Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Shelton Benjamin vs. Evan Bourne vs. Christian vs. Matt Hardy vs. Kane vs. Kofi Kingston vs.
How: All of them had to earn their way into the event. Here's how each guy did:
- Christian def. Carlito Colon
- Ziggler def. John Morrison and R-Truth
- Kane def. McIntyre
- Benjamin def. CM Punk
- Swagger def. Santino Marella
- MVP def. Zack Ryder
- Hardy def. McIntyre
- Bourne def. William Regal
- McIntyre def. Aaron Bolo
- Kingston def. Vladimir Kozlov
Heat Check: Uh, there's not really a whole lot in the way of heat for the match. This is one of the few matches where the story isn't what leads into the match, it's what happens in the match and more importantly, what it means for the winner going forward. It's not the end of an angle but the beginning.
Analysis: A field of 10? It does seem excessive. The match had humble beginnings with six guys, half of whom had main event flirtations and the other half being real up-and-comers. Now, it just seems like a midcard talent dump where only three guys realistically have a shot of winning, if you're going by how hard they were pushed in the last six months. Last year's total seemed a bit much, but the match turned out alright, if you ignore Benjamin almost committing involuntary manslaughter on MVP with that powerbomb to the outside of the ring. AND O HAI THERE BOTH IN THE MATCH DIS YEAR 2!!111
I wonder if they're just putting more and more people in the match until they see that the crowd doesn't care about it anymore. Honestly, I'm hoping that they haven't messed too much with a good thing, because let's face it, Money in the Bank has become the surest thing on the card each year (except this year, since most people are admitting, begrudgingly or not, that Taker and HBK is the surest thing on the card this year). It keeps the crowd enthralled, it elevates a new guy and it gets a bunch of guys a chance to appear on WrestleMania who wouldn't have had the shot otherwise. And personally speaking, you'd hope that they'd all want to make the most of it.
Given the make-up of the lineup this year, I think there is going to be a lot of stuff going on. A lot of roles are filled. Kane is the bully, Bourne and Kingston provide the fireworks, Swagger and Benjamin the athleticism, Christian the pure workrate, and so on and so forth.
The real conundrum comes when realizing that 70 percent of the field probably has no shot of winning. Let's face it, if they were going to give Benjamin a shot at a World Championship, he'd have beaten Christian at TLC. They didn't even give him that bone. What makes you think that after years of being in the match that they'd finally pull the trigger on him? Bourne's airtime in the last three months has been limited to mostly making Sheamus look good in squashes on RAW and wrestling in really good matches that no one sadly sees on Superstars. Swagger may have a future, but I think they realize they booked him like dogshit since his undefeated streak ended at 1 and that he's not a good choice to win. MVP is another guy they repeatedly miss the boat on, and I don't see them having hte faith to pull the trigger on him either. Kane is strictly a jobber to the stars anymore. Ziggler has also been given the afterthought treatment, but at least he was given some high-profilish wins over Kane lately. And Matt Hardy has about as much a chance of winning this match as I do of not only nailing Scarlett Johannsen, but convincing my wife to make it a three-way. Which is to say no chance at all.
That leaves three guys - Christian, Kofi Kingston and Scrooge McPoyle. Yeah, McPoyle's been losing his ass off lately, but at the same time, he's still Vince's chosen one, and he's still the IC Champion. Kingston has had his half-ass push go full-ass the other way lately, but he's still a fresh enough name with a recent enough big-time win over Randy Orton to make the cut. Finally, there's Christian for whom I think they have big plans after asking him to salvage ECW last year (and he did a fine job, if you ask me).
Who Should Win: Christian, Christian, for the love of God, Christian. The guy has always been among my favorites and he's always shown to me that he's got the charisma and working ability to make it on top, and really, a title program between him and Edge, him and Jericho or all three of them writes its-fucking-self.
Who Will Win: I want to say Christian, I really do, but I have this feeling that they might also give the briefcase to Kingston. Either way, it's not a bad call. If I were booking though, I'd make it Christian and then have him cash in the same night over a tired and worn down Chris Jericho, who retains his title after a grueling affair of dodging spears and pulling a win over Edge out of his ass. Then again, what do I know?
Photo Credit: WWE.com
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