The four participants from Monday Night Raw for both Money in the Bank ladder matches were announced. In terms of the four men and women who are competing in the two matches, one could have guessed who these participants will be (assuming you are a diehard). Just because I could have guessed who they are, however, I am still not complaining because these will make for excellent matches. How can anyone help but be ecstatic for Ricochet, who gained some necessary momentum on the main roster to begin his run which will hopefully solidify him as a definite champion in the future? To be honest, Braun Strowman, unfortunately, seems to be seen by Vince McMahon as more of a mascot for the company than a legit main eventer. Drew McIntyre has a legitimate chance to win the contract and become Universal Champion. His level of intensity combined with his look is exactly what Vince is looking for in terms of a champion who represents his company the right way. No one really likes Baron Corbin, but he is quickly becoming reliable now in the dastardly heel role like The Miz executed perfectly where people hate him for the right reasons.
The women’s Money in the Bank ladder match should be interesting as well with the four Raw participants in mind. Alexa Bliss is not a serious candidate to win this year considering she just won last year and successfully cashed in the contract, but she still adds another element of intrigue. Naomi may be considered a dark horse candidate to win this year, but it is very doubtful WWE will pull the trigger on this idea. Natalya almost has to be put in there simply because of her pedigree and the fact that she is still one of the best performers in the company when it comes to wrestling ability. And Dana Brooke, give me a break. Sasha Banks would make for a much more intriguing entrant and fortunately, this still isn’t out of the realm of possibility. So, the two winners of the Money in the Bank letter matches I’m assuming will be Drew McIntyre on the men’s side and a woman from SmackDown.
Since The Good Brothers are now on the same brand as AJ Styles, this would be the perfect excuse for WWE to reunite The Club. This strategy worked incredibly well three years ago against John Cena along with a few others, and it makes sense to do right now considering that Styles is being portrayed as the heel in his current feud with Seth Rollins as was evidenced by the contract signing that took place this week.
The events that transpired between The Revival and The Usos provided some more than necessary comic relief for Raw, with Dash shaving Dawson’s back because of his girthy lats. Fans have to feel at least somewhat bad for them because their bad luck continued later in the evening when they got beat by the Tag Team Champions Ryder and Hawkins (thrilled for them getting the opportunity to be champions again).
It resonated that Bobby Lashley was referring to himself in the third person on Miz TV because the only person to do that was The Rock. It is uncertain as to exactly what role he will play at Money in the Bank, but I am almost certain that he will play a role in the steel cage match at Money in the Bank between The Miz and Shane McMahon.
It looks like there are major plans in store for The Viking Raiders, and there should be because they have serious potential to dominate the tag team division for the men for an extended time spanning multiple years. There may even be a MITB ladder match for tag teams added to the pay-per-view soon (probably not this year but maybe next year to introduce The Undisputed Era) because WWE now has enough tag teams to do something like that on both brands. This could be a big moneymaker for the company.
It’s a great morale booster for Rey Mysterio to get a victory against Samoa Joe after being embarrassed at WrestleMania. Pay attention to Mysterio’s son Dominik, because I can almost guarantee that he was not brought into this story for nothing. He will almost certainly play a role to a degree in this feud.
WWE is attempting to give Sami Zayn’s new character an intellectual appeal by having him referred to the “psychological concept of entitlement” which I believe is the disease of the millennial generation. Fans may not love what Sami has to say because of his sarcastic delivery, but something can be learned from him. He could be in the beginning stages of a sizable push so that’s something to watch for.
I wanted to point out that I will be in attendance for Monday Night Raw next week, so that should be interesting. One downside of that is missing out on Corey Graves’ commentary for the week. No worries though because he’s on both weekly shows for WWE.