WWE Money in the Bank Live Results, Highlights and Grades

Today’s the big day. WWE’s first post-WrestleMania pay-per-view and they picked a big one to start the new WWE season: Money in the Bank.

The Raw, SmackDown and 205 Live rosters will all come together tonight to deliver some high octane action emanating from the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Tonight’s PPV will serve as the tenth annual Money in the Bank PPV. In addition, the pay-per-view will deliver the 24th and 25th Money in the Bank ladder matches ever since the match type was introduced in 2005.

Beyond two Money in the Bank ladder matches, the event will showcase seven title matches and two grudge matches. For some context, here’s a quick breakdown of the card and a recap of the events that led to the show.

The Kickoff

In the build-up to the show, Lars Sullivan attacked SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz and injured Jeff Hardy in the process. As a result, The Hardys were forced to relinquish their titles. A week later, Daniel Bryan and Rowan were handed the titles by Shane McMahon, but not before being challenged by The Usos, who jumped ship for the night as part of the Wild Card Rule.

Bryan and Rowan defeated The Usos to earn their belts. Tonight, they’ll have to try to beat them again on the Kickoff Show in a rematch.

The Title Matches

As part of the Superstar Shake-Up, AJ Styles jumped to Raw after claiming SmackDown Live as the house that he built for the better part of three years. After winning a triple threat and then a #1 contender’s match against Baron Corbin on the Apr. 22 episode of Raw, Styles earned the right to face Seth Rollins for his Universal Championship. While they respected each other initially, their quest for the title was enough to intensify their rivalry on the road to Money in the Bank.

Meanwhile, Kofi Kingston has had a handful of title matches on the road to Money in the Bank and has successfully defended the WWE Championship every time. However, he faces his greatest challenge yet tonight in Kevin Owens. Owens briefly joined The New Day after Big E found himself on the injury shelf, only for Owens to attack both Xavier Woods and Kofi in an effort to demand his WWE Title shot. He got his wish. Will he get the title?

Becky Lynch felt compelled to defend both of her titles at the pay-per-view as a fighting champion. As such, Becky 2 Belts will defend her SmackDown and Raw Women’s Titles respectively against Charlotte Flair and Lacey Evans. The last time we saw The Man, she was getting slammed through a table by both her challengers on the last Raw before Money in the Bank. Her chances at walking out the PPV with both belts aren’t looking too good.

Samoa Joe will defend his United States Championship once again against Rey Mysterio. He successfully defended his title at WrestleMania with a 10-second victory over Rey. The Innovator of the 619 got his retribution some weeks back with non-title singles victory over Joe. Could he redeem himself once again with a title win over the Samoan Submission Machine?

Last but not least, Tony Nese defends his Cruiserweight Championship against Ariya Daivari. Nese defeated Buddy Murphy for the title near his hometown of Long Island, New York at WrestleMania. Every week on 205 Live, he has quietly built momentum as the new face of the purple brand with star-studded performances against game talent. Simultaneously, Ariya Daivari has successfully carried an undefeated streak over the last few months. Will he continue his winning streak with his first title victory?

The Grudge Matches

After declaring himself the biggest acquisition in SmackDown history after the Shake-Up, Roman Reigns Superman Punched Vince McMahon. In retaliation, Shane McMahon has acquired the services of Elias to avenge his old man. The Living Truth squares up with The Big Dog tonight.

Shane will have his hands full taking on former tag team partner, The Miz. Both men have feuded since losing the SmackDown Tag Titles earlier this year. Following a daring plunge off the stage at WrestleMania 35, Shane got a sneaky victory. Miz is looking to redeem himself inside of a Steel Cage.

The Ladder Matches

As per usual, there will be two Money in the Bank Ladder Matches where the winner will receive a briefcase that they can cash-in at any time on any champion between now and next year. The Men’s match will feature Baron Corbin, Andrade, Randy Orton, Ali, Finn Balor, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, and now Sami Zayn. Zayn’s spot was originally filled by Braun Strowman before Zayn toppled the giant on the last Raw in a Falls Count Anywhere match to claim his spot.

