My Thoughts on WWE Money in the Bank 2017 (Presented by SmackDown LIVE)

Money in the Bank 2017 Results

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match Should Have Continued

In the first-ever Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, five women laid it all on the line for a guaranteed opportunity at the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Towards the end of the match, Becky Lynch was about to climb the ladder and grab the Money in the Bank briefcase; however, Carmella’s crony, James Ellsworth, got into the ring and tipped Becky off the ladder. Then, after realizing that Carmella could not get to her feet, Ellsworth took it upon himself to climb the ladder, retrieve the briefcase and hand it to Carmella. The most ridiculous part of this is that it was decided that it counted and Carmella walked away the first-ever Ms. Money in the Bank. The only way to win this match was for one of the women participating in the match to climb the ladder and retrieve the briefcase and Carmella did not retrieve the briefcase, Ellsworth did. Ellsworth was not one of the participants in the match, let alone a woman, so therefore, it should have meant absolutely nothing, the briefcase should have been hung back up and the match should have continued. WWE’s entire women’s division, as well as the entire WWE Universe, got ripped off with that history-making match. It was later announced that SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon and SmackDown LIVE General Manager Daniel Bryan both found this unacceptable and that they will address this controversy on SmackDown LIVE. I hope that Shane and Daniel decide to declare the Money in the Bank briefcase vacant, do something big to determine which one of the five women will walk away with the briefcase and do something to take Ellsworth out of the equation completely.

Jinder Mahal Established Himself as a Closet Champion

In the first main event of the night, WWE Champion Jinder Mahal defended against hometown hero, Randy Orton. As usual, Mahal had The Singh Brothers (Sunil & Samir), who played significant roles in helping Mahal beat Orton for the championship to begin with, in his corner. Also, several wrestling legends, including Orton’s WWE Hall of Fame father “Cowboy” Bob Orton, were seated in the front row of the audience. At one point in the match, Orton hit Mahal with his finishing maneuver, the RKO, and covered Mahal; unfortunately, The Singh Brothers took it upon themselves to place Mahal’s foot on the bottom rope right in front of the referee, in an effort to get Mahal disqualified (remember, a championship cannot change hands via countout or disqualification). Before the ref could call for the DQ, Orton convinced the ref not to do it and instead eject The Singh Brothers from ringside. Unfortunately, instead of leaving ringside, The Singh Brothers decided to grab a hold of Orton’s father. Fortunately, Orton was able to save his father from any beatings. Orton then took out The Singh Brothers himself; however, this was enough of an opening for Mahal to hit Orton with his finishing maneuver and pin Orton to retain his championship. The Singh Brothers, once again, helped Mahal get a victory. It is said that a champion who either ducks top-flight competition, cheats to win (often by managerial interference) or-when forced to wrestle good opponents-deliberately causing him/herself to be disqualified or counted out in order to retain his/her championship-is referred to as a closet champion. After all the things that went down in this match, I truly believe that Mahal has officially established himself as a closet champion.

A Couple of Surprises

One thing that I never saw coming was Maria Kanellis returning to WWE after being gone for 7 years; only this time, she brought her husband, the debuting Mike Kanellis, with her. This is definitely a different Maria that WWE Universe is seeing than the one they saw during her first run with WWE. She was once one of WWE’s sweethearts, but now, she is one of the most devious masterminds in the business. Also, it was finally revealed who has been trashing Breezango’s office, as well as who attacked Tyler Breeze one week ago. The perpetrators turned out to be none other than The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor). I am actually not too surprised about this because I remember when Breezango crossed paths with The Ascension during their Fashion Files investigations. The two tag teams ended up having a match against each other with Breezango coming out on top and possibly closing their case.

The New Mr. Money in the Bank is…

Baron Corbin. You heard it right; Baron Corbin has once again made history during his short time on WWE’s main roster. First, Baron Corbin won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in his first match on the main roster at WrestleMania 32 last year and at Money in the Bank 2017, he became the next Mr. Money in the Bank. Baron Corbin now has a guaranteed opportunity at the WWE Championship. Since he seems to have a habit of jumping people from behind, I think that the WWE Champion should most definitely be on the lookout for this powerful individual.

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