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411’s WWE Money In The Bank 2023 Preview
Image Credit: WWE
Hello 411 guys, gals, enbies, and everyone else! Welcome to 411’s WWE Money in the Bank preview! I’m Jeremy Thomas and WWE heads across the pond this weekend, stopping in at London for our July PPV. Money in the Bank is always a fairly entertaining show and we have a pretty solid card booked, though most of the matches aren’t oo hard to predict. There’s plenty to get into, so let’s get right down to it!
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Gunther vs. Matt Riddle
First up we have Gunther’s latest defense of his Intercontinental Championship as he draws ever closer to Honky Tonk Man’s legendary record reign. The Imperium leader has been dominating to say the least; he currently stands at just under 80 days before he ties the record of 454 days. Meanwhile, Matt Riddle’s been doing fairly well since he returned to the ring in April; while he hasn’t exactly been on fire, he’s been able to plug into Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens’ rivalries pretty well. He makes a solid opponent for Gunther; I expect nothing less than a fully entertaining, well-worked match between them. Really though, there’s not much question who’s going to win this one. Despite the length of his title reign thus far, Gunther still has plenty of mileage to get out of the IC Title and there’s no reason to switch the championship at this point. Riddle should be able to look competitive and make people wonder if he’s going to defy the odds before he eventually takes the fall, handing Gunther another title defense.
WINNER: Gunther (STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion)
Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio
Cody Rhodes has been on a reprieve from his rivalry with Brock Lesnar, likely until SummerSlam. Having one 1 – 1 against The Beast, he’s now in the midst of a feud with none other than Dominik Mysterio, one of the bigger heat magnets in WWE over the past several months. While I didn’t particularly expect to see the Mysterio and Rhodes scions do battle at this point in their runs, it’s proven to be a good choice in terms of getting the crowd engaged and I don’t mind Dom Dom as a stopgap while Cody waits for Brock to make his return. Again, there isn’t much question as to the result here though — or there wasn’t, until it was reported that Cody vs. Dominik will main event the PPV, which turns the whole thing on its head. Never has it been more clear that Brock Lesnar is coming down to get involved either during the match or after it. Does this allow Brock to cost Cody and give Dominik the win? Or does Brock come down after the match and lay out Cody? Either way, that’s obviously building toward their SummerSlam match. I could see WWE using this opportunity to give Dominik the tainted win so he can have something more to heel up and brag about, but I’m still vaguely leaning into a Cody win.
WINNER: Cody Rhodes
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match
Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler vs. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
Here’s another one where the result is clear. No shade toward Liv Morgan or Raquel Rodriguez, who are two of my favorite women on the main roster, but they’re here to be the plucky babyfaces who fall to the dominant heel champions. Rousey and Baszler are adding some momentum that the women’s tag team division has vastly needed, and Rousey works much better in this tag team than she has in a singles situation since her return to the company. The storyline here makes a lot of sense; Raquel and Liv never lost the titles as a team since Morgan suffered an injury which led to Rousey and Baszler winning a Fatal Four-Way for the vacant titles. Since then, they’ve unified the titles with the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships, a move I didn’t love but one that makes sense with the NXT women being more focused on singles work right now. While I would love to see Liv and Raquel get another run with the titles at some point, now is not that time as the champions are still a bit early in their reign and are doing some solid work to return some credibility to the titles, something that they haven’t really had since the Sasha Banks & Naomi situation. The match should be fun, but in the end we know who is winning this.
WINNER: Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler (WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions)
Bloodline Civil War
Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs. The Usos
Here we have the match on the card that really could go either way. The latest stage in the Bloodline storyline has been as compelling as the rest of it, with Jimmy and Jey Uso delivering some top notch work as they broke away from Roman Reigns and company with authority. (Side note: I miss that virtual card game.) That has led into this match, where Roman and Solo Sikoa are coming for revenge and The Usos would like to get a little comeuppance for their former Tribal Chief. It’s truly impressive how well the storyline has carried on; it remains the hottest angle in WWE almost three years in, and my metaphorical hat is off to all involved.
