The O2 arena was home to this year’s WWE Money in the Bank premium live event. The match card contained two Money in the Bank ladder matches, three championship matches, a singles match and one of the most cinematic tag team matches with long-term story booking dating back to 2013. There was also a surprise return by a past WWE Superstar that no one was expecting, with news of a high-profile event that London might host in the future. Let’s recap the 2023 Money in the Bank premium live event that was in London, the first premium live event in England in 20 years.
The night kicked off with the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. For context, the winner of this match can cash in their Money in the Bank briefcase for a championship match of their choosing, anytime and anyplace up to one year. The six-man ladder match consists of Damien Priest, LA Knight, Butch, Shinsuke Nakamura, Richochet, Santos Escobar and Logan Paul. Going into this match, the clear fan favorite to win this match was LA Knight as he is very liked among the crowd. Many fans and writers believe that LA Knight deserves a push due to his work on the mic and in the ring. WWE Officials were high on LA Knight to win, but ultimately decided that now isn’t the time. Logan Paul was a name that was frequently brought up by Vince McMahon to win the Money in the Bank briefcase to bring more fans of Paul’s to view the WWE’s content. But the plans were in place for a winner and the London crowd was ready for it. Towards the end of the match, LA Knight was about to unhook the money in the bank briefcase until Damien Priest gave him a finishing move from on top of the ladder. Priest then climbed on top of the ladder and retrieved the briefcase to become this year’s “Sr. Money in the Bank”.
The second match was for the WWE Women’s Tag Team championship. Champions Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler were set to defend their titles against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. It was a solid match overall but the main point of it was when Baszler attacked her tag team partner Ronda Rousey which resulted in Rodriguez and Morgan winning the WWE Womens Tag Team championship.
The third match featured the WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther defending his title against Matt Riddle. During this match, Riddle had tweaked his ankle after landing a german suplex. Gunther then capitalized with a half crab submission on the injured ankle which resulted in Riddle submitting. Gunther retained his Intercontinental Championship but was then confronted by a returning Drew McIntyre. McIntyre connected with a Claymore kick to Gunther and now has his sights set on the Intercontinental Championship.
The next match was the singles bout between Cody Rhodes and Dominik Mysterio. A great match overall with both superstars putting on a great quality match. Rhodes secured the victory with a pin fall victory over Mysterio.
When the WWE universe was settled after the Rhodes and Mysterio match, sixteen-time world champion John Cena made a surprise appearance in front of the London crowd. Cena received a huge pop from the crowd when he appeared in the middle of the ring. With Cena getting showered with cheers from the fans, Cena explained why he was at the event: to bring up the idea of bringing the Wrestlemania live event to London in the future. Grayson Waller then interrupted Cena and shot down the idea of London hosting Wrestlemania while bringing up the idea of his home country of Australia hosting Wrestlemania. Waller then insisted that John Cena be his guest on his show that he hosts inside the ring. Cena declined and then was struck by Waller. Cena then hit Waller with his finisher the “Attitude Adjustment” and then left the ring.
The fifth match of the night was the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match which featured Becky Lynch, WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus, Zoey Stark, Bayley, Iyo Sky and Zelina Vega. Towards the end of the match, Ivo Sky had handcuffed Becky Lynch and Bayley together and then proceed to retrieve the briefcase to be come “Ms. Money in the Bank”.
The sixth match of the night was the last championship match-up with Seth “Freakin” Rollins defending his World Heavyweight title against Finn Bálor. Rollins and Bálor had amazing spots which resulted in near fall after near fall. During the match, Men’s Money in the Bank winner Damien Priest made his way out to the ringside area teasing his cash in either during or after the match. Rollins would pick up the victory against Bálor retaining his World Heavyweight championship. Priest would not cash in his contract.
The main event featured the Bloodline Civil War, a tag-team match which had the Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) going up against their brother Solo Sikoa and their cousin the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. All involved in the match were part of the notorious tag-team stable known as the “Bloodline” with Roman Reigns being the “Tribal Chief”. Over the past couple of months, tension in the Bloodline were boiling over as Reigns was abusing his leadership powers onto his cousins the Usos. Jimmy and Jey were fed up with their treatment within the Bloodline and united to turn against Reigns. Questions were brought up as to who Solo would align with. Solo would then reveal to align himself with their cousin Roman Reigns. The Usos brought their high-volume offense to the match while Solo and Reigns brought their power. Ultimately, the Usos picked up the victory thanks to a frog splash by Jey to pin Roman Reigns for the three count. This marks the first time Reigns has been pinned since 2019, and coincidentally back in 2013, Jey was the first person to ever pin Roman Reigns in the WWE. Long-term storytelling at its best. With the Bloodline being imploded, we can only wait to see what’s in store for the Tribal Chief in the coming weeks on WWE television.
During the The Money in the Bank post-event press conference, WWE Chief Content Officer and Head of Creative Paul Levesque famously known as Triple H announced that the Money in the Bank premium live event was the highest-grossed arena event in WWE history. With the London crowd making their voices known during this event, the WWE can now have a legitimate reason to have a Wrestlemania in the city of London.
