WWE Money In The Bank 2023: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

WWE Money in the Bank 2023 is in the books, and boy, do we have a lot to talk about. Titles were defended and titles changed hands; new ladder match winners pulled their briefcases down from the ceiling, and the story of the Bloodline continued in dramatic fashion. In front of an absolutely rabid crowd at the O2 Arena in London, England, WWE proved itself the king of big moments — if not necessarily the king of great in-ring contests — and mad the event a memorable experience for all involved.

Our live coverage of the show is still available for those who haven't seen it, but spoilers definitely lie ahead here, as we provide our opinion and review the latest edition of WWE's highest-flying PLE. What parts of the event cashed in, and what parts went broke? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved from Money in the Bank 2023.

After all the reports and speculation that Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio was set to main event the show, likely to facilitate the return of Brock Lesnar and the re-ignition of his feud with Rhodes, the match ended up going on fourth, and it was ... kind of nothing. Dominik played the cowardly heel and only succeeded at all due to Rhea Ripley's interference, Rhodes won the match, seemingly without too much trouble, and Lesnar was a no-show. It was simple and straightforward, but not in a good way, as none of the storytelling work that had been done in the build really translated to the in-ring action. It was just there, and we forgot about it the moment it was over.

At this point, it might be time for WWE to start re-assessing what they're doing with Dom and Rhea. To the extent that this match had a story at all, it really only made us want to see Rhodes vs. Ripley, and we're not sure WWE is ready to go there just yet. It's great that Dominik is a heat magnet, but if this is the best match he's capable of having, it might be better to have Ripley be the one in the ring while Dom plays the heel manager on the outside. Rhea's Women's World title reign is in dire need of the jolt that would come from some great matches with quality opponents, and we may have come to the end of the road (at least for now) with Dom as an upper-card player. If they're not going to let Rhea do intergender, at least let her defend her own title instead of showing off her (admittedly spectacular) hairstyle at ringside.

So Lesnar didn't show up, but what about the other names that had been rumored to be returning at Money in the Bank? There was some speculation that the Intercontinental title match between GUNTHER and Matt Riddle would result in a Randy Orton return, or that Imperium interference would necessitate an appearance from the tag team champions, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Neither of those things happened, but GUNTHER's victory was marred by the long-awaited return of Drew McIntyre, who made the London crowd explode in greeting. McIntyre was another heavily-rumored name, though, and his return wasn't the biggest surprise in the world.

What was a surprise was Shayna Baszler turning on Ronda Rousey during the women's tag team title match, causing Rousey to be pinned yet again by Liv Morgan and causing the belts to go back to Morgan and her partner Raquel Rodriguez. This was a legitimately shocking moment, as there had been no real indication that it was coming, and the reign of Baszler and Rousey seemed to have a lot left in the tank, especially after unifying their championship with the "NXT" women's tag titles. It was a real moment that impacted the crowd in the arena as well as at home, and while it seems odd to have the partnership between Rousey and Baszler end so quickly, we also now have hope for Baszler getting a sustained singles push, which she more than deserves.

And then, of course, John Cena showed up. Did not see that coming.

While it was fun to see McIntyre return, Shayna betray Ronda, and John Cena, of all people, turn up out of nowhere, there were also some big negatives associated with all those developments.

For one thing, neither the Intercontinental title match nor the women's tag title match ended up being much of anything beyond their respective surprises. Both were fine for what they were, but what they were was largely a GUNTHER showcase at the expense of Riddle and a fairly boilerplate tag match with little heat behind it, respectively. To be clear, Riddle and Rousey are two of our least favorite people currently working in WWE, so we're not exactly complaining, but it has to be admitted that the matches weren't exactly must-see material in and of themselves.

As for Cena ... well, he did what WWE legends usually do when they return: Make a young, up-and-coming talent look kind of worthless. We like that Grayson Waller made the show, and he seems to have somebody's attention backstage, which is good, because he's an exceptional talent. We don't even really mind him having a promo battle with John Cena — though there wasn't much back and forth between them, and anyone who has ever seen a WWE show could predict what was happening next. Of course, what happened next was Waller attacking Cena, briefly getting the upper hand before Cena inevitably came back and delivered the Attitude Adjustment.

It's not like this is overly terrible for Waller, who hasn't even had a main roster match yet and has thus far been exclusively a talk show host. It would have been a much different story if Cena had done this to, say, LA Knight. But the fact that it happened it all is just boring and uninspired, and it's a little sad to see Cena get to this point in his career: brought out for a big show to serve as a sort of intermission to keep the crowd happy by dumping some up-and-coming heel on his head.

Prior to Money in the Bank 2023, WWE promoted the show as having three main events: Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio, Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins, and the Bloodline Civil War. None of those matches involved the actual Money in the Bank briefcase, which was a little weird, considering the name of the event and everything. When it came time to actually ring the bell, however, both MITB ladder matches delivered the goods, outshining the vast majority of the competition.

