Fallout from the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View

Last night was the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. Two ladder matches were contested; one to determine the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, the other to determine the contract holder for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship title shot any time in the next year.

Newly-minted Authority poster boy Seth Rollins captured the Money in the Bank briefcase, thanks to some well-timed interference by Kane. The screw-job finish turned some fans against what was a great match.

Superhero John Cena won the the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in an eight-man ladder match that featured few high-profile spots. Kane was taken out by Sheamus and Roman Reigns. Orton was left bloodied and requiring 12 staples in his scalp, thanks to an unfortunately placed ladder shot. The match ended with Cena sitting atop the ladder, the crowd peppered with more boos than cheers, and the Authority at ringside with looks of disapproval on their faces. More on this in a moment...

In other news, the Usos maintained their Tag Team championship reign. I fully believe the Wyatt Family should've won the titles, but WWE Creative doesn't exactly listen to me these days...or ever, for that matter. More on this in a moment...

Paige maintained the Divas Championship. She defeated Naomi in a well-fought match that might actually have been the best match of the night. More on this in a moment...

So...let's consider this a moment...

Paige , the Divas Division, and the Divas Championship

The "anti-diva" has been the exact opposite of that since being called up to the main roster. I blame Creative. They had an absolute gem in the persona Paige had crafted in NXT. Her run as the NXT Women's Champion was fantastic. But the moment she came to the main roster, Creative changed her into a weakened, sniveling babyface.

If I had been booking it, Paige would've won the Divas Title (an excuse to write AJ Lee out for a while) and the next episode of Raw she would've tossed the Divas Title into a trash can and instead used the NXT Women's Championship. She would've been a fighting champion, taking on anyone and everyone. But Creative decided she needed to be the female version of John Cena. Her moveset was limited and she became the babyface that gets the ever-loving crap beaten out of her for the first 95% of the match, only to storm back from the brink of death itself and win.

It seems that Creative would rather focus on the impending split of the Funkadactyls, Naomi and Cameron. For those not deigning to care, Cameron is in a somewhat-slow-but-no-one-cares heel turn. Tonight on Raw, Cameron and Naomi were forced into a handicap match against Nikki Bella. Naomi tagged herself in and quickly finished off Bella, but this angered Cameron. Instead of letting the two fake cheerleaders fight, referee Charles "Little Naitch" Robinson stepped between them and stopped them. Cameron callously waved-off her partner and stormed out.

That's the state of the Divas Division right now...

***And of course, as I'm writing this, AJ Lee comes back, goads Paige into a title match, and defeats Paige to reclaim the Divas Championship.***

Tag Teams Titles and the Teams That Deserve Them

The Usos have been Tag Team Champions since March 3rd. That's nearly 4 months as champions. I know WWE is trying to maintain longer title reigns to recoup some of the lost prestige the midcard titles have undergone, but the Usos don't need the titles to be over. The Wyatt Family doesn't either, but if the Wyatts took the titles off the Usos and engaged in a decent feud for the belts, it would add just as much prestige as a long title run.

The Wyatt Family has been shifted by Creative to actually care about titles, so it's logical they eventually win. With the Usos retaining the titles, the list of possible contenders to them starts to grow thin. Ryback and Curtis Axel still stand as possible contenders. Goldust and Stardust, the now fully-eccentric Cody Rhodes, stand as possible competitors, though the Dust Bros. are babyface. And given that the Dust BRos. just knocked off Rybaxel in about 35 seconds, I can't imagine Rybaxel getting a title shot anytime soon. If the Wyatts were to win the titles, the potential feuds are much greater in number.

New and Exciting Feuds

It was announced that a former WWE champion was returning. That superstar proved to be The Miz, returning after a four month absence to film The Marine 4. As Miz was berating the fans (...and let me say I'm glad he returned as a heel. Being a heel fits him better. And see, WWE, it is possible to have someone who does so much ambassador and charity work be a bad guy on camera *coughJohnCenacough*) a music not heard in a long while hit and Y2J himself, Chris Jericho, came to the ring. Jericho hit a Codebreaker on Miz and grabbed a mic. As he was saying "Raw is Jericho" the Wyatt Family's music hit, the arena went black, and when the lights came up the Wyatts had Jericho surrounded.

A beat down and a Sister Abigail later, Wyatt knelt over a vanquished Jericho. And I have to say...I like this. Jericho has a tendency to come in for a while and put over a rising star. And God knows Bray Wyatt needs a bump, as his career has stalled a bit thanks to a loss in the ladder match last night and suffering through Creative deciding that John Cena needed to win their feud. A Bray Wyatt - Chris Jericho feud, and the mic work that will accompany it, will tear the house down.

Seth Rollins and a Guaranteed Title Shot

The contract ladder match was definitely the better of the two ladder matches at Money in the Bank, even with the screw job finish. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose obviously took up much of the story. I really figured that WWE would have Ziggler win, since he's a known commodity. Having Rollins capture the briefcase, though, will work out very well.

As Rollins celebrated a victory over Rob Van Dam, he was interrupted by Dean Ambrose, who told Rollins that he would never get to cash in. Every time Rollins drew close to cashing in, Ambrose would be there to see to it that the briefcase "blew up in [Seth's] face."

Yeah, it's a bit of a rehash of the storyline where John Cena kept stopping Dolph Ziggler from cashing in, but this is a rehash I think the fans will be more invested in.



John Cena and the Need For WWE To Keep Letting Him Win

I'm pretty sure I recently wrote that John Cena was the safe bet for the titles. And yeah, Cena is a sure fire draw. He has legions of toddler fans who are capable of guilt-tripping their parents into buying tons of neon-colored bullcrap merchandise. He can use toilet humor and poop jokes better than anyone else on the roster. And he can leech off the popularity of other wrestlers like no one else...notice that every interview and promo Cena does, he mentions Daniel Bryan, or some other popular wrestler from that city.

He can keep the titles warm, but the endgame here is interesting. It's been announced that Cena will defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Four Way match at Battleground against Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, and Kane. Cena obviously leaves that match as champion. There's no way Cena has an Attitude Era type run of just one month. He'll retain at Battleground. Then it's a question of who he faces at SummerSlam. Early reports are that Brock Lesnar is in line for a title shot at SummerSlam. There's also Seth Rollins carrying a gold briefcase... Just something to think about...