Money in the Bank 2011 Thoughts
Money in the Bank 2011 was the 2nd annual Money in the Bank PPV event produced by the WWE. It took place at thr AllState Arena in Rosemont, Illinois with a sold out attendance of 14,815 (according to WWE). The buyrate was 195,000 which was impressive in this period due to PPVs not selling like they use to. This PPV is often considered by many to be one of the greatest PPVs in WWE history containing one of the greatest feuds in modern history at the time. It was also the last PPV of the original brand extension.
We had 6 matches on the card including the money in the bank ladder matches which for the second year was now it's own brand concept and today remains one of the WWE's most important PPVs. But it wasn't the ladder matches everyone brought to mainly see. CM Punk cut a wild work-shoot promo a month ago about behind-the-scenes and reality of the WWE which we call the pipe bomb. It was one of the greatest promos of all time. Punk here was down to his last month of contract and confirmed that he was leaving once he wins the WWE Championship. Vince McMahon, who doesn't like people leaving his company with the belts said he will fire John Cena if he doesn't retain the Championship. It was a wild feud that focus on kayfabe & reality with crazy promos heading up. Randy Orton also battled Christian in a last chance match for the World Heavyweight Championship where if he was to get disqualified he will lose the championship.
The Good - CM Punk vs. John Cena is no doubt an outstanding match and arguably the best match in both men's respective careers. The near-falls and long activity that took place gave everyone goosebumps and the crowd was on fire for the match the entire time. It was doing some tremendous story telling in the match to where Cena has his down looks of "what can I do" after Punk kicks out of 2 AAs and survives the STF. Cena was known to have a lot of repetitive Hulk-Hogan-like matches of the typical get beat up and comeback to win which gave him lots of heat of "you-can't-wrestle" but when giving more time and allowing him to do stuff, he can be amazing. Aside from that I enjoyed the SD MITB match as it was a surprise at the time to the WWE have a sign for a Daniel Bryan push who many knew was better than he looked. Christian vs. Randy Orton was good but probably their weakest match of their feud which says a lot about the chemistry the two had. You could hear the smarky Chicago crowd booing Orton a bit as many were still not pleased at how Christian was booked after that terrible title lost on Smackdown in April.
The Meh - Raw's MITB match I felt wasn't as good as the SDs. In fact it looked a bit like a spot fest with many stars doing unnecessary things with the ladders. It was good but not great. I will boost Mark Henry vs. Big Show for being what it was as just a match to put over Mark Henry (who was in his best run of his career).
The Bad - We only had one bad match and that being the Divas Championship match of Brie Bella vs. Kelly Kelly. I luckily didn't give it a 0 star match due to knowing how crap it was going to be. I mean Women's wrestling in the WWE at this time was just embarrassing. The crowd was dead for it and not anyone had the energy to care for this match.
Overall - It delivered. Is it really one of the best PPVs ever? Maybe but I don't feel it's a perfect. I think the Vince/Cena/Punk storyline pretty much impacted this show a lot to give it the praise it gets by many. It still lived up to expectations with the hype and I think having one of the greatest matches in the PG era gives this a solid double thumbs up.
Score - 9 out of 10: Awesome
0 = Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time :
1. Sin Cara vs. Wade Barrett vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Heath Slater vs. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan: Smackdown Money in the Bank (Ladder Match) - 4/5
2. Kelly Kelly vs. Brie Bella: WWE Divas Championship - 1/5
3. Big Show vs. Mark Henry - 2/5
4. Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth vs. Evan Bourne vs. Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley: Raw Money in the Bank (Ladder Match) - 3/5
5. Christian vs. Randy Orton: World Heavyweight Championship - 3.5/5
6. John Cena vs. CM Punk: WWE Championship - 5/5
Best Match - John Cena vs. CM Punk
Worst Match - Brie Bella vs. Kelly Kelly
Most Memorable Moment - Cena knocking down Laurinaitis and refusing to win the infamous way. That gave nods to the Montreal Screwjob.