Meanwhile, the Women’s Money in the Bank will feature Bayley, Ember Moon, Carmella, Natalya, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Naomi, and now Nikki Cross. Cross’s spot was originally filled by Alexa Bliss before the latter went down with a legitimate injury. Before the announcement on her injury was made, Bliss formed an alliance with the Glasgow native on the last episode of Raw.

The card for Money in the Bank – as of this writing – remains as follows:

Universal Championship Match 
Seth Rollins (c) vs. AJ Styles

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match 
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match 
Intercontinental Champion Finn Bálor vs. Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton vs. Ricochet vs. Baron Corbin vs. Ali vs. Andrade

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match 
Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Carmella vs. Natalya vs. Ember Moon vs. Mandy Rose vs. Dana Brooke vs. Nikki Cross

WWE Championship Match
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Kevin Owens

Raw Women’s Championship Match
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lacey Evans

Steel Cage Match
The Miz vs. Shane McMahon

Roman Reigns vs. Elias

United States Championship Match
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Tony Nese (c) vs. Ariya Daivari

Kickoff Match 
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. The Usos

WWE Money in the Bank airs live on the WWE Network at 7 p.m. ET / 5 PT and is expected to last between three-and-a-half to four hours. Not including the Kickoff Show, which kicks off an hour prior at beforehand at 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. Money in the Bank’s Kickoff Show will stream live on the WWE Network, WWE.com, the WWE App, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and Twitter. Join us back here at 6 p.m. for the Kickoff Show.

And we’re LIVE, pals!

As the Kickoff Panel – Jonathan Coachman, Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts and David Otunga introduce us to the incoming live crowd at the sold out XL Arena.

Shortly after that introduction, we get a backstage interview from Becky Lynch, cutting a fiery promo declaring that she plans to walk into Money in the Bank as Becky 2 Belts and expects to walk out exactly the same.

Why? Because “that’s what happens when The Man comes around.”

Shortly afterwards, we see Lacey Evans giving a rebuttal to “Becky Big Mouth” from her locker room. She compares her to trash and like trash, she’s going to bag Becky up and “take it to the curb.”

“The more you run your mouth, the sweeter it’s gonna be when I take that title off of you.”

After that “Renee” – as KO affectionately calls her – interviews Kevin Owens, who fantasizes about breaking Kofi Kingston and taking his title. He calls Kofi an incredible role model and a nice guy. KO has nothing personal against Kofi, except that he has something that KO wants: the WWE Championship. He also promises today is going to be a “new day” when he starts today as the new WWE Champion.

Some minutes later, Nikki Cross cuts a handheld promo saying she’s going to “give Alexa a chance” because Alexa made her feel important when she was feeling down. Now, she wants to be just like her new bestie and win Money in the Bank.

“Let Nikki play. Let Nikki win.”

Afterwards, Sonya Deville and Beth Phoenix join the Kickoff Panel. The former addresses her relationship with Mandy Rose. Then, nearly gets in a fight with an invading Zelina Vega.

Moving on from that, we get our first match of the night, The Usos challenge “Spongebob and Patrick” – as they affectionately call Daniel Bryan and Rowan – in a non-title match.

The more experienced tag team get the advantage early on, until Rowan gets the blind tag; slamming Jey Uso to the ground.

From there, Bryan and Rowan tag in and out whilst working Jey’s leg to give him a harder time to make the tag to his fresher partner. All while Jimmy hangs desperately onto the apron with his hand out.

The champs keep the advantage until Jey counters a Bryan dropkick with a Samoan Drop.

Bryan tags Rowan in. Shortly after, Jey sends Rowan shoulder first into the apron. This allows Jey to tag in Jimmy, who comes in like a house of fire.

During the hot tag comeback, Jimmy goes for a top rope cross body, only to be caught in mid-air by Rowan, who turns it into a Jackhammer for a near fall.

Rowan goes to double suplex both Usos from the top rope and succeeds. Then tags Bryan back in.

