WWE Money in the Bank 2015 results: John Cena vs Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose ladder match
Photo: WWE.com
By Dave Meltzer, WrestlingObserver.com
Welcome to our live coverage of the WWE Money in the Bank show from the Columbus, OH, Nationwide Arena. We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, last night’s UFC 188 show, and tonight’s AAA Verano de Escandalo show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
R-TRUTH VS. KING BARRETT
R-Truth got the pin in a short match with a crucifix after ducking the bull hammer. Truth was running around wearing the crown, claiming he was the new king. Barrett confronted him, and R-Truth threw the crown to him and ran away. Mostly R-Truth doing the naive child routine.
They did a video of Dusty Rhodes, closing with a fairly recent clip of Rhodes telling everyone “Happy trails to you.” It was a really nice piece. Renee Young was emotionally broken up in pitching to Tom Phillips after the piece aired.
They opened the PPV with a ten bell salute to Rhodes with everyone on the roster, including Vince McMahon in the front, clapping to his WWE entrance music playing.
MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: RANDY ORTON, ROMAN REIGNS, SHEAMUS, NEVILLE, KOFI KINGSTON, KANE, DOLPH ZIGGLER
Sheamus won the match when everyone was laid out but he and Neville. Both were at the top of the ladder but Sheamus pulled Neville’s hair and it caused him to fall off the ladder. Right before that, Reigns had the match won when Bray Wyatt showed up, pulled him down, and gave him Sister Abigail which laid him out. The crowd mostly booed Reigns, although it was mixed. When Wyatt interfered, thwarting Reigns, there was a big babyface pop at firs but later Wyatt was booed. It was a good match, but much safer than years past which is good. But, it was also far less dramatic than in the past. There were a lot of spots where different people got to shine including one when Orton RKO’d almost everyone. The New Day came out to help Kofi Kingston.
Paige said she was trying to initiate change in the Divas division after seven years. She talked about changing the world again. She’s the babyface because she said she was going to win the match for Dusty.
NIKKI BELLA VS. PAIGE FOR DIVAS TITLE
Paige lost in the match dedicated to Dusty Rhodes. Match was longer, not much crowd reaction, wrestling was okay. The Bellas did their switch, but Paige reversed the small package into one of her own. After Brie was pinned and the bell rang, Nikki pulled out all the tissue paper that she stuffed her bra with and showed her tattoo that she was Brie. The ref saw that, restarted the match, and Nikki used the rack attack for the pin. Yes, the idea Nikki won — even after the ref saw the switch — makes no sense.
The Miz did an interview. He said he was from Ohio but that the only people who count live in New York or Los Angeles so he left. Miz is looking for an IC title match.
RYBACK VS. BIG SHOW FOR THE IC TITLE
Well, this was terrible. Show knocked out Ryback, who fell out of the ring. Show threw Ryback in the ring. Miz, who was doing commentary, attacked Show and the ref ruled it a no contest. Highlight was Ryback doing a suplex on Show and Show doing a spear on Ryback after Ryback had thrown Miz over the announcers table. So, we’re going for a three-way program.
U.S. Champion JOHN CENA VS. NXT Champion KEVIN OWENS
Super match that was as good if not better than the one two weeks ago. Crowd was electric from the start. The story of the match was Cena did everything in the world to Owens but he kept kicking out, including the Attitude Adjustment twice as well as an Infrared. Cena also kicked out of the pop up power bomb. The finish saw Cena hit the stunner and a third Attitude adjustment and got the pin. After the match, Cena said that Owens belongs here, he’s a real champion, he raised his hand and shook his hand.
Owens then attacked Cena and gave him a power bomb onto the apron and then left with both the U.S. and NXT belts and laughed at him. The crowd seemed about 90 percent for Owens. The crowd cheered like crazy for the post-match attack but there were some people booing as Owens did the ‘you can’t see me’ and started laughing. If Owens was going to lose, the post-match made it not hurt Owens. Cena was helped to the back, limping.
Dean Ambrose cut a promo. He called Seth Rollins an errand boy, which is what Dusty Rhodes used to call Great Kabuki.
BIG E & XAVIER WOODS VS. PRIME TIME PLAYERS FOR TAG TITLES
Short match ending when Titus O’Neil got the hot tag and pinned Woods clean with the Clash of the Titus to win the title. Not much to the match. They were put in a tough spot after the last match and people didn’t really react to most of the match.
They just announed Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt at Battleground.
Kane said to Rollins that he can’t wait for him to lose. Stephanie told him if he loses, they’ll be upset but they’ll have no one to believe but him. HHH told Rollins to show them why I chose you. He did the big motivational speech.
SETH ROLLINS VS. DEAN AMBROSE IN A LADDER MATCH FOR WWE TITLE
Rollins retained the title when both were at the top of the ladder and pulled down the belt. Both fell off the ladder with each holding it but Rollins recovered the fumble and held the belt for the win. There was no outside interference and the show ended with HHH & Rollins celebrating. They went more than 35 minutes, with much of the match with Rollins taking out Ambrose’s knee with chair shots, ladder shots, putting the leg in the ladder and stomping the ladder or smashing it with a chair.
Later, Rollins powerbombed Ambrose into the barricade twice and then a third time outside the ring onto the ladder. He looked like he was going to win and climbed up, but Ambrose got up one last time and they both fought over the belt at the top. They didn’t do the crazy ladder bumps you expect from a ladder match, and more Rollins working a body part. At times, the crowd was into it and the work was very good, but it took a long time for them to get the crowd and it wasn’t super heated until the latter stages. Still real good.