Random Thoughts on WWE Money in the Bank 2023

WWE Money in the Bank 2023 is in the history books and I’m here to share my random thoughts on the show. This is a spoiler heavy blog post, so please look away now if you wish to avoid spoilers.

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Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Butch vs. LA Knight vs. Logan Paul vs. Santos Escobar vs. Ricochet vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Damian Priest

I thought it was an excellent match. It’s probably one of the best Money in the Bank matches ever. These guys did an amazing job. It’s not the result I wanted because I was hoping for LA Knight to win just like the crowd wanted him to win, but there was Damian Priest to prevent Knight from winning. I’m not angry about the loss or anything like that, but I just think Knight was the right guy at the right time. We have to see how it plays out. Kudos to Ricochet and Logan Paul for having the best spot of the match by going through that table together. It looked especially rough for Paul. Ricochet hit some incredible moves in the match as usual. It looked like Knight was going to get the win after he cleared the ring, but that’s when Priest came back and put Knight down to get the win. It wasn’t the guy I picked because I predicted Knight would win, but I’ve got no issue with Priest winning. He has a bright future ahead of him. All of these guys deserve a lot of respect for putting on a show in that match. Great choice for an opener.

Winner: Damian Priest

Rating: **** ½

Women’s Tag Team Championship

Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler © vs. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez

It was a solid match, but the turn by Baszler on Rousey is what fans will remember. There’s another shocking finish to a match because I doubt many people thought that Baszler & Rousey would not only lose this match, but also have Baszler turn on Rousey like that. That was shocking. There was no tease of a split or anything like that in recent weeks, but Baszler decided to hit Rousey in the back and choke her out. After that, Rodriguez & Morgan finished off Rousey with their two finishing moves and that was it. I’m intrigued to see what happens next between Rousey & Baszler.

Winners & NEW Women’s Tag Team Champions: Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan via pinfall

Rating: ***

WWE Intercontinental Championship

Matt Riddle vs. Gunther ©

A methodical victory by Gunther targeting a weakness in Riddle, who had his left ankle taped up heavily, so it made sense for Gunther to go after the ankle right away. I don’t think anybody watching this believed Riddle had a shot to win here. This was the most predictable match on the card.

Winner and STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion: Gunther via submission

Rating: ***

After the match, Drew McIntyre made his return to WWE. he announcers said that the rumors of the demise of Drew McIntyre are not true Drew slowly got into the ring with GUNTHER as they had a staredown. Gunther shoved Drew in the face, so Drew hit him with a Glasgow Kiss headbutt. Drew hit a Claymore Kick to a huge ovation. Drew held up the Intercontinental Title. I’m excited to see him back in action. I really hope he re-signs with WWE long term too and gets a big raise because Drew has been incredible, especially in the last four years.

Dominik Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes

A dominant win by Cody Rhodes, but they were able to stretch it to nearly ten minutes due to Rhea Ripley helping Dominik Mysterio cheat at different times in the match. It was a predictable result because Dominik just isn’t on Cody’s level in terms of star power, so Cody winning clean was the right result.

Winner: Cody Rhodes via pinfall

Rating: ** ½

John Cena’s music hit to a huge pop! It’s John Cena making a surprise appearance. Wow. The crowd was going crazy because this wasn’t rumored or advertised. Cena was in his usual gear looking ready to go. The fans were singing his song.

Cena said he was there on behalf of the fans. Cena said he wants the world to know that these fans are underappreciated. Cena said he’s big on respect and over 20 years of his experience, the fans have earned his respect. The fans did a loud “Thank You Cena” chant. Cena said that they don’t like when the performers stop and the fans do that, but Cena said it makes it so much fun. Cena said that there is not a more exciting audience than the audience in the United Kingdom. Cena said he was there to try to bring WrestleMania to London. The fans were cheering and going crazy. Cena said he’s not there for one more match. Cena said that he wants to give something to the audience that he loves. Cena told the crowd to make some noise and let them know what WrestleMania is going to sound like. The fans cheered…but here’s an interruption.

Grayson Waller from Smackdown interrupted the promo saying he loved everything from Cena’s career. Waller said he loved the jorts and he has watched every one of Cena’s movies. The fans were chanting “shut the f**k up” and Waller praised Cena’s performance in Scooby Doo. Waller got into the ring to tell Cena he was disappointed that Cena was lying to these people. Waller dismissed the idea of WrestleMania in England. Waller said that if WrestleMania is going overseas it needs to be somewhere beautiful, good weather, nice beaches and it needs to go somewhere like Australia, so that led to boos. The fans were chanting “wanker” at Waller, who said “trust me I don’t need to.” Good line! Waller claimed that things aren’t going well for Cena since he lost to Austin Theory at WrestleMania, lost to Roman Reigns and lost to The Fiend at WrestleMania. The fans were chanting “f**k him up, Cena” and Waller said that Cena needs to have a viral moment.

