Here are my predictions for tonights WWE ppv - Money in the Bank
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
Very surprised this isn't a 10-man match that would have included Bobby
Lashley, possibly Cesaro, maybe even Robert Roode or Cedric Alexander,
Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, etc. I'm also surprised that they switched
Braun Strowman with Sami Zayn, but that at least seems like it'll help
push a feud forward, so that's a good thing. I expect Strowman to get
involved in some fashion to cost Zayn the match, by the way, and my top
picks are still deadlocked in there as Andrade and Drew McIntyre.
PREDICTION: I wouldn't be shocked if Andrade won, but I'm going with Drew McIntyre
Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Bayley vs. Carmella vs.
Dana Brooke vs. Ember Moon vs. Mandy Rose vs. Naomi vs. Natalya vs.
Nikki Cross
Very surprised Ruby Riott and Sasha Banks weren't in this match (but not
surprised about the Banks backstage issues). Alexa Bliss was taken out
of the equation after originally being scheduled for the match. It's not
too surprising to me that Zelina Vega, Liv Morgan, The Kabuki Warriors,
Mickie James and Sarah Logan aren't involved, but Sonya Deville was a
surprise (unless she's helping or costing Mandy Rose the match).
With that being said, I think this match boils down to Mandy Rose or
Bayley. Those are the only two that stand out as possibilities, and I
think even more so that it's only a Bayley show. She can cash in on
Charlotte Flair (if she wins the title) and stay a babyface, or she can
cash in on Becky Lynch and win the title in a heel turn and finally
refresh her character.
PREDICTION: Bayley wins and the only way she doesn't is if Sasha Banks somehow enters the match.
Raw Women's Championship Match: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lacey Evans
Lacey Evans did nothing but wait, and somehow, WWE felt like that was a
good enough build for her to go straight into a title match. Flawed
logic, and I hope it doesn't backfire, because Lacey has a lot of
potential and this could kill her momentum before she ever has a chance.
I think this is a no-win situation. If Becky wins, Lacey hit a
roadblock from day one. If Lacey wins, people will view her as a Roman
Reigns type being pushed down their throats. If there's a non-finish,
that will seem like an underwhelming stall.
PREDICTION: Becky Lynch retains the title.
Universal Championship Match: Seth Rollins (c) vs. AJ Styles
I thought they would go with Baron Corbin here, so I'm pretty surprised.
However, this isn't too wild of an idea. Having Rollins vs. Styles in a
face/face feud is easier to pull off when you have something like the
Money in the Bank ladder matches as another selling point, because you
don't have to build the next few weeks around some bitter feud between
the two, and most of the selling points will just be people interested
in seeing Rollins and Styles lock up for the first time.
PREDICTION: Seth Rollins retains the title.
WWE Championship Match: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Kevin Owens
There goes that face turn. I knew they'd reneg on that. That's
disappointing. I was hoping to see Owens against some other people like
Randy Orton.
PREDICTION: Kofi Kingston retains the title.
Elias vs. Roman Reigns
Didn't they do a random singles match last year at Money in the Bank
with Roman Reigns just to keep him out of the ladder match? Wasn't that
Jinder Mahal's purpose? Why are we redoing that? Oh well, at least it
means that will free up one more spot for someone else on SmackDown to
get into the MITB match.
PREDICTION: Roman Reigns wins.
SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
They have had good to great matches, but yeah, I've seen this enough
times that I have nothing to say about it. Part of me really thinks
Flair can win this and another part of me thinks Becky will just barely
retain, only to be cashed in on and lose the title to someone else.
PREDICTION: 51% leaning toward Becky Lynch retaining the title. I
wouldn't be shocked at all if Flair win the title, or if Bayley cashed in, though.
Steel Cage Match: The Miz vs. Shane McMahon
I wonder why they're doing both a cage match and two ladder matches on
the same event. That seems strange. You'd think maybe they'd do the
steel cage match at the Saudi Arabia show or something instead, right?
PREDICTION: The Miz wins, unless someone interferes to attack him and start a new feud.
United States Championship Match: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio
It seemed at first like this would be Braun Strowman, but they went
ahead and changed that up to being a rematch from WrestleMania. My guess
is they'll do here what they originally planned on doing back at Mania,
which is why Dominic is still factoring into things. Either he does
something to help Mysterio win, or he is the reason why Rey loses.
PREDICTION: Samoa Joe will retain with the help of Dominic.
Cruiserweight Championship Match: Tony Nese (c) vs. Ariya Daivari
This made sense as the first feud for Tony Nese to brush aside.
Drew Gulak will be busy with Humberto Carrillo and Gentleman Jack
Gallagher for a little bit. Oney Lorcan might start a feud with someone
else. Akira Tozawa and The Brian Kendrick are still babyfaces. Mike
Kanellis is after Daivari, I think, who was touted as being "undefeated
for a while" so he seems like the first person to be fed to Nese in
order to help establish him as champion, even though I don't think it's
going to move the needle.
Then, after we've gone from Daivari to Kanellis, we'll go to Gulak and Nese will drop the belt to him.
PREDICTION: Tony Nese retains the title.
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan (c) vs. The Usos
You shouldn't have to continually bring a Raw tag team over to SmackDown
just to have challengers for Daniel Bryan and Rowan. With that being in
mind, there's no way The Usos can win this match if the titles are on
the line, but it seems as though WWE is making this a non-title match.
In that scenario, The Usos can win, and that might be exactly why they
are making this with the belts not up for grabs.
PREDICTION: Daniel Bryan and Rowan retain the titles if they're on the line, but if it's a non-title match, The Usos win.
pics (c) by WWE
