Hello and welcome to Best & Worst: Money in the Bank 2022 edition! If you’re new to Best & Worst, this is a column where I take a look at a match card and review all of the best and worst moments. From ring attire to match layout to high spots to ugly botches to fan investment, if it happened on the show and it stood out, then I’m marking what was best and what was worst. Without any further delay, let’s jump into this year’s presentation of the WWE’s paperwork-centric premium live event!
This year’s card featured four championship matches and two of the titular Money in the Bank ladder matches—one each for the men and women. Money in the Bank is always one of the more exciting events on WWE’s annual calendar, so what were the standout moments from this year’s show? On the flip side of the poker chip, which moments fell flat? Let’s get into it with this edition of Best & Worst!
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match – 2.5 stars
The show led off with the women’s ladder match for Money in the Bank. This year’s participants were Shotzi, Liv Morgan, Asuka, Becky Lynch, Raquel Rodriguez, Lacey Evans, and Alexa Bliss.
BEST! Becky Lynch continues to raise the bar with her ring gear. I don’t particularly care for the Big Time Becks era of her character, but her commitment to sartorial splendor is on another level right now. Her green, gold, and black attire tonight was a true standout (one of several on the ring attire front).
WORST! Lacey Evans has made some excellent attire choices in events past, but tonight’s was a misfire – pink camouflage? If cotton candy ever evolves into a sentient predator, then sure. Until then? Ugh. Lacey can do better here.
BEST! Raquel Rodriguez showing off her power. Rodriguez tried a couple of spots in this match to demonstrate her power. The deadlift spot she attempted while Liv and Becky were lain on the ladder didn’t quite go as planned, but goodness, what a show of strength. This was the focal point of the match, as Rodriguez was regularly double-teamed to take her out of the match. WWE presented her like a threat tonight and she rose to the occasion. Good showing by Raquel!
WORST! Several misfires (I don’t want to call them botches because they weren’t, exactly) really took the crowd out of the match and hurt the flow. It underscores two major problems with WWE’s presentation of ladder matches. The first is that even though MITB is an annual event, ladder matches are not. Every time WWE puts on another, the expectation is that something new and innovative will happen. That can be an unfair expectation and it puts green performers like Shotzi and Liv in difficult positions. Shotzi stumbled trying to run up the ladder in a corner spot, and she had another scary moment with Alexa Bliss perched in the electric chair position. Liv had a very scary-looking powerbomb spot that could have legitimately injured two people. (Side note here – why was Liv Morgan, who is four inches shorter than Lacey and about seven inches shorter than Raquel, being asked to powerbomb anyone off a ladder with a height differential like that? That’s a great way to get someone hurt.) The second problem is an extension of the first – even though anyone can come from out of the blue to capture the briefcase, matches like this expose performers who need a little more seasoning. Crowds know that these performers aren’t quite up to the skill level of performers like Asuka and Becky Lynch. There were 7 performers in tonight’s match – the crowd believed that 3 of them had a legit shot at winning. That’s a problem.
WORST! What on Earth is this company doing with Alexa Bliss? Alexa was next to invisible in this match (aside from a scary moment on top of Shotzi’s shoulders). This is not a knock on Alexa. This is a knock on WWE’s presentation of Alexa. She deserves better, and I hope they figure out a direction for her soon.
United States Championship: Theory vs. Bobby Lashley – 2 stars
BEST! Bobby Lashley remains a dominant force that the crowd is into. Lashley has been consistently presented as a star and protected on television. Tonight’s win over Theory surprised me because I think Lashley should be challenging for main event titles and a spot in the men’s MITB ladder match, but so it goes. He gives the U.S. title some credibility.
WORST! Ugh, WWE, are we doing this again? You’d think that WWE would have learned their lesson from WrestleMania, but nope! Prior to Mania, Sami Zayn lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ricochet. Sami then “graduated” up by getting a match at Mania opposite Johnny Knoxville, while Ricochet was left off the card completely. Now, it looks for all the world like Theory is going to graduate from losing the U.S. title to a feud with John Cena at the biggest party of the summer. Stop telling me and the audience that those who lose titles are worthy of higher-profile spots than the people who win them! This is so backwards!
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Bianca Belair vs. Carmella – 3.5 stars
BEST! Give the ladies credit for putting together a decent match on short notice. As we all know, Carmella’s spot was meant to be occupied by Rhea Ripley, but she wasn’t medically cleared in time. There wasn’t anything really outstanding here, but it was a very well-worked match and Carmella has improved so much in the ring.
