WWE Money in the Bank 2016 Review

High rollers, high risks and high rewards... Live from Las Vegas, it is the 2016 installment of Money in the Bank. Not only did the event feature one of the most star-studded Money in the Bank ladder matches, but it also saw former Shield reverends collide in the main event for the richest prize in the business.

Match 1: WWE Tag Team Championship - The New Day (c) vs. Enzo & Cass vs. The Vaudevillians vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
The New Day look to continue their long title reign after they won the WWE Tag Team Championships at Summerslam of 2015. Awesome way to start the show with the Las Vegas crowd being very vocal for all teams involved. Loved every team in this match but for whatever reason, it just felt like such a cluster having all these guys in the match and seeing them try to get their offense in. With that being said, I was really taken out of the action once Enzo Amore scored the count on Karl Anderson before the referee called it a 2 count. Okay. The New Day are able to capitalize when all other teams are down to score the win and retain the gold. While the right team won, there is no doubt that this could have been much better than what it was.
Winners: The New Day
Rating: **3/4

Match 2: Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler
Baron Corbin was still pretty new to the main roster at this point and the company just seemed pretty high on him at the time. Unfortunately, that spelled bad news for the veteran in Dolph Ziggler. The first half of the match was basically Corbin looking dominant and leading us to believe that this was a possible squash match as the crowd grew a bit restless from it. However, Ziggler would make things interesting as the match became more competitive. Despite that, Ziggler would still fall to Corbin after Corbin hit his End of Days finisher. With the crowd caring less for what they were processing in the beginning, it was a struggle for them to get out of that first gear. But once they did, the match went on to be better than what I expected. Still, a little too long and dragged out for me.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Rating: **3/4

Match 3: Charlotte Flair & Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch & Natalya
As Charlotte Flair continues her dominance, she gets a break from defending her Women's Championship as she teams up with Dana Brooke to take on both Becky Lynch & Natalya. I dig the idea of the title not being defended on every PPV, makes it feel just a bit more important. Decent action here with a fairly short amount time given here and a great finish that saw Natalya nearly score the win for her team until Brooke drove Lynch right into Natalya as she had the Sharpshooter locked in. Flair then hit her Natural Selection move to score the win. Afterwards, Natalya beats down Lynch and cries as she walks away.
Winners: Charlotte Flair & Dana Brooke
Rating: **

Match 4: Sheamus vs. Apollo Crews
After making his debut on the main roster after WrestleMania, Apollo Crews quickly was becoming a fan favorite. Sheamus, of course, did not approve and was not about to let Crews make a name off him here. Solid action here as Crews does a great job of fighting as the underdog but also not making the match seem complete out of reach for him. Credit also goes to Sheamus for looking like an animal, he works much better as a heel. Sheamus is fending off Crews and his late comeback as he hits a White Noise from the top rope. However, Sheamus isn't able to get the pin and argues with the referee before getting rolled up out of nowhere for Crews to steal the win. Good win for Crews as his momentum would soon be stopped quickly. As for Sheamus, this dude won the Money in the Bank match the previous year as his career looked to be going nowhere at this point.
Winner: Apollo Crews
Rating: **3/4

Match 5: AJ Styles vs. John Cena
Let me just start by saying how much I loved everything about the feud these two had from 2016 and heading into the early part of 2017. Their chemistry on the mic and in the ring was on another level, easily one of the more underrated feuds of this generation. Can we stop the hate on John Cena at this point? The dude has become so adaptive and working with the best in the business, AJ Styles included. Styles looked to be control early on and was cocky in his ways as he kept mouthing out if this was the best Cena had. Fantastic exchanges throughout the match with both guys delivering the best from their respective arsenals. Every spot made sense and as the match progressed, both the unpredictability of the winner and the intensity grew. However, a referee bump caused Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson to come out and hit Cena with a Magic Killer. They then rolled Styles atop Cena as the referee made the count. AJ Styles just beat John Cena. Regardless of the finish, Styles pinning Cena gives him some legit credibility in the WWE. Incredible match and a nice way for them to get their feud going into another gear.
Winner: AJ Styles
Rating: ****1/2

Match 6: Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Chris Jericho vs. Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose
Who doesn't love a good ladder match? Especially when it involves some incredible talent in there like these guys. What makes a good Money in the Bank match is having everybody having their own spots and making their spots both matter and be memorable. Here, everybody got in the act and the mayhem made for some sweet spots that had the crowd on their feet. While it seemed a bit predictable that Dean Ambrose was going to walk away with the briefcase in hands, they certainly gave us a bumpy ride that had me thinking someone else was really going to walk away the winner. One of my favorite spots saw Alberto Del Rio lock Cesaro in a Cross Armbreaker on top of the ladder. However, that and Cesaro spinning everybody around were not enough as Ambrose was able to knock Kevin Owens off a ladder onto another ladder before grabbing the briefcase and securing the biggest win of his career. Another solid Money in the Bank match that lacked predictability, but made up for it with great action in the ring. Can't complain.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Rating: ***3/4

Match 7: WWE United States Championship - Rusev (c) vs. Titus O'Neil
With Titus O'Neil's kids sitting ringside to watch their father try to earn his first singles championship of his career, the Super Athlete in Rusev stood in his way. While it's pretty much a foregone conclusion from the start that Rusev was going to retain, we need to really give credit to O'Neil for his improvement in the ring and becoming a great ambassador of the sport outside the ring. A title reign for him wouldn't be the worst idea. Fairly short match here with Rusev controlling the better part of the match and teasing O'Neil's kids at ringside before submitting him to an Accolade submission. Afterwards, Rusev tells O'Neil's kids to have a happy father's day. Good stuff for Rusev here as his star continues to rise after having it crash a few months back.
Winner: Rusev
Rating: *3/4

Match 8: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Roman Reigns (c) vs. Seth Rollins
After finally returning to the WWE from his injury about a month prior, Seth Rollins looks to reclaim the WWE World Heavyweight Championship he never lost against Roman Reigns. Loved how they built this match in the first half with Reigns seemingly being too much for Rollins as the guys on commentary noted how Reigns had become increasingly better in the duration that Rollins was out of commission. But once Rollins gained his footing, the action picked up a little as the crowd was a bit tired from the previous matches along with the fact that the show had passed the 3 hour mark. With that taken into account, I felt like the pacing of the match was a bit too slow for something that nearly went on for 30 minutes. There were certainly times throughout the match where I caught myself drifting off. Even still, the closing minutes were certainly exciting with Reigns missing a Spear on the outside through a barricade and later getting another Spear attempt countered into a Pedigree. Rollins hits Reigns with another Pedigree and successfully regains his championship. While the match probably could have shaved off a few minutes, it was still another solid main event for Reigns but nothing like the ones he had with AJ Styles prior to this.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Rating: ****

Match 9: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
As Seth Rollins celebrated in the ring, JBL noted how Rollins had never lost the championship. Welp, out comes Dean Ambrose who drills Rollins with the Money in the Bank briefcase from behind before cashing it in. Ambrose plants Rollins with a Dirty Deeds DDT to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career. Fantastic finish to the night as the WWE completely swerved us by having all Shield members hold the richest prize in the business on the same night.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Rating: N/A

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
While the start of the PPV was a bit bland, it certainly followed things up with a great second half that made for great television to follow. Not only that, but the action in the ring was great with the biggest point being AJ Styles gaining a huge win over John Cena. However, that isn't to say that the end of the show left a nice lasting impression with Dean Ambrose finally reaching the pinnacle of the business and closing it out with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in hand.
Rating: 8/10