WWE Money in the Bank results: Bayley cashes in on Charlotte to win SmackDown title
Money in the Bank has become one of the key WWE shows of the year, just outside the Big Four. This year’s event, set for Sunday at XL Center in Hartford, Conn., will be a significant one, likely pushing storylines – and starting new ones – with an eye toward the summer and beyond.
The drawing card for Money in the Bank is the ladder matches from which the event takes its name. For the third straight year, there will be two Money in the Bank matches – one featuring men, the other women. The winners will get to “cash in” on a title match of their choosing in the future.
Money in the Bank 2019 features 11 matches, including the kickoff show. In addition to the ladder matches, Seth Rollins will defend his WWE Universal title against A.J. Styles; Kofi Kingston puts the WWE Championship on the line against Kevin Owens; and Becky Lynch will play double duty, defending the WWE Raw women’s belt against Lacey Evans and the Smackdown title versus Charlotte Flair. Plus, The Miz and Shane McMahon continue their heated feud in a steel cage.
Marc Raimondi will recap all the action as it happens, Sean Coyle will provide ratings for every match and Andrew Feldman will be live at the venue providing additional coverage.
This story was updated in real time.
Lacey Evans hit Becky Lynch with the Man’s Right and Charlotte Flair finished the job to take Lynch’s SmackDown women’s title. After Evans and Flair attacked Lynch, Bayley ran out with the briefcase, cashed in and pinned Flair to win the championship.
Full recap to come.
The end came abruptly when Lynch reversed a rollup into the Dis-Arm-Her. The odd part was the referee didn’t make a count on the rollup despite Lynch’s shoulders appearing to be on the mat. It’s been a weird few weeks for Lynch and shoulders during a pinning combination after the Ronda Rousey finish at WrestleMania.
Evans was impressive in this match. Her attack on Lynch’s arm was psychologically-effective, but the conclusion was a bit clunky and abrupt. That took away from the overall product.
Storytelling: 0.25
In-ring execution: 0.50
Match psychology: 0.75
Timing: 0.25
Innovation: 0.25
— Sean Coyle
Anyway, Evans looked pretty solid in this match given this was her first singles match on a big show. She held her own and is a darn good athlete. Evans showed off a nice springboard elbow drop from the outside, an acid drop and a jumping crane kick. The story centered around Evans working Lynch’s arm and it worked.
Charlotte Flair came out afterward and Lynch’s second title defense began.
With high profile names like Buddy Murphy and Cedric Alexander transitioning to the SmackDown Live and RAW rosters, respectively, the brand revolves around the talented Cruiserweight champion Tony Nese. With a number of potential challengers waiting in the wings, his first challenger, just like him, was another 205 Live original in Ariya Daivari, who made his way to the ring in style in a Mercedes Benz.
Unspectacular, but solid match out of Nese and Daivari. This wasn’t as exciting a match as we’re used to seeing from the 205 Live roster, but it worked.
Storytelling: 0.50
In-ring execution: 0.50
Match psychology: 0.75
Timing: 0.50
Innovation: 0.50
— Sean Coyle
Both Nese and Daivari impressed early with some athletic counters, but it was the challenger who secured an early advantage by injuring Nese’s right eye. From there, the pace lessened as Daivari attempted to slow down the dynamic Nese.
As expected, Nese’s vision improved a bit and he fought back by way of a spinning heel kick and a springboard moonsault. A few sequences later, Nese caught Daivari with a corkscrew moonsault to the outside of the ring and a 450 splash in what were two of the highlights of the match.
Daivari made it close, though. He caught Nese with a super kick, Persian splash and hammerlock lariat combination, but it wasn’t enough. Nese kicked out and connected with his running “Kneese” knee strike for the victory.
Who will be next for Nese? Mike Kanellis? Oney Lorcan? Humberto Carrillo? There are plenty of worthy contenders on the 205 Live roster.
Their WrestleMania falls count anywhere was a ton of fun and actually one of the highlights of the card. This one had its moments, but the confines of the cage actually limited its ability to shine.
McMahon and Miz worked hard in this match and it was very physical, but the match dragged on a bit too long and the finish left a lot to be desired.
Storytelling: 0.50
In-ring execution: 0.50
Match psychology: 0.50
Timing: 0.25
Innovation: 0.50
— Sean Coyle
The finish came when The Miz was attempting to hit a superplex on McMahon off the cage, not unlike the WrestleMania match finish from a platform, but this time McMahon slipped out – all the way out. He came out of his shirt and fell to the floor on the outside for the victory. The Miz was left on the top of the cage holding only Shane’s shirt.
