Kevin’s Random Reviews: WWE Money in the Bank 2012

WWE Money in the Bank 2012
July 15th, 2012 | US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona | Attendance: 9,000

With completion of this review, I believe this will mark the first PPV that I finish in full. I’ve reviewed 2010, 2011 and 2013-2017. I don’t recall doing this with any other PPV in history that had more than five events. 2012 is a year I fondly remember, being a big fan of things like CM Punk’s title reign, Daniel Bryan’s push towards the main event, Brock Lesnar’s return, the eventual debut of the Shield and AJ Lee becoming a focal point. Three of those are the focus of the WWE Title match here and I’ve honestly never seen this show from start to finish. This was the third Money in the Bank event.

Kickoff Match: WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs. Hunico and Camacho
I sought out the Kickoff Show for this event on YouTube. For some reason, this isn’t for the titles. Maybe the future Sin Cara and Tanga Roa weren’t worthy of it. Though I was never into the team of Kofi and Truth, they worked well together and showed off some nice tandem offense. Kofi took the expected heat segment for his team, which I preferred because he can bump and emote sympathy better than Truth. He came in hot and Kofi snuck in with Trouble in Paradise on Hunico. Camacho fell to a DDT to end things in 8:22. Inoffensive tag match. Decent effort from the teams and about what I expect from the Kickoff show. [**]

Onto the main show. The opening video package highlighted previous Money in the Bank cash-ins. At this point, the cash-ins still had a 100% success rate. Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Booker T were on commentary.

Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Christian vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow vs. Dolph Ziggler w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. Santino Marella vs. Sin Cara vs. Tensai vs. Tyson Kidd
I remember when Kidd qualified. I was excited. There was a good blend of MITB veterans and rookies. Being the token big guy in this, Tensai dominated early before getting overwhelmed by his opponents. Sin Cara and Dolph made a complete mess of a top rope Spanish Fly spot. Typical Sin Cara. Another flub came when Tensai tried powerbombing Santino off a ladder. Hilariously, he made up for it by simply dumping him outside. The two favorites were Cody and Dolph, but there were several teases of wins for guys like Christian and Tensai. Santino had a hot run that the crowd absolutely ate up. His 2012 was quite good. Cody stopped his momentum and shouted, “THAT’S MY BRIEFCASE!” Cody just always nailed his character work. As he got near winning, Vickie Guerrero climbed on the other side, distracting him enough for Dolph to deliver a huge Zig Zag. Kidd attempted to kill Dolph with a wild sunset flip bomb spot that they didn’t nail right. I won’t complain about it though, because the degree of difficulty was way high. Tensai wrecked Cara with a powerbomb on a ladder (a callback to last year) and then Dolph bumped wildly when thrown to the announce table. After a series of huge spots, including Christian spearing Rhodes off a ladder, we got the finish. Christian was close to winning, when Dolph shoved him off and took it down himself at 18:27. Very good, though a few botches hurt it. Some of the early stuff was kind of just there, but things picked up down the stretch, leading to a great finishing run. Towards the lower end of MITB matches. [***½]

Sheamus was interviewed and made a lot of car-related puns towards Alberto Del Rio.

Making his return after a two-month absence, The Miz came out and was greeted with “Miz is Awesome” chants. He was off filming a movie and said he’s tired of being overlooked. Miz somehow had the power to add himself to the main event Money in the Bank match. That got a great reaction.

World Heavyweight Championship: Sheamus [c] vs. Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez
Oh. It’s this match. It kept getting booked and not happening until now. Then, they ran it at three straight PPVs. Sheamus used his brute force to take it to the challenger. He came in with a bad left arm, which became Del Rio’s focus once he got an opening. That opening was caused by a Ricardo Rodriguez distraction. Del Rio’s arm work made sense, but was rather dull. Sheamus made his usual comeback, hitting the ten beats and Irish Curse Backbreaker. It always confuses me when commentary gets blown away that a non-finisher doesn’t end a match. They traded a few signature moves before Sheamus won via Brogue Kick in 14:22. Lifeless match. These two almost never clicked (they wouldn’t finally get it right until Night of Champions) and this had next to no heat. [**¼]

Ricardo hopped on Sheamus’ back after the match and Alberto jumped in to take the champion down. “Here to Show the World” hit as Mr. Money in the Bank came out to cash in. The pop was NOWHERE near what he’d get the following year. Del Rio tried stopping him, but took a shot with the briefcase. Before anything got going, Sheamus got up and Brogue Kicked Ziggler.

Earlier today, Daniel Bryan was interviewed about proposing to AJ Lee on Monday. He blamed CM Punk for being there and causing her to say no. Bryan said they were soulmates and sucked up to her.

The Prime Time Players w/ Abraham Washington vs. Primo and Epico w/ Rosa Mendes
Kofi Kingston and R-Truth joined commentary for this. Ah, this was the era when AW had a microphone while managing. Rosa was such a bad dancer, especially considering her role. This stemmed from AW turning on Primo and Epico to manage the PTP. Primo got worked over early, before his guys turned it around with aerial based offense. AW antics were great here, talking smack and even stopping to pick Darren Young’s afro. He said Rosa couldn’t dance and told Titus to show her how. “MACARENA ON HIS ASS!” Primo tried a springboard and was caught into a gut buster. Instead of instantly covering, Young left an opening for Primo to pull him into a rollup that ended this at 7:27. Basic match, made slightly better by AW being entertaining. [*¾]

After the match, AW and the PTP exchanged words with the Tag Team Champions. AW got a water bottle thrown in his face, so PTP held him back from fighting. Truth held Lil Jimmy back.

