WWE Money in the Bank (2016) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place on June 19, 2016 at the T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. It was the seventh event under the Money in the Bank chronology.
Preshow: Lucha Dragons def. The Dudley Boys and Golden Truth def. Breezango
I honestly didn't bother to watch these two matches, but it's an absolute travesty to see a legendary tag team as the Dudley Boys reduced to performing on the preshow of all places on a PPV card. Even TNA held them in higher regard than this. After seeing the photos of Breeze and Fandango's "ruined suntan", I'm glad I didn't bother to tune into that crap.
Fatal 4 Way Match for WWE Tag Team Championship - The New Day (c) def. The Club, Enzo & Cass, and The Vaudevillains
Seriously, what the fuck was this shit? I was okay with the match for the most part but the Four Corners style bout didn't do any of these teams any favors. What could have been a stand-out performance for the WWE Tag Team division turned into a clusterfuck of confusion. What stood out the most was the tons of miscues in this match, especially at the finish where Gallows just stood there and WATCHED Big E pick up Anderson and tag to Kofi Kingston for the win.
I don't agree with New Day pinning one of the members of the Club to retain here. If they are trying to continue the Club/New Day feud, then that was a bad way to go forward, especially for a new team fresh on the radar. I guess they want to go with Enzo & Cass against New Day since Enzo can keep up on the mic, but I wouldn't chop the Club's legs off this early into the game. It's already bad enough that they verbally and physically bury the Vaudevillains at every opportunity.
Baron Corbin def. Dolph Ziggler
And no one cared. My god why is this feud still a thing? Does anyone even care about this shit anymore? It's only hurting Ziggler even more after that angle with Lana, Rusev, and Summer did - if that's even possible.
Corbin's turning into the new bathroom break instead of the Divas.
I don't want to knock Ziggler and Corbin as they were really trying to turn this around from being a stinker but it was hard to care here. Both of these guys need different dancing partners at this rate.
Tag Team Match - WWE Women's Champion Charlotte & Dana Brooke def. Natalya & Becky Lynch
Horrible. I feel bad writing that as Becky and Nattie were killing it in the first half, but Charlotte and Dana's inexperience was dragging this match down like a brick in water.
Miscues and botches seems to be the theme of the night so far, but that's not the thing that people are going to be talking about after this match. It's going to be Nattie's heel turn post-match that saw her lay out Becky. I honestly thought that Becky would have been the one to go heel at this point after the frustrations from all of her shortcomings, but I'll take this change to Nattie's stagnant character if it amounts to something positive for Nattie's career at this stage.
Apollo Crews def. Sheamus
I can't believe it didn't dawn on me until now that this feud is a direct rehash of the Lashley and Finlay feud from about seven to eight years ago. It was bad then and it really doesn't work now. Personally, I can only see the subtle racism here as Crews has to fight the "Great White"... Yeah, let that soak in for a second.
It was in bad taste to see Sheamus and Crews recycle the same top rope Celtic Cross spot that Drew Galloway and Lashley used on Impact Wrestling this past week, only to end the match with a fucking roll-up. Crews is better than that shit. I hope they give Apollo Crews something to do from here other than smiling to the ring and just being happy to be here.
AJ Styles def. John Cena
Best match of the night to this point... until the finish. They just had to do a referee bump to usher in Gallows and Anderson to lay out Cena to "allow" Styles to win. I don't give a flying fuck about people trying to act like it doesn't matter how heels win as long as they win. These were the SAME people who were complaining about how weak Seth Rollins looked last year during his title reign. It's the same principle here. How can AJ Styles establish any footing on his own two feet without having to resort to having the Club save his bacon every time? It's just making him look like he's all hype and nothing on his own - especially to those who haven't followed his career from Ring of Honor, TNA/Impact Wrestling and New Japan.
You know there's going to be a rematch, but I implore WWE to take careful consideration of how they book AJ Styles going forward.
One more thing to think about... They let a fat ass like Kevin Owens beat John Cena CLEAN in his first bout against him, but AJ Styles can't get the job done? Go home, WWE, you're drunk.
Dean Ambrose wins the Money in the Bank Ladder Match
I wasn't crazy about this not opening the show, but after just about all of the botches and piss poor finishes prior to this I can see why they saved it for later into the card. These six men put on one hell of a show to entertain us in this one but that didn't stop me from cringing at some of crazy spots and nasty landings in this match. WWE, these are six of your best hands to go into the main event circle as needed and you don't need to be putting their health into jeopardy here.
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| Sami Zayn finally gets some payback on Owens after that Package Piledriver on a ladder back from their ROH days. |
United States Championship Match - Rusev (c) w/ Lana def. Titus O'Neil
Really, who expected any other outcome? This was just the cooldown match before the main event. I thought WWE were just tossing more salt into the open wound of Titus' defeat with his kids in the front row to watch their dad lose... on FATHER'S DAY. C'mon...
Plus, I was a little mad that this match didn't have enough Lana shots at ringside during this match...
WWE Championship Match - Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns (c)
People were acting like we haven't seen this match before and to be quite honest, I wasn't thrilled for it post-WrestleMania 31 and I really didn't care to see it rehashed here. Much like Corbin and Ziggler, they tried to keep people interested here, but at least both guys here can garner a much better reaction from the crowd. This seemed more like Rollins testing the waters to see what he's able to do again now that he's back in the grind since returning from injury.
Dean Ambrose cashes in the Money in the Bank Contract
After Ambrose won earlier that night, I knew this was going to be the outcome. WWE wants the most profitable main event for the next few PPVs before or after the upcoming draft - a triple threat between the former Shield stable members. Ambrose was the last hold out among the Shield boys to get a taste of the gold, so I'm fine with him getting a chance to bask in glory. It's just make it or break it time for Ambrose as I seriously doubt WWE would give him another top spot like this if it doesn't pan out.
I remember seeing people butthurt on social media when I tweeted that after the PPV and my thing is this. You all know how WWE is on their iffy booking and how they play favorites instead of listening to fans, so they aren't going to care if they don't like Ambrose and want to continue pushing Rollins and Reigns as their top guys instead. If you go back to the end of the MITB Ladder Match AND the cash in, there were people shaking their heads when Ambrose won the briefcase and it took a while for the crowd to warm up when he won the title after the cash-in. It's going to take more than just one Vegas crowd to sell this title reign. I'm not knocking Ambrose as I'm firmly behind him getting a push, it's just that WWE hasn't done anything up to this point to prepare him for this role or convince the masses that he's ready for this spot long-term.
Unlike everyone else, I'm not tossing babies in the air and saying that this was the best WWE PPV of the Year. I will acknowledge that there were some great booking decisions on this show to set up things going forward, but I'm not overlooking the overwhelming amount of fuck-ups by talents on the early half of the show and the lackluster undercard matches. I'm not giving WWE a free pass to keep booking everyone except the main eventers poorly.
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