McMahon took some hard bumps in this one as expected. The worst was probably when Miz basically ripped him off the top of the cage and McMahon dropped like a rock all the way to the mat. Miz landed a Skull Crushing Finale on a chair earlier in the match, but McMahon put his foot on the bottom rope, prompting the broadcast team to criticize the referee because this was a no-disqualification match.
The nature of the finish means this Miz vs. Shane program is likely to continue. These two are capable of fun stuff, but have to be put in the right spots. At least this one wasn’t too long. But the crowd was clearly getting restless.
Well, that was fast. This is the second straight big event with a Joe vs. Mysterio match and neither one of them has gone more than two minutes. The WrestleMania 35 match was just one-minute long. This is Mysterio’s first time winning the U.S. title.
Well, that was sudden. The match never had a chance to get going before Mysterio picked up a quick victory.
Storytelling: 0.00
In-ring execution: 0.25
Match psychology: 0.25
Timing: 0.00
Innovation: 0.00
— Sean Coyle
The finish here came pretty surprisingly when Mysterio countered a power bomb attempt with a huracanrana into a pin. Joe had already been busted up and bleeding from a Mysterio senton that landed on his face.
Afterward, as Mysterio was about to celebrate with his son Dominick, Joe came running back down the ramp to attack Mysterio. He proceeded to beat Mysterio down as Dominick looked on. The closing shot was Mysterio, covered in Joe’s blood, being held by Dominick. This program will almost surely continue – hopefully getting a legitimate match at some point down the line.
Your Ms. Money in the Bank is a hugger. Bayley shoved both Mandy Rose and an interfering Sonya Deville off the ladder, then secured the briefcase as the finish. She is guaranteed a “cash in” for either the Raw or Smackdown women’s title.
The match had its share of fun moments, Ember Moon’s eclipse off the ladder in particular. Each superstar had their chance to shine and they delivered.
Storytelling: 0.75
In-ring execution: 0.50
Match psychology: 0.75
Timing: 0.75
Innovation: 0.75
— Sean Coyle
The entire match was an adrenaline rush – spot after spot and the ladies nailed just about all of them. In the finish, Deville came out, put her tag team partner Rose on her shoulders and climbed the ladder that way, seemingly setting up Rose to snatch the briefcase. Bayley, though, climbed up the other side, got to the top and stared down the two women to a big pop. She shoved them off and then grabbed the contract.
Early in the match, Bayley seemed to get legitimately injured when a ladder fell with pretty fast velocity onto her right hip. It looked like Bayley was bleeding from a cut in that area, but she carried on and was a part of some other crazy spots, including getting caught in the middle of the ladder as Natalya and Rose repeatedly tried making a hugger sandwich.
Ember Moon might have stolen the entire match, nailing an Eclipse on Natalya from a huge ladder on the outside of the ring with Natalya inside the ring. Naomi also had a number of excellent spots here — she is also money in ladder matches.
Speaking of money, Carmella seemed to hurt her knee early in the match and she was taken out by officials. But she later returned with a wrapped knee, only to be greeted by Mandy Rose and then Deville running in.
Overall, the match was a ton of fun and this is a very interesting development for Bayley’s character following her and Sasha Banks’ loss of the WWE women’s tag titles at WrestleMania last month. Bayley has needed a refresher for some time and this could be it.
This should set up The Usos as the top contenders to Daniel Bryan & Rowan’s Smackdown tag team titles. So, presumably, The Usos will be spending time on SmackDown moving forward despite switching to Raw on the Superstar Shakeup.
The finish came after a Double Uce on Bryan. The Usos nailed Bryan with a double superkick on a suicide dive attempt, leading to the final spot just moments after The Usos took out out Rowan with a double suicide dive.
This was a solid match for what it was, simply a teaser for what will probably be a pretty solid tag program. Rowan did a lot of heavy lifting here, including a nice double superplex on both Usos, and looked perhaps the best he has since returning from injury.
Bryan & Rowan as a tag team was not something necessarily foreseen, but is a nice shot in the arm to a division that could use some freshness, especially on Smackdown. And no one is going to complain about The Usos being in the top title feud from an in-ring perspective. Now, maybe we can get some tag straps made of hemp.
Still to come:
Universal championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. AJ Styles
WWE championship: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Kevin Owens Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match: Ali vs. Andrade vs. Baron Corbin vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Finn Balor vs. Randy Orton vs. Ricochet vs. Sami Zayn
Roman Reigns vs. Elias