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Bryan goes for signature Yes Kicks, but miss the last one. Jey hits a flying headbutt followed by  a Super Kick. He goes for the Splash, but Bryan counters it with a Label Lock. He nearly taps until Jimmy breaks it up.

Jimmy goes to suicide dive on Rowan, but gets caught. Jey dives, but Rowan catches him too, only to get double super kicked for his troubles. Bryan tries to dive until Usos kick him as well.

Both go for a double Uso Splash and stick the landing for the 1 … 2 … 3! 

The Usos don’t win the titles, but they carry a bit of momentum to suggest they’re in contention, despite being on Raw. Once again, the Wild Card Rule proves to be WILD!

Grade: B – Not as great as their SmackDown match and it was weird to see this not be a title match – could’ve sworn it was – but this was well paced and a fun way to start the show; get the crowd/audiences at home hyped for one heck of an evening.

We’re still live, but now the show officially is underway!

Our first match of the night is the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

The match immediately divulges in chaos, highlighted by a whirlybird ladder spin by Nikki.

Women get sandwiched and slammed against ladders for several minutes. Most notably, in a strange spot, following a Super Kick from Carmella, Mandy Rose kicked Carmella in her kicking leg. Looked as if her leg buckled. Carmella tried to walk away, but Mandy kept trying to work. Carmella looked to “shoot” shove her away. She was then taken to the back. Hope Carmella’s not injured.

Some minutes later, Dana, Bayley, Mandy and Naomi all climb the ladder only to get thrown off by Natalya. From atop the ladder from the outside, Ember hits Natalya with a death defying Eclipse! Shortly after, Mandy hits her facebuster finisher on Ember onto a ladder.

Mandy goes to climb, but Carmella comes back to the ring limping. She wails on Mandy like a house of fire; slamming her head into a ladder repeatedly before Super Kicking her for good measure.

Everyone’s down. Carmella goes to climb on one leg, but Mandy’s friend Sonya comes in to pull Carmella down and Spear her. Sonya revives her buddy to climb the ladder, only to be met and pushed off the ladder by Bayley, who retrieves the briefcase and becomes Ms. Money in the Bank!

Grade: B- Your usual car crash ladder match, but it had a lot of fun spots. The weirdest thing about it was the Carmella/Mandy thing, which was admittedly distracting and odd in execution. Why fake a botch for a spot? Why make us think a wrestler is legit injured and “shoot” mad about it? Kudos to the women’s performances for making the spot look real and making marks like me buy into it, but it just felt odd. I didn’t like it and it hurt the match in my eyes, but other than that, solid ladder match.

Moving on from that, Rey Mysterio challenges Samoa Joe for his US Title.

The two go to blows at first, which is a bad move against a skilled striker in Joe. The champ gets the upper hand until Mysterio uses his high flying abilities. He crashes onto Joe with a seated senton. Joe gets a broken nose from the senton and delivers a thunderous chop to the little man.

He picks him up, Rey reverses into a hurricanrana for a 1 … 2 … 3!

A replay shows Joe’s shoulders were off the mat, but Mysterio wins the US Title! Samoa Joe attacks Mysterio after the match in front of his “teenage son” as Michael Cole put it. Dominic is 22-years old, by the way.

Grade: D In complete contrast to their Mania match, this didn’t end in a sudden, shocking way. This was more confusing than shocking. Not very entertaining. The beatdown after the match makes it make sense I suppose, but it makes Mysterio look like a lucky clown rather than a champion. Not feeling this. Not feeling this at all.

Up next, Shane McMahon faces The Miz in a Steel Cage Match.

Shane keeps trying to escape immediately, but Miz keeps pulling him back inside the ring. Eventually, Shane starts to fight back and manages to get the upper hand to a chorus of “CM Punk” chants. Because apparently, it’s 2014 all over again, ladies and gentlemen.

Miz catches the Coast to Coast. He grabs his legs to turn it into the Figure Four.

Shane wiggles his way out of the maneuever and nearly wiggles his way out of the cage door. Miz grabs him and pulls him back in, but on his way in, Shane grabs a chair from the outside. They lock eyes, wondering who is going to get the chair first. Miz gets it first. Shane pleads on his knees for forgiveness and tries to run away until Miz wails a chair against Shane’s back over and over and over again.