The result of the men's MITB match was definitely the more surprising of the two — fans and bettors alike seemed to agree that LA Knight or Logan Paul were the most likely winners. At the end of the day, however, it was The Judgment Day's Damian Priest pulling down the briefcase, which was both a welcome choice and a logical one, considering how high WWE has reportedly been on Priest internally. If the match had an MVP, though, it was unquestionably Ricochet, who not only lit up highlight reels with his signature aerial style, but also appeared to single-handedly save one of the match's most important spots after Paul seemed to hesitate before taking a fall off a ladder through a pair of tables waiting on the outside. With he and Paul caught up in the ropes, Ricochet somehow managed to turn the situation into a Spanish Fly that took himself and Paul through the tables as intended.

The women's match was a bit more predictable in terms of result, but that doesn't mean the result wasn't welcome. The match was also structured beautifully, with the two major stories going in — the feud between Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus, and the cracks forming in Damage CTRL — artfully intertwined to create the finish. Stratus and her toady, Zoey Stark, attempted to neutralize Lynch with a pair of handcuffs, but Lynch escaped with the handcuffs locked only around her own wrist. She later used them in brutal fashion to foil Bayley's attempt to climb the ladder and Bayley had knocked Damage CTRL partner IYO SKY to the ground, but then SKY locked the other side of the handcuffs around Bayley's wrist, neutralizing both Horsewomen and climbing the ladder herself to win the match. The rest of the match was excellent too (with Zelina Vega particularly distinguishing herself) but it was the creativity of the finish that took it over the top.

Damian Priest's victory allows for all sorts of juicy conflicts to begin to form within The Judgment Day, and those conflicts manifested themselves later on the same show, when Priest walked down to the ring during the World Heavyweight Championship match between Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. We have no complaints about that story developing, and we're extremely happy nobody won Money in the Bank and immediately cashed in, as that trope has become seriously overused.

That said, we were really looking forward to the Balor/Rollins match itself, and like so many of the actual in-ring components of Money in the Bank, it ended up being pretty lackluster. With seven matches, plus the Cena/Waller segment, taking up just over three and a half hours, there wasn't a ton of room for a lot of these contests to breathe and get into their stride, and the result was that most of them didn't have much in the way of in-ring storytelling. In this match, for example, Rollins hit Balor with the Buckle Bomb — the move that injured Balor seven years ago — but it didn't mean anything. It was just a spot in the match. From a story perspective, nothing really happened until Priest's arrival, and that proceeded to inform everything that followed.

And that's fine. Again, we're looking forward to messy Judgment Day drama. But there was a really great story behind Rollins vs. Balor beyond just "Rollins has injured ribs," and we would have liked to see that story get some time in the spotlight.

Remember how we said a lot of matches on the undercard for this show didn't get a ton of time? Well, that's because the main event did get a ton of time, and it was worth every second.

As discussed in our "SmackDown" review, there were a lot of different ways the Bloodline Civil War could have gone, and fans and pundits alike were split on who they thought would win — not to pull back the curtain, but exactly half of the writers and editors here at Wrestling Inc. thought Reigns and Sikoa would win, while the other half thought the Usos would win. There were so many questions going in. Would Solo Sikoa turn on Roman Reigns? Would Solo Sikoa take the pin? Was Reigns really going to lose in a tag team main event at two consecutive PLEs? And the most important question: What would be the major turning point, the next twist in the story, that would make us come back for "SmackDown" on Friday?

Well, we got our answers! Sikoa neither turned on Reigns nor took the pin, but he and Reigns did indeed lose. After a meticulously structured psychological tag team match that at times appeared to be the epitome of old-school tag wrestling, we got a succession of spots that called back to various points in the Bloodline's history, from Jimmy powering out of the Guillotine Choke that Reigns applied on him at Hell in a Cell 2020, forcing Jey to join the Bloodline in the process, to a by-this-point-traditional Bloodline match ref bump preventing Reigns' shoulders from being counted down for three. In the end, Reigns and Sikoa looked to have the match won with a frankly awesome combination of the Samoan Spike and the Spear, but the Usos somehow kicked out, the greatest tag team in WWE history staying alive in the face of their family's newfound cohesion. Jey later kicked out of another Spear, his arm low-blowing Reigns as he did so, another callback. And when it was all said and done, Jey Uso came off the top rope with a splash and became the first person to pin Roman Reigns since Baron Corbin did it in November 2019.

For those of us who are invested in the long story of the Bloodline, this match was pretty much perfect, and exactly what needed to happen. The Usos needed to beat Reigns and Sikoa, and more importantly, Jey needed to pin Reigns. There are still plenty of places to go, and still a lot of reasons to keep watching, but the story of Roman Reigns, the Undefeated, is over. Jey beat him. The Usos beat him. What on earth is he going to do now?

We can't wait to find out. Pro wrestling is very good.