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THE CIVIL WAR IS OVER, THE WOMEN'S MITB DELIVERS, X-MEN SHOUTOUT, HEY EVERYONE IT'S AN OLD FRIEND!, A HELL OF A LADDER MATCH, HE'S FINALLY BACK, NO ONE SAW THAT TAG FINISH, GUNTHER IS THE BEST & MORE:MIKE'S QUICK ONGOING WWE MONEY IN THE BANK THOUGHTS

Some ongoing MITB thoughts as Dave blogs and Richard dives in with his insanely detailed Play by Play, brought to you by our great friends at RingsideCollectibles.com who have a 4th of July sale ongoing and revealed this new look at their new Usos action figures:

The Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match was absolutely tremendous with a very deserving Damian Priest yet again ascending in the company.  He has come so far from his Ring of Honor and NXT days.  Say what you will about Logan Paul, but there is no denying he has no fear.  You don’t trust Ricochet and take a Spanish Fly like that onto two tables without courage.  Paul is probably going to be feeling that bump for a while.  Butch should be commended for all his hard work and crazy bumps here as well.  Santos Escobar costuming here as if that's not an action figure one day, I don't know what they are thinking.  His work was great too.  

This was a truly great opener with lots of great work from everyone.  LA Knight had been the frontrunner internally for some time, even to the point all the publicity for the show locally had been built aroun Knight, so I’d be curious to see when they made the decision to go with Priest, who was a really great choice.  First match is absolutely worth going out of your way to see if you like big bump carnage and tables being smashed.  I really loved the hell out of this as it had the right maverick spirit needed for something like this.  It's not hard to pull that off because with this many people and so many props involved, things can fall apart really easy.  The Women have quite a standard to meet later on.

The crowd is super hot, which made everything SO much better.  London is out for a good time tonight.

Well, no one saw Shayna Baszler turning on Ronda Rousey!  The WWE Women’s Tag Team title bout was OK until that point.  Everyone worked hard but this was just OK, made much better by the UK crowd.  When Baszler, with zero teases, attacked her own partner, well, that just upped the intensity of the crowd who then got to see Liv Morgan, who they absolutely were in love with, and Raquel Rodriguez regain their titles.  Good angle to set up, presumably, a Summerslam fight between Ronda and Baszler.

GUNTHER vs. Matt Riddle rocked and was the best Riddle performance in a long time in my eyes.  He knew he was going into a war and didn't act like he was Ted "Theodore" Logan.  I love Bill & Ted as much as anyone but not when it comes to my wrestling.    Riddle reverting back to his MMA fighting style was a good idea.  GUNTHER, who was welcomed home to Europe like a massive star, may be the most fearsome monster in pro wrestling since the days of Big Van Vader terrorizing Sting.  You could feel how every chop and clothesline was beating down Riddle.  There were some good near falls here with Riddle barely getting out, building some sympathy for him.  The sequence where GUNTHER went off the top but was caught in a triangle choke, leading to a nice near fall.  Then, GUNTHER going back to the ankle as seen in previous attacks and ripping his ankle apart with the Achilles Lock.

Then, finally Drew McIntyre returns, so he got his wish for a storyline of worth and it's picking up where he left off with WWE Intercontinental Championship.  As we noted in Elite, he wasn't backstage in London yesterday and wasn't seen at the WWE hotel at all, so he was well, well hidden. As we reported a month ago, WWE had wanted him back by this weekend and in the end, they got what they wanted.  Hopefully McIntyre does too, since he's been criminally underutilized in recent years.  There were false reports we stated he would be confronting the MITB winner or Seth Rollins tonight, but that was never accurate.  GUNTHER shoved him.  Drew laid him out with the Claymore Kick and Drew is back in the mix on Raw. 

Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik,  which was announced as being the main event is next.  I guess this is like when Hulk Hogan would perform right before intermission at Madison Square Garden so he could escape the building before the show ended?  This will be a major singles test for Dominik Mysterio.  I love how Rhea Ripley has evolved into someone taking the best attributes of Sherri Martel and Chyna, yet is completely her own franchise and personality.

Mysterio did a fine job being the Cody sacrificial lamb, showing some competitive work but in the end, being the heel falling to Rhodes as Cody continues his chase of a big title bout.  Cody blocking the 619 and going into the Alabama Slam was a nice idea.  The crowd just loves Cody at such an insane level that it feels like the latter end of his AEW run, where he was thoroughly rejected by the live audience, feels like a weird alternative dimension that never existed.   Good, solid spectacle here.  Dominik is going to be a hell of a babyface one day.

The giant MITB briefcase in the 02 for fans to take photos with is the first time I've seen WWE do that since they had a giant inflatable Undertaker in the lobby of the Hartford Civic Center at Wrestlemania 11.

Well, look who's here!  It's John Cena.  Amazing what can happen when WWE runs in the same city he's filming a movie!  I don't think there was ANYONE happier than Cena in London today.  He was shocked he was greeted like a homecoming king and even pretty much told the truth about how the company hasn't ever wanted to bring Wrestlemania to London and said he wanted to see it.  Take that AEW.  If you don't think Tony Khan running Wembley Stadium didn't spur THIS on, you don't know how the game is played.  Grayson Waller came out and did an amazing job cutting a promo, saying the show should be in Australia.  I don't think Impact running there spurred this on.  It ended with Cena hitting the FU on Waller.  Great, fun stuff.  The UK fans deserve a Mania, so I hope it happens one day.

More Thoughts on Page 2!

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