The 2021 Money in the Bank PPV has to go down as one of the best pay-per-views WWE has had in years. In front of the fans for the first time in almost a year, Nikki Cross and Big E got their hands on the title contract while Charlotte Flair became the new Raw Women’s champion. Roman Reigns defended his title in a thrilling fight against Edge but the main highlight of the PVV was the return of WWE’s greatest superstar.
Here are the highlights of the 2021 Money in the Bank PPV:
5. Nikki Cross gets her hands on the title contract
View this post on Instagram
The 2021 Money in the Bank PPV kicked off with the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match featuring Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Naomi and Nikki from Raw with Liv Morgan, Zelina Vega, and the Women’s tag team champions Natalya and Tamina Snuka of SmackDown. The fight started fast with all fighters launching their signature moves on each other while Bliss was trying to use her “magical powers” to summon the briefcase to fall to her before she was taken out. Bliss somehow then managed to make her way up the ladder but was met by Vega and then almost every woman had a moment where they thought they had won the fight but nothing happened. In the final stage of the fight, Natalya and Tamina were dominating and buried Bliss under a pile of ladders. At the end though, all the fighters were fighting on top of three ladders that were set in the middle of the ring, and Nikki Cross, who was lying on the canvas for most of the time, took this opportunity to climb over them and unhook the briefcase for the win and the contract.
4. Big E wins the Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match
View this post on Instagram
The Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder match consisted of fighters like Ricochet, John Morrison, Riddle, Drew McIntyre, Big E, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Seth Rollins. It was an all-out brawl with Rollins and Morris arguing outside the ring. Both of them were taken out with a flying dive by Ricochet and Riddle which made the ring clear for the two powerhouses, McIntyre and Big E. John Morrison and Seth Rollins then joined forces to take everyone out with the ladder and also hit Owens with a Falcon Arrow on the ladder. Later on, McIntyre took over the fight with a dive over the top rope which took out all the fighters. Jinder Mahal intervened in the fight with Veer and Shanky and dragged McIntyre outside the arena. Ricochet also had good moments in the fight when he jumped to the ladder with the help of the ropes to stop Riddle from unhooking the contract. One of the best and most destructive moves of the fight came when Rollins powerbombed Owens through the ladder which was kept between the announcer’s table and the ring. Rollins was in control of the fight then and was ready to get his hands on the contract for the second time in his career but Big E caught him and hit his finisher move on Rollins before climbing up the ladder to win the fight.
3. Charlotte Flair is a champion again
View this post on Instagram
Charlotte Flair won the Raw Women’s Championship for a record tying 5th time in her career. The fight started off with Flair giving the middle finger to the fans but then started to pile on Ripley by knocking her out of the ring before landing a t-bone suplex. Ripley started to fight back with her eyes on Flair’s injured knee and pushed her off the top rope. She tried to fight her way back with a German Suplex but got caught by a Boston Crab by Charlotte and then landed a moonsault on Ripley for a near fall. Later on, Charlotte reversed a Riptide into a DDT and then hit Natural Selection from the top of the turnbuckle to get the crowd going. Flair then took things outside the ring as she put Ripley’s leg in between the post and the ring steps and damaged Ripley’s leg before locking her in the figure-eight position to win via submission and get her hands on the Raw Women’s Championship belt.
2. Roman Rules!
View this post on Instagram
The main event of Money in the Bank PPV featured a fight between Champion Roman Reigns and Edge which lived up to its hype. The fight got off to a slow start with both fighters just staring at each other waiting for the other to make a move but once they began to fight there was not a second to blink, especially when things went outside the ring. Reigns went for a spear on Edge who was wobbly on his feet but somehow got out of the way which sent Reigns straight through the barricade. Edge then hit a spear on Reigns through the remainder of the barricade. Once things went back inside the ring, Reigns landed a Superman punch on Edge which also took the referee out. With the referee out, Reigns tried to use a broken chair piece to put Edge in a Crossfade but Edge reversed the move and put Reigns in the lock instead. With Reigns having nowhere to go, his brothers, The Usos tried to intervene but were taken out by Rey and Dominick Mysterio before they could enter the ring. Edge could sense victory when he landed a spear on Reigns and then things changed. Rollins retired to the ring to stop Edge but got kicked off the apron. Reigns took advantage of the situation and was quick enough to get up and put Edge to sleep with a spear to retain the WWE Universal title.
1. The Return of John Cena
View this post on Instagram
The main highlight of the 2021 Money in the Bank was not Reigns retaining his title or Flair winning the title, it was the return of WWE Superstar, John Cena. After Roman Reigns retained his WWE Universal title, he picked up the mic and said, “now the whole world can acknowledge me” and right after he said that, Dickies Arena went crazy as they could hear Cena’s theme song and “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect” written on the display screen. Cena then entered the arena and sprinted towards the ring. He didn’t say a single word when he was in front of the champ, and all he did was the iconic “You can’t see me” hand gesture. Later on, while talking to the fans, he said, “I promise that this is not a one night only, but what special to me is that this is the first night”
[Image Credit: WWE]
Shashank Iyer