The chair shots were enough to get the crowd back into it as after a series of chair shots, they chant “One more time.” Miz obliges them, then hits a Skull Crushing Finale. Shane manages to get his foot on the rope, in a match where there are no DQ. Commentary acknowledge it, implying that Shane might have paid off the ref.

Miz goes for SKF on the top rope, but they push each other off the top rope.

Shane tries to climb out of the cage, but Miz pulls him down to the mat, followed by a frog splash off the top rope for a near fall. Shane then locks him into a Triangle Lock. Miz turns it into a pin, forcing a break.

Shane escapes one last time. Miz attempts a superplex from the top of the cage. Shane fights it until he slips out of Miz’s grasp and hits the floor.

Grade: D-. This has the complete opposite problem of the last match. The last match was too short while this match just dragged. The crowd wasn’t into this, and neither was I. This feud lost its steam post-Mania and it seems a lot of people didn’t care to see this one. Made for a dull contest. The finish managed to be even less satisfying than their Mania match, which was much more entertaining if you ask me.

On a brighter note, Tony Nese defends his Cruiserweight Championship against the undefeated Ariya Daivari.

Briefly, a feeling out process takes place before Ariya takes over with some heel offense (blatant closed fist punching, kicks to the head, etc). Contrasting to most Cruiserweight PPV matches, this one is a little bit of a slower, methodical pace.

Ariya puts Nese in a unique Boston Crab, walking him around the ring in the process while locked in the hold.

Nese gets back into this with some left hand punches and a spinning heel kick. That eventually gets followed by a beautiful moonsault from the top rope.

Nese attempted a pumphandle move, but Nese turns it into reverse DDT.

A little later, he goes for a Pumphandle Driver again, only to get kicked in the head for his troubles.

Ariya goes for his signature Clothesline finish, but reverses into a schoolboy for a near fall. Hits a dive, then a 450 Splash for another near fall.

Nese goes for his signature corner knee only to get Super Kicked by Ariya. Then, a frog splash followed by his Persian Lariat finisher, for a surprising kick out. Nese finds a second wind with an open palm strike followed by a running knee to retain his title.

Grade: C – Good match for the wrong crowd. Crowd seemed tired after the previous lackluster contest and expected a more high octane action match. This one had a slower build, which worked for what it was, but again, would have gotten over on 205 Live or even an NXT crowd.

In her first of two singles title matches tonight, Becky Lynch defends her Raw Women’s Championship against Lacey Evans.

Becky has been dropping Lacey Evans up and down the arena. Literally. Tossing her from one side of the ring to the next, then tossing her outside to slam her into the barricade. Can’t come out of the match saying The Sassy Southern Belle didn’t catch a beating tonight.

Lacey eventually gets a second wind, most notably by attacking the arm. She wrenched Becky’s arm against the ring post.

Lacey starts doing some ragdolling of her own; slams Becky face first into the mat.

She’s been beating up Becky so bad, Lacey worked up a sweat. She takes out her signature hankerchief, wipes her sweat, then shoves it in Becky’s face. That was enough to kickstart a comeback from The Man, which included a diving dropkick from the top rope, followed by another kick to the outside off the apron. Leads to a two count.

Lacey gets back into this with a cool looking RKO-thing off the middle rope followed by a high kick for a near fall.

Becky attempts a Dis-Arm-Her before Lacey gets to the rope. Lacey attacks the knee, followed by a roll-up. Becky’s got her shoulder up it seems, so no count, then turns it into a Dis-Arm-Her. Lacey immediately taps. Becky retains.

Grade: B-. This one didn’t light the world on fire, but in her first singles PPV match, Lacey gave a strong performance and displayed great chemistry with Becky. Odd finish – or at least oddly executed – but it was a good match.

Immediately after the match, Charlotte comes out to face Becky in her title match.

Since Becky’s still winded from her match with Lacey, Charlotte easily gets the upper hand.

