WWE MITB: Brock winning is a slap in the face to the roster

Last night’s Money in the Bank ending featuring Brock Lesnar was a lot to digest, particularly for me.

In case you missed it, after seven of WWE’s best regulars killed themselves for a briefcase over the course of 19 minutes, only for Brock Lesnar to swoop in and grab the big W himself as a last minute replacement for an injured Sami Zayn.

There’s a metaphor here somewhere.

Initially, I felt really conflicted on how to react and feel about this finish. At first, I immediately hated the result, but quickly convinced myself that hating it was a good thing. After all, Lesnar is a heel. If I hate that he got himself a weasley win, that’s good heat, right?

Then it started to get complicated the more I thought about if Lesnar even needed that win, given he’s basically a main eventer for life. Money in the Bank is typically for guys who are on the cusp of a main event run, but not quite there yet, with the case giving them that extra leap into that direction. WWE could have just announced that Brock’s next match was a title match – even if he didn’t win anything to earn it – and it would’ve receive more or less the same heat-worthy reaction.

On top of that, it takes the fun out of a Mr. Money in the Bank lurking behind every champion’s corner. There’s an element that the briefcase holder could cash in at any moment. With Brock, all we have to do is figure out which one of his five yearly dates he’s scheduled to appear at and predict which night he cashes in.

Alternatively, the shock behind it all made for one hell of a moment, but was the moment really worth it?

After sleeping on it, I decided that I hate the decision solely because it presents the recurring notion that full time workers work hard for nothing just for a part timer like Lesnar to swoop in and reap the rewards.

Again, the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match presented a metaphor. For 19 minutes, these guys committed some of the most death defying, jaw dropping and frankly scary spots to ever take place in a MITB match.

We saw Finn Balor eat a sunset flip off a ladder onto another ladder from Andrade. We saw Ricochet land on his neck off a poison hurricanrana from Ali. We saw Ali crumble through an announce table off a chokeslam from Baron Corbin. We saw Corbin chokeslam Balor onto a ladder. We saw Drew McIntyre drive Ricochet through a ladder. Each man in the match gave a 110% performance out there and is going to be feeling the aches, pains and scars from the match for months – maybe years – to come.

And for what? For none of them to win. For Lesnar just to storm in like a raging gorilla and claim the prize for himself.

I don’t like that and the rest of the full time roster shouldn’t like that. It’s a slap in the face to Ali, a slap in the face to Finn Balor, to Randy Orton, to Andrade, to Corbin, Ricochet, McIntyre and most of all, a slap in the face for any of the WWE roster who spends all of their time on the road working their asses off for nothing.

Why even work if there’s no room for growth? No ladder to climb? No glass ceiling to break through when a part timer can just cut to the front of the line? These dudes pour blood, sweat and tears onto that mat every week. It’s disappointing and frustrating to think it may be all for naught.