There are two ways this could go. On one hand, having just lost his cousins out of the group, a solid argument could be made that Reigns should get the win here to give him some of his heat back against The Usos and keep them on an even keel against each other. On the other, The Usos have yet to pick up a big win in the ring against The Bloodline and it becomes interesting to see what happens with Reigns and Solo should they lose this match. I think there’s more value right now in seeing Reigns slowly get his layers of protection and ego stripped away, and it leads the way to a potential challenge to Reigns from either Jimmy or Jey (or both perhaps?) for SummerSlam. I could see WWE going with the Reigns/Solo win and I don’t think it would hurt the Usos too much at all, but I’m going to lean to the side of The Usos taking the win to deal another blow to their family members.
WINNER: The Usos
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
Seth Rollins vs. Finn Bálor
While Seth Rollins’ feud with Finn Balor does seem sort of like the traditional first establishing feud that new champions tend to get, WWE has done an excellent job of reminding us of the history between these two men dating back to Balor’s being stripped of his just-won inaugural Universal Championship due to an injury in the title match with Rollins. It’s allowed Balor to really throw some authenticity and emotion into this feud as he seeks to get revenge and earn what he believes is his. There’s no question that these two will deliver big-time in the ring, and they have every potential to deliver the match of the night. All that said, as much as I would love to see Balor get another run with a main event title it’s still too early in Rollins’ run to take the title off of him. Balor should put up a strong showing before he goes down, giving Rollins the win and his first PPV defense of the title.
WINNER: Seth “Freakin” Rollins (STILL WWE World Heavyweight Champion)
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Zelina Vega vs. Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark vs.
Bayley vs. IYO SKY vs. Trish Stratus
This year’s Money in the Bank matches are arguably the most exciting on paper in several years. That’s particularly true for the women’s match, where you have six individuals who can deliver in the ring and should be able to put on a really entertaining bout. Even Trish Stratus, who isn’t what she was during her regular in-ring career (nor should we expect her to be), can find ways to get creative here and be a big part of the action. The nature of Money in the Bank means that it’s always had the chance to deliver even if the competitors aren’t the most polished in the ring, and this one should deliver quite nicely.
As is often the case with MITB matches, there are some people who just aren’t going to win this. That includes Zelna Vega and Zoey Stark, both of whom I like but are not at the point of being viable possible champions right now. Stratus doesn’t need to add a title reign to her resume. That brings us down to Bayley, IYO SKY, and Becky Lynch. Lynch’s storyline with Trish and Zoey isn’t done, and it seems likely that she will be prevented from winning by her rivals. Between the two Damage CTRL members, Bayley doesn’t really need the briefcase for a title shot and the storyline is more compelling if IYO gets the briefcase, elevating her and furthering the eventual Damage CTRL split as Bayley’s jealousy comes into play.
WINNER: IYO SKY
Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Ricochet vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar
vs. Butch vs. Damian Priest vs. Logan Paul
We have a big monkeywrench in the men’s Money in the Bank match, and I mean that in a good way. We were cruising nicely along with our six competitors before Logan Paul influenced his way into the match, giving us a seven-man bout for the briefcase. It’s added an X-factor to the proceedings, as Paul seems like exactly the kind of person WWE would put the briefcase in the hands of. Paul would be able to heel it up and get a potential rematch against Seth Rollins for SummerSlam, giving WWE the marguee matchup that they would want in order to really promote their big summer show.
It doesn’t hurt Paul’s chances that most of the people in this match, though they will help make the bout exciting, are not likely winners. That includes Ricochet, Butch, Santos Escobar and Shinsuke Nakamura, none of whom seem to be guys that WWE is ready to put in a main event title spot. Outside of Paul, the best options are LA Knight and Damian Priest. Priest has been proving that he’s a potential main event player in recent months with great showings against Bad Bunny at Backlash and Rollins on the June 5th Raw. Meanwhile, Knight is a real (and deserved) rising star in the company with stellar mic skills and in-ring skills that dial into that “WWE style.” There are scenarios where I could see WWE going with any of these three guys to win it, but LA Knight seems like the most logical choice. His ascent has been an organic one, he makes a strong choice for the briefcase and both Paul and Priest are upper midcard on the verge of the main event as it is. The briefcase will help Knight more and hopefully, that’s where they go.
WINNER: LA Knight
And that’s all we have for WWE Money in the Bank! It’s not the most unpredictable card we’ve had in recent months but it should still be a fun time and the UK crowd could really help elevate some of the matches to boot. Thank you as always for reading and remember that we will have live coverage of the show courtesy of Ian Hamilton right here on 411mania.com. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go before the main event comes around and Brock comes out looking for someone to murder…hey Brock, you making a trip to London?