BEST! Carmella had the gear of the night for the women, and I won’t hear otherwise. If it weren’t for the Street Profits (more on them in a second), she would have won top prize for best-dressed of the evening.
WORST! This match had all the energy of a top-of-the-hour segment for Monday Night Raw. Nothing about it stood out as worthy of the live event. That isn’t the fault of the performers! Rhea’s injury put this match in a tough spot. But with little build, and Carmella’s lack of credibility as a true threat to Bianca’s title, this fell a little flat with the crowd.
Undisputed Tag Team Title Match: The Usos vs. The Street Profits – 3.75 stars
BEST! The gear. My goodness, the gear. The Street Profits are usually one of the better-coordinated teams on the roster and they did not disappoint tonight. They came out dressed in some gorgeous attire: royal maroon, white, and trimmed in gold. I think they might have worn this gear once or twice before but it bears repeating: these gentlemen dress well for big events, they present themselves like stars, and the crowd is into them. The near-fall pop when they hit the blockbuster off the top was LOUD. They say you should dress for the job you want, and the Profits dress like champs.
BEST! The Usos vertical suplexing Angelo Dawkins into the ringpost while on the outside. When you wrestle as regularly as the Usos and Profits have lately, coming up with original spots can be tough. Credit to these teams for coming up with a new spot in a long-running rivalry.
BEST! Pat McAfee on commentary. Montez Ford doing crotch chops while standing on the top rope. Some things don’t need to be examined too carefully.
SmackDown Women’s Championship: Ronda Rousey vs. Natalya – 1.5 stars
WORST! It’s hard to know where to start with this match. First of all, Natalya is past the point of being a credible challenger to the women’s title. She is a safe pair of hands and she’s been there forever, but come on – did any of us think she was taking the title off of Ronda? Which brings us to…
WORST! WWE’s stubborn belief that their audience has the memory of a goldfish means that they think they can heat anyone up at a moment’s notice and present them as a dangerous and credible opponent. There’s a very obvious problem there. Which brings us to…
WORST! Liv Morgan rolling up Rousey to win the title after the match’s conclusion. I’m happy for Liv, legitimately. Good for her. The crowd popped huge for her when she won, and pinning Ronda Rousey clean should give her instant credibility as champion. But we once again run into this problem of WWE treating us as though we don’t have long-term memories. The winner of the women’s briefcase cashed in and won at the event itself in 2018. They did it again in 2019. If they’d had a crowd in 2020, they probably would have done it then, too, because Becky was pregnant and had to relinquish the title anyway. Now they’ve done it again in 2022 by letting Ronda Rousey (the most famous female combat sports athlete on the planet) get pinned clean by a woman with one of the worst win-loss records in the company. And also, is Ronda going on hiatus again? With all the money that Fox is giving WWE for SmackDown, I can’t imagine that they’re going to wake up after the long holiday weekend and be thrilled that Liv Morgan is their new champ. This was just a really, really, really weird decision all around.
Men’s Money in the Bank Match – 1 star
WORST! Failing upwards, it’s the WWE way! I understand that Theory’s inclusion in the men’s ladder match is meant to be a continuation of the story they’re telling with Theory as Vince McMahon’s made man. But the guy just lost a match earlier in the night. Why is he getting a chance to compete for the briefcase? Nonsensical developments like this just reinforce that WWE are committed to moments, and not matches. They had qualifying matches for weeks! Which brings us to…
WORST! Commentary reiterating all of those previous points while this grinning midcarder wins the MITB briefcase! He just lost earlier in the night! He didn’t qualify for the match! And yet, he’s got possession of one of the most valuable items in WWE lore! To quote one of my favorite comedies, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!
BEST! Four guys coming together to powerbomb Omos through the announce table looked cool as hell.
Overall Show Rating – 2.375 stars
Money in the Bank 2022 will not go down as a particularly memorable show, or even a great one. WrestleMania and WrestleMania Backlash were better shows than this. Liv Morgan’s cash-in would have been a huge moment if it weren’t a repeat of a moment we’d seen each of the last 4 years. Rhea’s injury put the Raw Women’s Title match in a tough spot. A few mistakes in the opening contest took the crowd out of it early and it was tough getting them back. Theory winning the men’s briefcase just solidifies my fear that WWE have nothing planned for Roman Reigns until Rumble season rolls around (he’s not losing the title to Brock at SummerSlam, except we all have to watch them count extra slowly this time to do it). The Usos vs. The Street Profits was the best match on this card, and we’ve seen these two teams wrestle a lot over the last month. WWE had a hell of an act to follow, one week removed from Forbidden Door and all of its attendant buzz. What they followed up with was flat soda.
