Money In The Bank 2020 Preview
IMG Credit: WWE
It’s time for another unique one as we have Money in the Bank split between the WWE Headquarters in Connecticut and down at the Performance Center. Depending on which reports you believe, the ladder match (Is it matches or match?) may be taking place throughout the show, because just having the match as usual is too simple or something I guess. Let’s get to it.
Kickoff Show: Jeff Hardy vs. Cesaro
There aren’t a lot of good things going on in WWE at the moment but they are doing an excellent job with making Hardy’s return a big deal. Hardy is a living legend and treating him like one is a very good idea. Above all else (and this will come into play later), if you weren’t watching twelve years ago, you might not know of Hardy’s mega singles run. Bring your fans up to date with that amazing video production team that they had. It can work wonders and it was awesome here.
In case you didn’t get it, of course Hardy wins here as he seems primed for some sort of a run. Cesaro is a perfect choice for a first opponent in nearly two months as he can work with anyone and works a similar style to Sheamus, who is the big prize for Hardy at the moment. Hardy is a heck of a star and Cesaro can make him look good, though I’d love for Cesaro to get one big singles run. I’d think he’s earned it at this point.
Smackdown Women’s Title: Bayley(c) vs. Tamina
We’re starting the main card with this one for the sake of getting it out of the way. I like Bayley quite a bit but my goodness she can be dull at times. It also doesn’t help that there is no reason to believe that this is leading to anyone but Sasha Banks in the big blowoff. Then there’s Tamina and egads how much more can I complain about her? For the sake of my blood pressure, we’ll move on from this as fast as possible.
Bayley retains here and there’s no reason for anything else to go down. We’re likely heading for Bayley vs. Banks at Summerslam and the idea of Tamina winning….well my goodness hasn’t there been enough suffering in the world lately? This match could be a disaster and I’m not expecting much more, but hopefully they get in and out quickly without doing something stupid.
R-Truth vs. MVP
This was added to the show on Saturday and I’m really not sure why. With all of the people they’ve been pushing as of late, they pick R-Truth and the new manager? It could be a nice little match, but this makes the main card instead of Hardy’s return to the ring? If nothing else I’m curious to see what R-Truth does with no fans, because he could make something entertaining out of it.
I’ll go with MVP here as he at least has something going on. R-Truth hasn’t been around since WrestleMania and I think we’ve long since proven that he doesn’t need to win anything ever again (outside of another 15 24/7 Titles) to stay over. MVP can get a nice win to show that he still matters, though a video package might be better. He’s a great example of someone who was something a long time ago but WWE needs to refresh us on who he is. It works with Hardy and it would work with MVP, who wins here.
Smackdown World Title: Braun Strowman(c) vs. Bray Wyatt
This one really hasn’t been working for me and I don’t see it going much better once they get in the ring. Strowman just does not feel like a top guy and their segment on the go home show was excruciating. It was Wyatt trying to make it sound like some big deal and Strowman reading from a script. The match feels like a clash of styles, but above all else I don’t care about it very much. Give me a reason to care and it might work better, but “you were in the Wyatt Family” isn’t enough.
I’m not sure what to think here but I’ll take Strowman retaining as the match is against Wyatt instead of the Fiend. I don’t think there’s any secret to the fact that the long term plans is Reigns vs. Fiend, but they’ve made it clear that this is against Wyatt. If nothing else, Strowman needs to retain in his first major defense for the sake of making him not look like he has some staying power, which has always been an issue for him. Strowman retains, but the Fiend is coming.
Smackdown Tag Team Titles: New Day(c) vs. Miz/John Morrison vs. Forgotten Sons vs. Lucha House Party
I know I’ve said this before but it’s still the case: New Day has felt like transitional champions for years now and I’m not sure how much of an impact another title reign has. They’ve good for a short term reign until we get to the next big thing, but the next big thing never comes. That seems to be the case again here, though they might at least have someone to drop the titles to here.
The Forgotten Sons seem to be the easy choice here so I’ll go with them, though I could see the Lucha House Party winning the titles and dropping them to the Sons almost immediately. The Sons aren’t my favorite team or even all that interesting, but you have to pick someone at some point so go with what you have available to you and see what happens.
Raw World Title: Drew McIntyre(c) vs. Seth Rollins
McIntyre has been behind the eight ball since he won the title in an empty arena, wrestled in front of an empty arena, and then gets blamed for the show crashing around him when there are about 184 different factors. I don’t think WWE is going to pull the plug on him or anything, but the Brock Lesnar shadow is getting bigger and bigger every single day that things stay bad.
McIntyre retains here though as there is no reason to switch it back to Rollins for the third time in thirteen months. The Monday Night Messiah character could have some legs if it is tweaked a bit (or if he hadn’t lost to Kevin Owens last month) but I can’t imagine him getting the title here. McIntyre should hold onto the title, as it would be completely unfair to blame him for everything that is going south right now.
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
And then we have the namesake matches, which are going to be complete insanity. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing yet, but it’s certainly going to be different. If nothing else, having this with six people instead of eight should do a lot of good, though with both matches taking place at once like some wacky game show, how much sense can they really make out of the whole thing?
I’m going with the safe pick of Shayna Baszler winning here, though I can’t shake the feeling of Dana Brooke getting a dark horse win. Baszler and Nia Jax would seem to be the logical picks though as Becky Lynch survived against Baszler and a rematch would make sense. Jax would be the same and her cashing in on a gassed champion would be fine. But yeah, I’ll go with Baszler, who almost has to win the title at some point soon.
Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
The bigger question here isn’t who wins the briefcase but rather who is taking the big plunge that has been teased/flat out promised by Lynch in recent weeks. This really is a wide open field and anyone involved could win the thing. No one has stood out above the rest of the options and that could make for a fascinating match. Now if only they can make it as wacky and entertaining as they seem to be planning.
I’ll take AJ Styles here, with Rey Mysterio as the second possibility. You could go with any of the six options and I don’t remember the last time that was a realistic option. They need someone to fight McIntyre after he gets done with Rollins and Styles is someone who makes as much sense as anyone else. Styles wins here, and I have absolutely no confidence in that choice.
Overall Thoughts
As much as I can’t stand the build to this show, I’m very curious to see what they are going to do with the ladder matches. They’ve got my interest up and while there is a chance for a disappointment, hopefully this is more Boneyard match than anything else. I like the idea of the change on the normal format and that might be what Money in the Bank has been needing for a long time now.
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