Waller claimed he could help Cena save his career. Waller pitched his talk show with Cena as the guest at WrestleMania Australia. Cena passed on that. Waller claimed nobody says no to him. Cena didn’t seem to like that and Cena said that he was trying to have the fans tell the world why WrestleMania should be in London. Waller hit Cena in the back with a forearm. Waller celebrated that, Cena got right back up and hit the Attitude Adjustment. Waller took a big bump and went out to the floor. Cena quickly left to cheers.

That was an incredible moment with a surprise appearance from John Cena. I certainly didn’t see that coming, nor did most people, I’m sure. It’s awesome that they gave the British fans that special moment. I loved what Cena said about WrestleMania going to London, which would probably be at Wembley Stadium. We know WrestleMania 40 is in Philadelphia next year, so maybe WWE has a plan to have London host WrestleMania 41 in 2025. I don’t know why you would have Cena out there pushing it unless WWE had a plan to do it. Waller played the role of the cocky, young heel being disrespectful and he got his ass kicked as you would expect. I liked the segment overall.

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Bayley vs. IYO SKY vs. Trish Stratus vs. Zoey Stark vs. Becky Lynch vs. Zelina Vega

That was a great match, especially in the second half of it. They took some huge bumps in this match too, so kudos to all six women for taking a beating in this match and putting on a show. The handcuff going on Lynch’s hand early in the match and then Sky using it for the finish was a brilliant way to end it. That match ending really puts over Sky for being a smart wrestler that figured out a way to get the win by using the handcuffs to her advantage. We saw Vega take out herself and Zoey Stark with the Code Red onto the ladder to show how crazy some of these women were in the match. Sky hit some big moves including that moonsault. I thought Stratus & Stark had some smart heel moments in the match, but they were never really threats to win. I’m glad Sky won.

Winner: IYO SKY

Rating: ****

WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins ©

I thought it was a very good match that was never great at any point, but an entertaining World Title match overall. Balor did a nice job of attacking the ribs throughout the match. That was the right story to tell. Balor stomped on Rollins multiple times on the floor, but then Balor was distracted by his buddy Priest at ringside and that delay allowed Rollins to move out of the way. One stomp from Rollins and that was it. This wasn’t as long as I thought it would be, but it was still a competitive match that was fun to watch.

Winner and STILL WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Seth Rollins via pinfall

Rating: *** ½

The Bloodline Civil War

The Usos vs. Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa

It wasn’t great the whole way, but it definitely was in the second half. That was a lot of fun. Very dramatic. I thought the first half was really slow, but then the second half really picked up the pace and had a lot of dramatic moments. There were so many awesome near finishing spots in this match especially when Reigns tried the stacked pin and both Usos kicked out at the same time. I don’t necessarily love the referee bump, but we are used to them in Roman matches. The low blow kickout by Jey is what led to Roman’s downfall because then The Usos hit Roman with a barrage of superkicks followed by Jey hitting the Uso Splash for the pinfall win. The way they put over the low blow kickout as a big moment was really well done because it’s something Reigns used in the past to win matches, so having Jey use that against Reigns is brilliant storytelling. All four guys did great in the match, but having Jey pin Roman to win was absolutely the right call for the finish.

Winners: The Usos via pinfall

Rating: ****

Overall show rating (out of 10): 8

It was another great WWE PLE/PPV this year. The two Money in the Bank Ladder Matches were outstanding. I rated the men’s match a bit higher due to the overall craziness of it (that Ricochet/Logan Paul spot on the tables was crazy!), but the women’s match was a lot of fun with a brilliant ending. Having IYO SKY handcuff Becky Lynch and Bayley together so that Sky could climb to win was so cool. I loved the creativity of it. Damian Priest wasn’t my pick to win the men’s match because I wanted LA Knight to win (so did the amazing London crowd), but Priest has had a very good year, so it’s nice to see hard work being rewarded like that.

The main event tag team match with The Usos beating Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa was yet another emotional Reigns match except this time it had a different ending because Jey pinned The Tribal Chief. It was Roman’s first time being pinned in 3.5 years, so that’s a big deal and it could lead to Jey challenging Roman for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title at SummerSlam. Why not? I think that would be the right decision for sure. The first half of the match was a little slow, but then the dramatic nearfalls happened in the second half and it was incredible to watch. All four guys killed it. That family should be proud.

2023 Premium Live Event Rankings

WrestleMania 39 – 9.5

Elimination Chamber – 8

Backlash – 8

Money in the Bank – 8

Royal Rumble – 8