Csonka’s WWE MITB 2020 Preview

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview the WWE MITB 2020 event, which airs tonight & tomorrow on the award winning WWE Network. The show will feature WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins, Universal Champion Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt, ~the most unique Money in the Bank matches ever~, and more. So today I will breakdown and preview the event. Feel free to make your picks in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

WWE Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits vs. The Viking Raiders: At the time I submitted this preview, this match wasn’t officially announced, but they did mention it on WWE Main Event, so I’ll discuss it here just in case. These teams have history going back to NXT with the story being that the Vikings have always had the advantage even winning on this past week’s Raw in a non-title match. So we have history, a fine story and these two actually have some good chemistry, so it has potential. It could be good and one of the better matches on the show, and I think the Profits retain and finally get that win over the team that has haunted them in their WWE run so far. WINNER: The Street Profits

MVP vs. R-Truth: Well, this is certainly a match that will happen. I like Truth a lot, and it appears that the MVP retirement was short-lived as he’s remaining a big part of WWE with the VIP lounge, Main Event commentary, seemingly managing Vink & Thorne, and now wrestling on this pre-show. It feels like WWE is enjoying having MVP back, and that makes me think he picks up the win here as Truth is Truth, and will always be over, although I guess that doesn’t really matter without a crowd. WINNER: MVP

Jeff Hardy vs. Cesaro:I do like that they aren’t rushing to Jeff vs. Sheamus, they have some build but it really would have felt rushed overall. Plus Jeff has to knock off the rust and who better to pair him with in his return than Cesaro, who is awesome and can work with anyone. If Jeff is game and healthy, which he reportedly is, I can see this being good, and since it’s his return, he should win clean here. WINNER: Jeff Hardy

Men’s MITB Match: Aleister Black vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Otis vs. King Corbin vs. AJ Styles: These will be something different for sure, the MITB matches will run simultaneously, as they battle through WWE HQ to the roof in order to win. It’s different, I’ll give them that, but it also feels like it could be a complete mess. Lets hope for the best. Outside of Corbin, I think that the potential men’s MITB winner could be really interesting. You could, if they want of course, do some really interesting character work with Black holding MITB. Bryan would be the former champion looking for another road to a world title that he previously traveled, while Rey is seeking to add another accolade to a legendary career and road to a world title. I love Otis, but just don’t see him winning, and then there’s Styles. Styles is a former world champion, coming off the loss to Taker, a strong heel but now alone without the Good Brothers, and looking to move on. A Styles win, which I think is what happens here, like Rey, adds another accolade to a decorated career, gets him back into the world title scene and also rehabs him instantly. I think out of the field, Styles comes off as the most interesting to me right now, even if I’d love Bryan to win it again. WINNER: AJ Styles

Women’s MITB Match: Asuka vs. Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Carmella vs. Dana Brooke vs. Lacey Evans: Again, these will be something different for sure, the MITB matches will run simultaneously, as they battle through WWE HQ to the roof in order to win. It’s different, I’ll give them that, but it also feels like it could be a complete mess. Lets hope for the best. I think that Nia & Shayna are the favorites here, as they have history with Becky and the others feel more like filler since Bayley vs. Sasha feels like the end game for Smackdown. I unfortunately think that they continue on with the monster Nia push, because they think she’s good, for reasons (those being the Rock). WINNER: Nia Jax

Smackdown Tag Team Champions the New Day vs. Miz & Morrison vs. Lucha House Party vs. Forgotten Sons: I got some criticism for not being a big fan of the booking of the Smackdown tag team division, but excuse me for not being a fan of WWE’s lazy tag team division booking. The division revolves around three teams, they pretend to care a couple times a year (remember Elimination Chamber) and only care now because we have an injured Uso, and lost one of the three teams that they actually care about. It’s quite honestly a mess; the Luchas are fun, Miz & Morrison are fun, Forgotten Sons are fine, New Day is good and usually step up on PPV. The match certainly has a chance to be good, but I think we’re in for a summer of uncertainty with the tag division, and that in terms of them trying to create interest, they will likely end up doing a bunch of title changes to create that interest without really telling any interesting stories until Jimmy & Woods eventually come back. Judging by the Smackdown eight-ma, this one has potential to be a blast if they can recreate that magic. WINNERS: Forgotten Sons

Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Tamina: there are people that will tell you that Tamina is a good wrestler and that her tenure in the company makes her worthy of this title match and a potential title run. Those people are fools, they aren’t your friends, and they should not only feel bad, but you should practice life distancing from those people. To say that this match will be a challenge is an understatement. Bayley’s title run, in the ring hasn’t been exactly lighting the world on fire, and even in quarantine, I don’t have the time, will, or desire to dig into Tamina’s portfolio of matches to find the last time she had something I would call a good, professional wrestling match as a singles performer. She’s the challenge of the month, Lacey & Sasha are the ones they are really focused on and they don’t want them losing again in a singles match on PPV. There’s no reason for Bayley to lose here, because the end game is Sasha, and the only thing that could make empty arena WWE TV more of a chore is Tamina as a champion. I’ll hope for the best, but I don’t see this being good at all. WINNER: Bayley

Universal Champion Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt: In terms of a story, going to Braun vs. Bray isn’t a horrible plan; they have history from the Wyatt family and Bray never got a shot at the title when he lost it to Goldberg. So the story is sound, but for me, were it really is going to lack is once the bell rings. Braun is a very one note performer, he roars, runs things over, runs into a post so his opponent can get the heat on and that’s about it. Bray’s run since the birth of the Fiend hasn’t been much to write home about; a lot of bad, some good with Daniel Bryan, but Braun is no Daniel Bryan. This is another “hope for the best” one for me, as in the ring I don’t see a lot of good happening. With it being billed s Braun facing “Bray,” if it stays that way, Braun retains. WINNER: Braun Strowman

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins: Now we come to what should be the main event on the show, and while Seth isn’t the perfect opponent due to coming off of the Mania loss. But in terms of who’s available, and the fact that he’s the top Raw heel and that Seth can deliver, it works well for Drew’s first defense. There’s also the connection that they both beat Brock at Mania, so there’s a lotto overcome Seth coming of the loss to get the shot. I like Drew a lot, and I think Seth delivers more often than not, so this one has a chance to deliver and I feel will be the best thing on the show in terms of in ring action. I just hope they don’t over think it or get too cute with the match and or finish, because I think they can give us a good match. I see no reason to take the title off of Drew so soon, he should retain. WINNER: Drew McIntyre

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 113. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Steve Cook discuss the news of the week, breakdown this week’s AEW vs. NXT (5.06.20), and then preview WWE MITB 2020. The show is approximately 131-minutes long.

* Intro
* News Roundup: 2:10
* AEW Dynamite (5.06.20) Review: 38:05
* NXT (5.06.20) Review: 1:08:00
* The Head to Head Comparison: 1:32:55
* WWE MITB 2020 Preview: 1:37:20

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.