Tides turn in Becky’s favor by throwing Charlotte off the top rope for a one count.

Looks like Becky is ready to tap when Charlotte gets back into this with a high angle Boston Crab. She scratches and claws to get to the bottom rope and does. Charlotte keeps the hold locked in until the count of four.

Both women trade forearms until Charlotte kicks out Becky’s injured leg that Lacey spent the last match working on.

Becky dodges Charlotte’s big boot to drop The Queen. Both women are down.

Back on their feet, they trade forearms again. Becky struggles to lock in the Dis-Arm-Her. Charlotte knocks her down and locks a Crossface onto Becky against the bottom rope. Becky blocks a Natural Selection and sends Charlotte crashing to the outside.

As the ref counts out Charlotte, Lacey comes back and knocks out Becky with the Woman’s Right. This allows Charlotte to pin Becky and win the SmackDown Women’s Title. 

This leads to a brawl between the three women. Charlotte and Lacey double team Becky in the ring.

Until Bayley comes out with her MITB contract! She saves Becky and sends Charlotte into the ring post.

To a chorus of “YES!” chants, Bayley grabs her briefcase, hands it to the ref and cashes in on Charlotte.

Charlotte is laid out, Bayley hits an Elbow Drop for the 1 … 2. … 3! Bayley is your new SmackDown Women’s Champion!

Grade: A – The match was high octane action from start to finish, the finish made sense, and so did the post-match beatdown / cash-in. All executed to perfection.

Up next is Roman Reigns vs. Elias. Or is it?

Before the match, Elias attacks Roman Reigns by nailing him in the back with a guitar shot to the back.

Afterwards, Elias cuts his usual heel promo on the crowd. On his way to the back, he’s met with a returning Big Dog, smashing him upside the head with a Superman Punch. He throws Elias in the ring to make this match official. Spear immediately for the win.

Grade: Can’t grade this match. Wasn’t much of a match. Less of a match than Mysterio vs. Joe. I don’t mean that as a criticism though. I enjoyed this segment for what it was and considering there was 0 intrigue from the crowd on the match, this was the best decision to do for Roman vs Elias, but this was just that –  a segment. More of a segment than a match, so I can’t judge it the same way I judged the rest of these matches. Again, I liked it still, if that counts for anything at all.

Up next, for the first time ever inside of a WWE ring, AJ Styles goes one on one with Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship.

They start with a lock-up and a feeling out process. Both men appear evenly matched; reaching a stale mate.

The respectful stale mate continues until Rollins topples Styles with a clothesline. This match is now Seth Freakin’ Rollins’s match to burn down; it’s all him with a series of kicks and knees onto a prone Styles, until The Phenomenal One hits a dropkick to get back in this one.

Back and forth continues for minutes, Styles nearly hits a Styles Clash off the apron, but Rollins blocks it only to receive a sliding knee for his trouble.

Because momentum can change hands so fast, Rollins gets the upper hand once again less than a minute later with a suicide dive. After an almost 8-count, both men get back in, Rollins throws him back out for another suicide dive.

Rollins continues his flurry of moves, notably with a springboard clothesline for a 2-count.

Buckle Bomb from Rollins, followed by a high Frog Splash for a near fall.

Styles tries to get back into this one. Knocks Rollins off the top rope and later hits a Rack Bomb for a near fall.

Styles goes for a Phenomenal Forearm, but Rollins sweeps the legs off the rope. Rollins then hits a reverse superplex from the top rope rolled through into an inverted reverse DDT for a near fall.

He then sets up the Curb Stomp, Styles ducks it and locks in the Calf Crusher. Some seconds later, Rollins rolls the pressure off him and kicks Styles off him. Styles quickly gets back into this with a reverse DDT off the middle rope.

Styles goes for a clothesline, but runs right into a Super Kick.

Flurry of offense from both men; back and forth. Rollins ducks a Pele Kick. Rollins goes for a Curb Stomp, only for Styles to catch him in mid-air into a Styles Clash for a near fall.

Styles goes for the Forearm again, only to be caught in mid-air with a Ripcord Knee, followed by a Super Kick and a Curb Stomp for the win.

