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Add FightsATW on GoogleWWE Friday Night SmackDown was in Denver, Colorado, at Ball Arena, where the final qualifiers for next week’s ‘Money in the Bank’ PLE—six men and six women in each of the ladder matches meant to award the winner(s) a ‘cash-in contract.’ The men’s match is arguably the most story-driven qualifier of all the other triple threat matches, as Owens’ title aspirations tie into his beef with CM Punk. They all have beef with champion Sami Zayn, and yet, he was responsible for getting Johnny Gargano into the final triple threat match qualifier that includes Owens and Cody Rhodes.
In the current era, ‘go-home’ shows are really the week before, and after seeing Jaida Parker link up with 946 to close out this week’s episode of RAW, the potential for something surprising was high.
MONEY IN THE BANK QUALIFIERS
Men’s: Cody Rhodes VS Kevin Owens VS Johnny Gargano—Triple Threat Match
Cody Rhodes cut a promo before the match, all smiles as he ran down his opponents, claiming he wouldn’t underestimate Johnny Gargano before admitting his history with Kevin Owens. Cody gave a shout-out to his ‘Uncle Larry,’ who supposedly looks ‘exactly like Dusty’ aside from his long hair.
As the favorite, Rhodes controlled the biggest moments of the match until the third act. The match’s climax saw Randy Orton try to cost Cody, but Cody reversed course. Then, with Randy down on the outside, Cody made a move toward the ring to continue his MITB efforts before stopping and realizing he was getting his ‘second chance’ at Orton.
Cody told Michael Cole two weeks ago that he would kick Orton in the head at the next opportunity, so Cody lined up Randy to do just that before Gargano came flying out of the ring to stop him. In fact, one of the loudest pops of the night came moments after when Gargano hit Owens with the nearest of falls—the crowd was starting to believe that Johnny had a chance.
The action continued in the ring without Cody, and when K.O. hit Gargano with the power bomb, Cody was right there to break up the pin. Only, Orton was also there to hold Cody from breaking the pin, and the ref slammed his hand for the 3-count as well as ‘the book’ on Cody’s MITB opportunity.
Owens goes on to qualify for a MITB ladder match featuring a large percentage of WWE’s future, including Trick Williams, Penta, Je’Von Evans, and Bron Breakker, while CM Punk and Owens represent the veterans in the battle for the briefcase.
Women’s: Tiffany Stratton VS Candice LeRae VS Tatum Paxley—Triple Threat Match
Tiffany Stratton won the final women’s qualifier, but LeRae was a standout in the match. The women’s MITB has been hard to predict, as underdogs have routinely qualified, but the obvious favorite won this one. LaRae’s place in the match was part of the Sami storyline, and the perks of helping the WWE champion.
With Stratton qualifying, this year’s MITB briefcase winner will come down to either her, Sol Ruca, Lola Vice, Roxxane Perez, Lash Legend, or Jacy Jayne.
IN ZAYN IN THE MEMBRANE… INSANE IS THE ZAYN
WWE world titlist Sami Zayn exercised his right to a solo segment, a benefit afforded to the blue brand’s ‘big champ,’ and used that mic time to air grievances with a locker room that sees him as the lowest-hanging fruit. In boxing, the term is ‘cherry picking,’ and it describes the eagerness of top contenders trying to beat a belt holder they view as “easy work.”
Sami spoke the issue into reality as one by one, three of the 5 contenders made their way out to face off with Zayn, attempting to go into MITB with the momentum against Zayn. Je’Von Evans was first out to tease a crossover from RAW to SD, and the crowd loved the idea of him holding the briefcase even if he heads into next week’s MITB as a sizeable underdog. After Je’Von, Penta came out next, followed by Trick Williams, and they each received a bigger pop than the last.
This was a great segment to illustrate just how exciting the current class of qualifiers truly is (even before Cody qualified), but it felt a little premature. It would be nice if WWE used Mondays as a co-RAW/SD go-home show on fight week so that you could run the segment with both champions. The end was confusing as Finn Balor came out (with music) just as Sami was headed towards ‘Gorilla.’
The two exchanged words, and Finn ended up putting hands on Sami before Gunther came out to slap a chokehold on Balor from behind. It was confusing because Finn did not qualify for MITB and lost his shot to CM Punk in last week’s qualifier. Adding to the confusion, Gunther beat down Dan Housen backstage after the segment. Fans love Finn, and much like Sami, he deserves his time at the top, but his place in this only muddied the MITB promotion.
OTHER TIDBITS
– Blake Monroe defeated Giulia in singles action tonight after a pre-match beatdown ruined Monroe’s original debut. Fans have heavily criticized Monroe’s debut, but she was amazing in this win. Giulia was also great; both women worked a very physical match that played into their heat. Giulia was knocked out, and Monroe took the opportunity to pin her—the finish felt flawed, considering a superstar was (kayfabe) unconscious, and the ref just counted the pin.
– Tag team champions Fatal Influence will defend their belts against Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley next week on the ‘go-home’ edition of SmackDown.
– The War Raiders and Ricky Saints defeated the team of Rey Fenix and Fraxiom in a six-man tag. The match was made after Saints was caught trying to start beef between the Triple A part of the SD locker room that includes the former tag champs of AAA. Saints picked up the win for his team, but the lack of challengers for the awesome War Raiders has been exposed.
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