WWE Money In The Bank 2024: Results, Reactions & John Cena

It was not on the program for fans walking into the Scotiabank Arena, and fans watching behind the paywall could have never guessed this segment was on the docket no matter how big the ‘Card Subject to Change’ font is in the fine print. John Cena said the 2025 Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, and WrestleMania will be his final events, specifically calling next year’s WrestleMania his ‘final WrestleMania.’

In wrestling, farewells are never that, but doing it this way maximizes interest and revenue for a legendary career that does not work in the same way that leagues like MLB and NBA operate. Those leagues can take advantage of a legend’s ‘final season’ by hitting every town on a predetermined schedule, but the WWE must consider storyline when dictating opponents. While cynics may point out the money grab of it all, the truth is there is no precedent, and the fans deserve to celebrate Cena’s career spread across the global WWE Universe ©. You must go big with Cena’s farewell because it can be argued that there has never been a bigger career to celebrate.

If you take that statement as an invitation to debate who was more over during what era, then you fail to understand that WWE and wrestling have never been as big as they are today. With all the good business pouring into WWE’s portfolio, how do you say goodbye to one of the main contributors and architects responsible for shaping the current brand? “The last time is now” tagline will look good on t-shirts sold with your local town’s name, but when you consider Cena’s laser focus and workhorse work ethic, you know that the real souvenirs will be the memories he leaves us with as he sells out night after night for one more ride.

Pressing The Issue

We hopefully can now, after years of attempts, finally see John Cena. See him for who he is and the impact he has left, and with the monumental news of his retirement tour, WWE made the right move by allowing Cena to kick off the post-presser. It was easy to see that Cena was uncharacteristically unsure, after all, in a career that has seen it all and won it all, John is once again in the unfamiliar territory of openly discussing his retirement from wrestling.

Cena was asked about who he wanted his last match to be against and whether his encounter with The Rock at Mania brought on any feelings of unfinished business, and he gave the kind of non-answer you’d expect (Spoilers? What is this, Marvel?). But there were plenty of answers in his tone, which suggested excitement for this next and final chapter.

Of course, Cena mentioned the importance of the WWE rollout on Netflix and how the timing of this decision was impacted by all the major moves on WWE’s horizon. WWE needs Cena and anyone else willing to help that transition, but it is important for WWE to honor this character in a way that reflects his connection with the audience. Cena admitted that his final run would be the most authentic in response to the timeless question about him turning heel. He was willing to talk about anything and everything and “hijacked” the presser, not that anyone was complaining because this news called for it. There are clearly plans set, but John was never going to give us anything before its time, yet he gave plenty of hints at what is in store for this final run with enthusiasm and transparency.

Men’s Money in the Bank Match

Jey Uso vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Andrade vs. Chad Gable vs. LA Knight vs. Drew McIntyre

The titular match kicked off the show, but the competitors wasted no time and took things from 0 to 100 real quick. Each participant vying for the briefcase carried with him a legitimate shot, but Jey Uso was the favorite heading into the match. However, LA Knight was the odds-on favorite last year and came up shot, but that only means he has more experience than last year. Still, the MITB qualifiers saw plenty of underdog winners, giving guys like Carmelo Hayes a fighting chance.

Gable catches Drew in the armbar from atop the ladder, but it is broken up when Andrade hits a leg drop on Gable to break up the submission. Gable caught a belly-to-belly suplex on the ladder to drop it on one of the competitors in the match. Gable then caught Carmelo with an ankle lock between the two ladders that held both men. Gable stole the show early, and the most memorable moves and sequences in a match meant to be a spot-fest belonged to him. Carmelo landed the First 48 and while he certainly stood out when given spots, he did not get highlighted as much as he could have been.

Unfortunately, this was not the Yeet man’s year, and instead, Drew McIntyre was given the Money in the Bank briefcase as a prop to further his feud with CM Punk (See WWE Heavyweight Title Match).

Women’s Money in the Bank Match

Iyo Sky vs. Chelsea Green vs. Lyra Valkyria vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Naomi vs. Zoey Stark

Unlike the men’s match, the star of the match walked away with the briefcase as Tiffany Stratton made sure the ladder was set to ‘Tiffy Time.’ Valkyria and Sky had great showings. Valkyria was exceptional in spots in her first MITB match. It was hard to pick a winner, and the field felt much more open than the men did, but Chelsea Green seemed out of the mix entirely, considering her storyline heading into the match was a “fear of heights” comedy angle. Still, Chelsea took some big bumps and was woman-handled by Stark playing the powerhouse, but the most important aspect was that they all meshed.

The spot of the night was Sky delivering a powerslam from one side of the ladder and onto Stark, standing on the opposite side and then onto a ladder wedged between the ropes. It would have remained the spot of the night if it weren’t for the final sequence as Chelsea was all alone at the top of the ladder as she faced her fears, but Stratton raced up the ladder set up beside the one Chelsea stood atop, and that is when Green was dumped onto the tables set up on the outside of the ring. The entire crowd popped, and the commentator’s visceral reaction was caught on camera.

