Sports
WWE Money in the Bank 2020 Results: Reviewing Top Highlights and Low Points
0 of 8Credit: WWE.comWWE Money in the Bank was advertised with the tagline “the risk is worth the reward.”Putting the titular ladder matches on the roof of WWE Headquarters and having both play out at the same time was certainly risky. Now that the event has passed, what were the rewards?Which standout segments were the best…
0 of 8
- Jeff Hardy defeated Cesaro by pinfall.
- Fatal 4-Way Match: The New Day defeated The Forgotten Sons, Lucha House Party, and John Morrison and The Miz by pinfall to retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
- Bobby Lashley defeated R-Truth by pinfall.
- Bayley defeated Tamina by pinfall to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship.
- Braun Strowman defeated Bray Wyatt by pinfall to retain the Universal Championship.
- Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins by pinfall to retain the WWE Championship.
- Asuka won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match.
- Otis won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match.
Credit: WWE.com
WWE Money in the Bank was advertised with the tagline “the risk is worth the reward.”
Putting the titular ladder matches on the roof of WWE Headquarters and having both play out at the same time was certainly risky. Now that the event has passed, what were the rewards?
Which standout segments were the best and worst of the pay-per-view?
Who walked away with the titles and briefcases, and were they the right calls?
Presented in order of appearance, here are the highlights and low points from WWE Money in the Bank 2020.
1 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
WWE Money in the Bank 2020 Results
2 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
The kickoff match between Cesaro and Jeff Hardy was a simplistic exhibition match with only one goal in mind: to get The Charismatic Enigma in the ring and show him off with a victory.
Cesaro is a reliable worker, so he fulfilled his end of the bargain to give Hardy his lumps nice and safely. Once the veteran was able to fight back and get the win, everything was done.
There isn't much to dissect here because of how straightforward it was. Hardy has more momentum on his side going into his feud with Sheamus, and Cesaro got a pay-per-view bonus in his paycheck.
That's good enough for a pre-show match that had nothing on the line and no story to play off.
3 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
Sometimes, a winning formula is as simple as putting a bunch of talented people in the ring together, giving them about 15 minutes and telling them “go.”
The New Day is a pillar of the division, John Morrison and The Miz are criminally underrated villains, Lucha House Party have always been hungry to show how much they're overlooked, and The Forgotten Sons provided a fresh name to the scene.
This mix of teams worked well as each tandem played its parts to a T. Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik flew around the place, The Miz and Morrison were cowards who tried to capitalize on any cheap win they could, and The Forgotten Sons dished out a lot of punishment.
But the synergy between Kofi Kingston and Big E was as great as it's ever been, which proved once more why they keep the belts around their waists.
This was a rock-solid contest with everyone playing their part to make it work.
4 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
There wasn't a lot to this segment, as it was a rather quick squash. But it had some good moments.
For seemingly no reason, Montel Vontavious Porter was scheduled to face R-Truth heading into the show. Had that match happened, it might have been worthless.
Instead, after Truth played up to a crowd that wasn't there, asking them to make some noise, he tried to teach MVP some “ballin'” tips.
Bobby Lashley came out to replace Porter and promptly wrecked Truth before scoring a pin.
The downside to this was that it was more of a Raw match than something worthy of a pay-per-view, but it did bring some levity to the show and gave Lashley another victory.
The more Lashley looks dominant, the better his spot on the card will be and the more likely he'll be a credible challenger for Drew McIntyre down the line. At the very least, this helped further push that along.
5 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
As expected, this match had as little value coming out of it as it did going into the event.
Tamina has been in WWE for 10 years and never been much of a threat to any champion. It was obvious Bayley would retain the SmackDown Women's Championship, so the only saving grace would have been a twist or a surprisingly good in-ring show.
Sadly, neither of those things happened.
The match itself was laborious and bland, with the ending as generic as they come and some sloppy maneuvers from start to finish.
It did nothing to further push the storyline of Bayley's impending split with Sasha Banks beyond what has already been established over the past two years, nor did it add credibility to her reign or boost Tamina's stock.
All this did was waste time and drag out Bayley's year-long run a little longer. Since her reign has been less than thrilling, that is far from a positive.
6 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
Anyone who wanted this to be another Firefly Fun House match or something else more stylized was disappointed that it was just a regular bout.
It seemed WWE wanted to have a bit of a compromise between the two, with the Firefly Fun House puppets making an appearance, but that came off more awkward than endearing.
That's not to say this was awful, though. It was a mix of good and bad.
By having Bray Wyatt wrestle this first match as himself and lose, it allows room for this feud to grow. The Fiend should be the next step, and that would be much more brutal.
It was good to see the black sheep mask Braun Strowman wore during his time with The Wyatt Family make its return and for The Monster Among Men to cast it aside and stomp on it.
Rejecting his former persona and beating Wyatt signifies the champion is his own man and a force to be reckoned with.
Hopefully, the next time these two clash will be more physical and less cerebral, or WWE figures out a way to film it in a more dynamic fashion.
7 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins proved here they can have a great match together. It's just a shame there wasn't a crowd in attendance to make this feel as good as it was.
The deafening silence took away from the action, which was hard-hitting and well-balanced. It was one of the better in-ring contests of the night.
Rollins wasn't a pushover—he shouldn't be, since he's a multi-time world champion—but it was clear McIntyre was the more powerful of the two. Both came out of this looking strong.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this match was how Rollins obliged shaking McIntyre's hand afterward, rather than brushing it off as most heels would.
Is that a tease of a change of heart for The Monday Night Messiah, or just a nice little character moment?
In any fashion, it will be interesting to see where WWE goes from here.
8 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
The cinematic matches from WrestleMania 36 were well-received, so the men's and women's Money in the Bank ladder matches pumped up the volume to the max.
The unfortunate thing about that is how divisive it can be.
For fans of the Boneyard and Firefly Fun House matches, this was the most amazingly ridiculous thing WWE has produced; on the other side, if that's not your thing, this was so horrendously bad that it makes sense if you shut it off.
This had a food fight and a background score that sounded like rejected tunes from a 1990s video game start screen. It was filmed like a hybrid of a GEICO commercial and a Benny Hill skit.
Some jokes landed, such as AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan carefully putting back Vince McMahon's chairs after being intimidated by his presence. Others were painfully awful, like Stephanie McMahon telling Dana Brooke to wipe up Nia Jax's drooling mess.
More time was spent focusing on the worst Doink the Clown ever than on Aleister Black being thrown off the roof. What even was this match?
Otis and Asuka winning were certainly surprises. It will be interesting to see if anything comes from their runs with the briefcases, or if this was all just a big joke.
Did you laugh at it or with it? Or did you just facepalm and wait until it was over?
Make sure to tell us your thoughts on this match and everything else in the comments below.
Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
Subscribe to Centenunlimited news
We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe
