Hot on the heels of the WWE x AAA-branded Worlds Collide earlier in the day, 2025’s Money In The Bank drew an apparently sold-out house at Inglewood’s Intuit Dome in California. The show featured the usual two ladder matches as well as three others – one of which picked up a thread from the day’s earlier lucha libre proceedings.
Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match – Naomi def. Alexa Bliss, Giulia, Rhea Ripley, Roxanne Perez, and Stephanie Vaquer: With a loose old guard vs. new guard split, the women’s ladder match was a great showcase for every participant.
Everyone was a fairly plausible winner here which gave the chaos an urgency and excitement beyond just the high spots. But despite the marketing possibilities of a Ripley win here (“Mami In The Bank”), Naomi undoubtedly has the strongest character arc going on right now. Obvious choice, but good choice.
Stellar work all around but shoutout to Roxanne Perez who is already astonishingly accomplished in her timing in these multi-women matches – and shoutout to Alexa Bliss as well for really ramping up her brutality to hang with the new breed.
Men’s Intercontinental Championship – “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio (c) def. Octagón Jr.: In theory, this could have been a great last-minute addition to the card. Worlds Collide was a fascinating show with a red-hot crowd, and adding an AAA star to Money In The Bank seemed a good way to extend the synergy even further. In its execution, however, this match was functionally the opposite.
Octagón lost inside five minutes via generic interference from Liv Morgan getting on the apron. He got a few moves in but losing so easily makes him look like a dweeb – and by extension it suggests that AAA might be a dweeb promotion.
WWE’s insistence on “big leagueing” their collaborators in these contexts is more of an act of self sabotage than I think they realise. The partner inevitably looks goofy or less than, which I understand is the point, but WWE also comes out of it looking insecure. And unlike Joe Hendry’s short but fairly effective showcase with Randy Orton at WrestleMania, Octagón Jr losing like this on a regular PLE just doesn’t carry the same prestige or sense of “moment”, to use WWE’s favored parlance.
To make up for this, I humbly request that Mr. Iguana win King Of The Ring, please.
Women’s Intercontinental Championship – Becky Lynch def. Lyra Valkyria (c): Like their fantastic previous match, this installment was once again expertly paced and executed. It carried the same intensity, but added some freshness with some hard-hitting action outside the ring this time and a callback twist for the finish.
At Backlash, Valkyria managed to eek out the win with a rollup. This time Lynch managed to sneak a win in a parallel, but heel-inflected fashion: rollup with a big ol’ handful of tights. Poetic, intentional storytelling – love to see it.
And although Valkyria lost her title here, the finish positions the two as equals in the ring – much like the finish of their previous meeting did (and even the one before that). Valkyria’s beaten Lynch, but not decisively. And now Lynch has beaten Valkyria, but not decisively.
As at Backlash, this was probably the match of the night at Money In The Bank. And if Lynch and Valkyria are staying locked for the time being, following Valkyria’s post-match aggression, I have complete confidence that they’ll build on this with another A+ match presentation whenever the time comes. No notes.
Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match – Seth “Freakin” Rollins def. Andrade, El Grande Americano, LA Knight, Penta, and Solo Sikoa: Unlike the women’s match, there were really only a couple of likely winners here – Rollins and at a push, Solo. Like Naomi, Rollins was the favorite given his prominent new angle with Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker and “Big” Bronson Reed. Again, the obvious choice but a positive storyline development – Rollins needed to start making real moves and with his history, another run with the briefcase is an intriguing way to go.
Unlike the women’s match which was more of a showcase, this match worked in a few different story elements and allowed them to overlap, all in the midst of high spots galore. It worked pretty well with the unexpected highlight being Jacob Fatu finally flipping the script on Solo.
In truth I think Jacob’s turn might still be premature – especially as we now presumably miss out on the prospect of a trios match pitting Rollins & The Sunglasses Lads vs. Bloodline 3.0. But that’s by the by – and Fatu’s moment did play very well on the night. As a side note, Solo Sikoa has come a long way from being Roman Reigns’ silent enforcer to being a captivating Chelsea Green-level comic performer.
Shoutout to everyone else in the match for giving their bodies to it, but especially Andrade. Like Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin before him, Andrade’s been in a few of these with absolutely zero chance of actually winning – and every time he has delivered breath-taking athleticism and impact without hesitation. I truly, truly hope he gets a real angle to work sooner than later.
Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso def. John Cena & Logan Paul: Clocking in at 23 minutes and coming at the end of a night with two multi-person ladder matches, this match definitely dragged. Once the big spots and shenanigans kicked in though, it turned into a last-minute treat.
For former tag team champions Rhodes and Uso get -5 points for having almost no tag team moves that they do together.
Working with Cena has really benefited Logan Paul and the character beat of him struggling with taking instruction felt pitch perfect. And while the drone suplex spot was clever, the moonsault to the announce table was something very special.
The surprise of the night, and probably the night’s biggest pop, was the return of a previously-released R-Truth (or rather, Ron Killings). With the palpable emotion of his two return appearances so far and the total engagement he’s getting from live crowds, there is so much potential for a serious run here if WWE just tend to it and let it bloom.
Curtain Call: As ever, these gimmick match-mandatory PLEs can be tricky in terms of variety across the card. Nothing felt too repetitive on the night here, but neither ladder match totally forged its own path either. The obvious winners in Naomi and Rollins do move things forwards in their respective divisions though.
The non-ladder matches were very uneven. Valkyria / Lynch was excellent, but the headliner only just about worked out in the end after a bumpy first half. And Mysterio / Octagón was a waste – a more serious lucha libre showcase might have pulled the entire show together better overall.
At two months post WrestleMania, I think we’re in relatively good shape as far as storylines in the men’s division. We’ve got the briefcase in play and some of the big names are starting to cook (Rollins, Cena). But the same really can’t be said for the women’s division: neither Tiffany Stratton nor Iyo Sky has started a post-Mania program yet, which is wild.
At this point I reluctantly accept that the midcard and tag titles are effectively TV titles with the occasional PLE spot, but let’s get some balance going with the top-tier singles titles, please!