Top 5 Performers
1. CM Punk - Outstanding Performance
2. John Cena - Outstanding Performance
3. Daniel Bryan - A career highlight
4. Christian - Good Performance
5. Randy Orton - Good Performance.
Money in the Bank 2011 was the 2nd annual Money in the Bank PPV event produced by the WWE. It took place at thr AllState Arena in Rosemont, Illinois with a sold out attendance of 14,815 (according to WWE). The buyrate was 195,000 which was impressive in this period due to PPVs not selling like they use to. This PPV is often considered by many to be one of the greatest PPVs in WWE history containing one of the greatest feuds in modern history at the time. It was also the last PPV of the original brand extension.
We had 6 matches on the card including the money in the bank ladder matches which for the second year was now it's own brand concept and today remains one of the WWE's most important PPVs. But it wasn't the ladder matches everyone brought to mainly see. CM Punk cut a wild work-shoot promo a month ago about behind-the-scenes and reality of the WWE which we call the pipe bomb. It was one of the greatest promos of all time. Punk here was down to his last month of contract and confirmed that he was leaving once he wins the WWE Championship. Vince McMahon, who doesn't like people leaving his company with the belts said he will fire John Cena if he doesn't retain the Championship. It was a wild feud that focus on kayfabe & reality with crazy promos heading up. Randy Orton also battled Christian in a last chance match for the World Heavyweight Championship where if he was to get disqualified he will lose the championship.
The Good - CM Punk vs. John Cena is no doubt an outstanding match and arguably the best match in both men's respective careers. The near-falls and long activity that took place gave everyone goosebumps and the crowd was on fire for the match the entire time. It was doing some tremendous story telling in the match to where Cena has his down looks of "what can I do" after Punk kicks out of 2 AAs and survives the STF. Cena was known to have a lot of repetitive Hulk-Hogan-like matches of the typical get beat up and comeback to win which gave him lots of heat of "you-can't-wrestle" but when giving more time and allowing him to do stuff, he can be amazing. Aside from that I enjoyed the SD MITB match as it was a surprise at the time to the WWE have a sign for a Daniel Bryan push who many knew was better than he looked. Christian vs. Randy Orton was good but probably their weakest match of their feud which says a lot about the chemistry the two had. You could hear the smarky Chicago crowd booing Orton a bit as many were still not pleased at how Christian was booked after that terrible title lost on Smackdown in April.
The Meh - Raw's MITB match I felt wasn't as good as the SDs. In fact it looked a bit like a spot fest with many stars doing unnecessary things with the ladders. It was good but not great. I will boost Mark Henry vs. Big Show for being what it was as just a match to put over Mark Henry (who was in his best run of his career).
The Bad - We only had one bad match and that being the Divas Championship match of Brie Bella vs. Kelly Kelly. I luckily didn't give it a 0 star match due to knowing how crap it was going to be. I mean Women's wrestling in the WWE at this time was just embarrassing. The crowd was dead for it and not anyone had the energy to care for this match.
Overall - It delivered. Is it really one of the best PPVs ever? Maybe but I don't feel it's a perfect. I think the Vince/Cena/Punk storyline pretty much impacted this show a lot to give it the praise it gets by many. It still lived up to expectations with the hype and I think having one of the greatest matches in the PG era gives this a solid double thumbs up.
Score - 9 out of 10: Awesome
0 = Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time :
1. Sin Cara vs. Wade Barrett vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Heath Slater vs. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan: Smackdown Money in the Bank (Ladder Match) - 4/5
2. Kelly Kelly vs. Brie Bella: WWE Divas Championship - 1/5
3. Big Show vs. Mark Henry - 2/5
4. Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth vs. Evan Bourne vs. Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley: Raw Money in the Bank (Ladder Match) - 3/5
5. Christian vs. Randy Orton: World Heavyweight Championship - 3.5/5
6. John Cena vs. CM Punk: WWE Championship - 5/5
Best Match - John Cena vs. CM Punk
Worst Match - Brie Bella vs. Kelly Kelly
Most Memorable Moment - Cena knocking down Laurinaitis and refusing to win the infamous way. That gave nods to the Montreal Screwjob.
Top 5 Performers
1. CM Punk - Outstanding Performance
2. John Cena - Outstanding Performance
3. Daniel Bryan - A career highlight
4. Christian - Good Performance
5. Randy Orton - Good Performance.