Stratton was left standing with the briefcase, and she earned every bit of it, but so did every single participant in this match, especially Chelsea, for gaming out the bump of the night. There is no question Matt Cardona is one proud husband.

Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga) vs. Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Kevin Owens

WWE committed the cardinal sin in storytelling: show us, don’t tell us. Of course, it is important for fans to know Tonga is a founding member of ‘The Bullet Club,’ but how do you expect them to understand why that’s important when the company has tried its best for so long to pretend the rest of the wrestling world does not exist. They milked the Bloodline’s first physicality as a new collection in an official match, but after massive success in getting over the faction following the episode of SmackDown that saw them put Paul Heyman through a table and out of commission, they did nothing else of meaning with the faction outside of a random video promo on last night’s episode of SmackDown.

Without capitalizing, Cole was forced to explain why it is so crazy seeing Jacob Fatu and Tonga in WWE by reminding them of their heritage within wrestling lore. The match’s structure broke down at some point, and that is when the faces attempted to put Solo through the commentary table in a move that mirrored the Shield’s old schtick. That was broken up by Fatu as he showed off his speed and athleticism throughout the match. KO managed to use Fatu’s momentum against him and then landed a frog splash for good measure, but that is when Tonga Loa got involved. Loa broke up several moments of momentum from the faces, and the numbers game was too much.

Cody struggled to keep the match in hand, though he had Solo set up for the Cross Rhodes, Fatu once again used his athleticism to leap to the top turnbuckle and corkscrew flipped onto the champion. That allowed Solo to put Rhodes away for the 1-2-3, leaving fans with the final memory of Solo getting done what Reigns could not, and they both had all the help.

Damian Priest (c) vs. Seth Rollins—World Heavyweight Championship

It would normally be an unfortunate spot to follow a John Cena ‘retirement tour’ announcement, but Priest and Rollins were ready to put on a show in front of one of the hottest audiences this year. Priest maintained control for longer stretches early on, but Seth continued to find opportunistic spots to deliver his brand of quick-shot offense.

It is worth considering whether Rollins returned too early from injury to meet the Mania deadline, but his performance tonight suggests that he still may not be 100%. There were several sloppy spots, and Seth cannot get the full blame for any of them. After Damien Priest’s performance tonight, his head may not have been in the match, but you could see the instability in some of the moves that primarily required Seth’s legs. Then, just as Seth seemed to dig deep and hit another gear by landing his SuperPlex into the Falcon Arrow co-co-co combo, the match took a wrong turn. The sequence was clean, and Priest reversed the Falcon Arrow before Seth countered the counter.

Upon landing the move clean, Seth grabs the leg of Priest, and the ref counts 1, 2, and then he just stopped, inexplicably. You could see the confusion in Seth’s face and the guilt in Priest’s, but McIntyre’s music hit before it could even be figured out. Seth was clearly angry, and Priest was unsuccessfully masking his apologies, and then it was announced that McIntyre would be cashing in his recently won MITB briefcase. After a sequence or two, CM Punk came out to once again “cost McIntyre.”

Priest eventually picked up the win after Punk hit McIntyre with the heavyweight title. Despite winning, Priest was visibly upset, and Seth used what was likely real-life frustration into kayfabe heat with Punk. The ending was overbooked, but it did get over, and the hot crowd was forgiving enough to let the story play out.

Sami Zayn (c) vs. Bron Breakker—Intercontinental Championship

Many fans and pundits picked Breakker to dethrone Zayn’s IC title reign that began at WrestleMania after he himself dethroned the longest reigning IC champ in WWE history, Gunther. Zayn deserves the IC title, a championship traditionally recognized as the company’s ‘workhorse.’

Zayn played the underdog role to the upstart challenger Bron, who has been booked to be a monster since he was officially signed to a brand following the draft. Breakker showed physicality, athleticism, and ring awareness, but he was green enough for Zayn to take advantage where he could find them—usually in the form of a kick to the face.

Bron hit all the finishers in his very Goldberg-like move set, but Zayn kicked repeatedly and maintained the ‘survival’ theme that has embodied his career as a face. Zayn gives you the same kind of sense that Bret Hart and Daniel Bryan once did, and he utilizes that never-say-never attitude into a strategic gameplan.

Other Tidbits

• Xavier Woods shilled for the company’s latest 2K installment, but this one was cool. Using Woods’ popular UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN web show as the platform, Woods gave us stats concerning simulations between Priest-Rollins ahead of their WWE heavyweight title match. Woods said that when the computer simulated the match, results tilted in Priest’s favor, but in the online matches, Rollins won more and more often than in computer simulations. It was a cool segment,
• WWE announced the return of Bad Blood as a PLE for October in Atlanta. The announcement of the return of an event that debuted the Hell in a Cell match and Kane’s first appearance in a WWE/WWF ring was made with a promo video shot with Cody Rhodes and Metro Boomin. With ATL’s place in hip hop, you have to assume that WWE will attempt some sort of crossover segment and/or match, but the video said ‘to be continued,’ so plans will likely become clearer as the summer fades.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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