, Sasha coming to Baylay’s aid after the bell when Tamina was gonna Samoa Drop the champ was a nice step in the right direction.

So Wyatt vs Brain... it wasn’t bad. Wyatt wrestling as Wyatt and not The Fiend was a tell that Brain was gonna retained. Match was fine nothing movez wise stuck out to me. The storyline stuff with the puppets at ringside and I thought the fake out at the end was pretty cool. What sucks about no crowds is the whole Black Sheep tease would have gotten a huge pop. Maybe it’s a silver lining cuz Braun would have gotten booed when he power slammed Bray then Vince would have gotten pissed that the crowd didn’t react the way he wanted them and buried Bray as a result cuz it has to be someone’s fault.

Is there any speculation on who the hacker is? Whose been inactive for an extended period of time? Fandango? Tyson Kidd ever wrestling again?

Drew vs Seth was really good. I’ve seen very little of The Monday Night Messiah but from what I’ve seen it’s the best Rollins has been for a long time. Drew I’m hip on Drew I said it in the Mania thread but Drew got the short end of the stick in the whole Covid thing. To Drew’s Credit he knows the rocket straps to him and he’s cutting impassioned promos he’s having stellar 20 minute matches in front of zero people. At least no one in the crowd is because of Covid and not Drews lack of drawing power. That suplex/slingshot toss thing Drew did to Seth while tied up in the ropes with Seth on top of him was crazy, if there was a crowd they would have lost there shit. Which leads me to my next point it’s a strange criticism but a match like this that was so good you know the crowd would have been losing your shit in my case it takes me out of the match. I get saddened like man a crowd would be loosing it right now. Wrestling needs an audience.

R-Truth thinks he beat MVP but he actually lost to Bobby Lashley. Truth is sad cuz he’s not 24/7 Champ and he vows to get it back. He thinks Tom Brady is champion. Are him and Gronk gonna have a match at Backlash?

The Money In The Bank ... it wasn’t bad. This is a post Final Deletion world, this mini movie things are not going anywhere. Funny to me Vince makes sure to bury the Ultimate Deletion before it airs just in case it goes over like a led balloon but when it’s kind of sort of his idea it’s the greatest idea ever. I thought this was fun. There’s some negative talk out there, The Days of Thunder guys were shitting on it but they watch Thunder every week so what do they know. I watch Thunder too is what do I know. What I know is I was entertained bu this match/movie. The Fighting from the bottom to the top concept worked. The cameos were fun. There’s no way Steph was in the same building let alone the same room for her cameo. Dana grabbing a briefcase full of money in a board room was funny. The good fight was fun. I liked the idea that HQ has an Undertaker room with purple lighting smoke and a casket. Asuka’s five onto everybody from the second floor at the beginning was cool. So that’s how they write Rey off TV, what’s the reasoning behind Alistar getting tossed over the roof? Also other than being a miserable human being why was Baron mad about Asuka getting a briefcase it’s an entirely different briefcase than the one he wants. I’m not upset with Otis getting the briefcase I think if no Covid would have been run away train over after Mania and they are getting a chuckle out of me booking him as if he blows the roof off of every building they go to. 

The show wasn’t bad.