Grade: A+ – What a match, man. We were bound to get a great match out of these two phenomenal (pardon the pun) athletes, but they blew it out of the park tonight. Because it was a new, fresh match-up, this felt special and it helped that the crowd was on fire for this one. Absolute whopper of a match. Surely, we’ll be calling this a classic years after tonight.

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Next up, Kofi Kingston defends his WWE Championship – and the honor of New Day – against Kevin Owens.

This one immediately divulges into a fight. Even denigrates to the outside where Kofi dives onto Owens off the top of the stairs. Owens gets back into this after slamming Kofi into the barricade. Kofi quickly drops him again though before rolling KO into the ring. KO eventually stops Kofi’s momentum with a Super Kick, then stomps him out declaring this to be his show.

Owens spends the next few minutes targeting Kofi’s back. He hits a senton to Kofi’s back for a kickout. Then repeated stomps and kicks to the back. If that did not look like it hurt, Owens went on to hit Kofi with a frog splash onto the outside. He rolls Kofi back into the ring for another kickout pinfall.

Kofi attempts a comeback with a dive, but Owens reverses with a kick to the midsection. He goes for a powerbomb into the corner, but Kofi reverses with a back body drop into the corner instead. Owens gets the upper hand again eventually.

Owens attempts a powerbomb off the apron, only to receive a mushroom stomp on the apron. Kofi goes for a top rope dive to follow up, but Owens super kicks him.

Counter after counter back in the ring until Kofi hits a SOS for a nearfall. He then attempts a Trouble in Paradise only to get countered into a Boston Crab. Kofi makes it to the bottom rope to break it up.

Kofi then blocks a KO Superkick and turns it into a ground and pound. He runs at Owens and runs right into a Sit Out Pop Up Powerbomb for a near fall.

Owens fails at attempting a Stunner. Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise, but KO falls to the outside.

After rolling Owens back in the ring, Kofi receives a Stunner. He gets his hand on the rope just in time to save his title.

Out of frustration, Owens throws Kofi’s shoes off, hits a Swanton, but gets knees to the back. KO turns around right into a footless Trouble in Paradise for the 3-count. And Still your WWE Champion, Kofi Kingston!

Grade: A – Kofi Kingston continues his trend of having excellent WWE Championship defenses on a week to week basis. It helps that he had a competent and tremendous dance partner to wrestle against in Kevin Owens proved to have a great dynamic with the champ.

Up next is our main event of the evening: the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Keep in mind that Braun Strowman injured Sami Zayn earlier, taking him out of the match.

Much like the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match from earlier in the night, it does not take long before everything breaks down into complete and utter chaos. People get thrown into ladders – thrown all over the place actually – and  people get hit with ladders all over the place. To quote a former WWE commentator with a mean lariat, they are going to be carrying them off like chords wood, boys, after this match is over.

The match offers quite a few dream exchanges as well. Ricochet and Ali have a quick high flying exchange before it gets broken up. McIntyre and Orton have a bit of an exchange as well, with the former nailing the latter with a Claymore.

Andrade and Finn Balor continue their feud at the top of the ladder, concluding with Andrade nailing a nasty sunset flip off the ladder onto another ladder. All to a “Yowie Wowie” chant.

As if that didn’t look nasty enough, Ali nailed Ricochet with a nasty reverse hurricanrana that plants Ricochet right on his neck.

The carnage continues for several minutes – too much to really keep up with – until the very end.

With everyone down, Ali makes the long climb to the top, when suddenly, Sami Zayn’s replacement storms down to the ring …

BROCK LESNAR.

Brock comes in, knocks Ali off the ladder, climbs and grabs the case himself. A winner is Brock.

Grade: A- – I’m still coming to grips with whether or not I actually like that finish and if I like the idea of Brock with the case, but everything before that was tremendous. One of the most thrilling MITB Ladder Matches to ever take place. Absolutely chaotic, pulse pounding with several memorable jaw dropping moments. Just a shame that every person involved basically killed themselves in this match for NONE OF THEM to win.