WWE Championship No Disqualifications Match: CM Punk [c] vs. Daniel Bryan
AJ Lee, who has been in a love triangle with both men, was the special referee. There’s an ironic moment in the build where Punk tells AJ he won’t marry her and of course, they went on to get married in real life. The opening exchanges were great, featuring loud chops, stiff strikes and brutal kicks. There’s more animosity to this than their Over the Limit classic. They brawled in the aisle and when they got back in, Bryan shoved Punk into AJ, knocking her off the apron. Booker instantly pointed out that it wouldn’t happen to an experienced ref, while Cole stupidly asked, “DO yOu tHInk puNK dId tHAt inTEntioALLy?” He’s such a moron. It led to AJ being helped to the back and Bryan taking control. Bryan’s need to shout “YES” for everything hurt him, when it helped Punk sense a kendo stick attack, which he evaded. It was temporary though, as Bryan wailed on him with it and shouted “YES” with each one. Punk rallied and we saw a great series of counters that reminded me of their last match. Punk responding with his own kendo stick shots got a great pop. AJ Lee returned following a superplex and skipped around the ring, before getting a chair. She left it in between the men, allowing them to fight for it. Bryan got it first, destroyed Punk with it and did more damage with a series of kicks. At different times, AJ stopped each guy from using weapons, never fully picking a side. Punk missed the big elbow, landing on a chair, so Bryan applied the Yes Lock, with added leverage from the kendo stick. Punk fought free and hit the GTS, but was too hurt to cover instantly. Punk set up a table inside and battled with Bryan on the top rope. The fight was won by Punk, who hit a super back suplex through the table, scoring the three count at 27:45. Excellent match. The Over the Limit one is better as a standalone, but I may slightly prefer this one as part of their larger story. It’s so different, with the addition of AJ and the violence being upped a notch. AJ played her role perfectly, without becoming too much of a distraction to the great stuff in the ring. A fantastic blend of great wrestling, intensity and storytelling, making the gimmicks work very well. [****½]

Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks vs. Ryback
Lots of “Goldberg” chants. Ryback was his usual self at the start, but a blind tag allowed Reks and Hawkins to put him in position to sell for the first time. They even picked up a few near falls, including one after a decent double front suplex. Ryback fought back with ease and won with Shell Shock on Reks in 4:22. Not the squash I expected as Ryback found himself in slight trouble. Still, nobody really cared. [*]

A Tout ad ran, which always makes me laugh. Somewhere, Daniel Bryan is proud.

Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, and Natalya vs. Kaitlyn, WWE Divas Champion Layla, and Tamina Snuka
Remember the days of filler Divas matches? Heel Eve towards the end of her WWE run was quite underrated. All six women were given a chance to get some offense in, but the crowd was dead for the second straight match. Layla got a mild tag, before things broke down and everyone got involved. They literally just pulled hair and had ECW era catfight style brawling. Layla beat Beth, who was on a dominant run earlier in the year, with a neckbreaker in 3:23. Nothing match. Inoffensive, but slightly more enjoyable than the handicap match. [*¼]

Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Big Show vs. Chris Jericho vs. John Cena vs. Kane vs. The Miz
This is one of those times that John Cena shouldn’t have closed a show over CM Punk. Though, this time it helped lead to Punk’s heel turn, so it’s all good. Lots of brawling without the use of ladders to start, until Jericho got one, only to run into Show. Show’s hot start was ended by Cena putting him through the announce table with the AA. Cena owned Show in this rivalry. Everyone chipped in to bury Show under ladders. With him gone, everyone went back to brawling. Miz and Jericho teamed to hit Kane with a suplex on a ladder, taking out the other big guy. Cena then took care of them with a TEN KNUCKLE SHUFFLE! Still, Jericho was next to come close to winning, but Show returned and cut him off. Awake from his nap, Show went back to dominating, but kept breaking every ladder he tried using. He found a special, massive ladder, almost as if it was made specifically for him. It was big enough for Show and Kane to fight atop it. Show/Kane sucked back in 1999 and did again in 2012. There was a very good spot that saw Jericho put Cena in a sleeper and, though he was fading, Cena powered up to still climb the ladder. He was knocked off, allowing Miz and Jericho to go at it. Show got rid of both and nearly won, but Cena scurried up the other side. Cena used the briefcase to batter Show, and pulled it down in the process, winning at 20:03. These guys put in the effort to work around the fact that they aren’t ideal candidates for this match type. A few spots were rehashed from prior MITBs, and though they made sense, it just never got as interesting or fun as other MITB matches. [***]

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Though a lot of the matches are filler, the show has a pretty good pace to it. The three tag matches and handicap match are easy skips. The Sheamus/Del Rio match was basically what you’d expect from them. Lackluster and dull. The two Money in the Bank matches were good, but not near the level of the top tier MITB matches. The easy highlight and reason to watch this is Punk/Bryan. That match ruled and was in the conversation for WWE MOTY in 2012.