With Money in the Bank emanating from London’s O2 Arena this July it’s a fortuitous time for this release, which compiles 14 (or maybe 13, but we’ll get to that) of the Money in the Bank matches. It started as a WrestleMania showcase and graduated to a PPV/PLE all of it’s own. It was initially just for the men but in 2017 the Women got their chance.
The set shows matches chronologically on each sperate disc but not through the set as a whole. If attempting to watch the set as a whole though this proves a nice approach, really. There is no getting away from the fact that the matches have a “formula” and feature some of the same faces over and over again. So splitting era’s across two discs helps to differentiate.
Disc 1 kicks of with WrestleMania 23’s effort before getting to the inaugural MITB PPV from 2010 and the Raw brand’s match. 2012 sees John Cena make his way into things before Seth Rollins has a star-enhancing performance from 2014. Another member of The Shield gets his moment in 2016 (although I’ve no idea what happened to Dean Ambrose…) before we close the disc with two women’s matches from 2018 and 2019. The former is probably the better of the two.
Disc 2 takes us back to WrestleMania 22 before a Smackdown division match from 2011. It’s a big leap to 2017 then we get the repeat of the first ever Women’s MITB from Smackdown, when the WWE felt somewhat compelled to re-run the match after James Ellsworth essentially wins the first PPV version. Brock Lesnar steals the 2019 match next before we end with two matches in one, the 2020 pandemic version where both the men’s and women’s take place simultaneously in the WWE Headquarters.
People will have their own opinions on what the best MITB matches are so a compilation of this nature will never please EVERYONE. That said, this does a good job of bringing together some quality matches whilst trying to avoid over-saturation of completely similar matches.
As a way to get ready for London 2023’s version, this is a great look back at one of the WWE’s most enduring gimmick matches.
8 out of 10.
Photographs courtesy of Fetch and WWE. Thank you to WWE Home Video for our review copy of WWE Best of Money in the Bank which is out NOW on DVD. You can buy your copy from WWEDVD.co.uk by clicking here.