Money in the Bank 2021: WWE Gets Its Crowd Back and Immediately Feels Alive

The Kickoff match has more historical importance than its placement suggests. Rey and Dominik Mysterio bring the cleaner babyface rhythm, while Jimmy and Jey Uso work like a team trying to restore their position beside Roman Reigns. The closing sequence is built around small advantages rather than a giant stunt. Jimmy takes the 619 meant for Jey, and the Usos steal the pin with assistance on the roll-up. The finish is heelish without making the champions look helpless, and the result begins a reign that eventually lasts 622 days.

The match has enough bodies and ladder movement to stay lively, but its tone is uneven. The athletic sections work best when Liv Morgan, Naomi, Asuka and the rest are scrambling for position. The Alexa Bliss supernatural material is much harder to integrate. Hypnosis and the idea of the briefcase lowering toward her feel like they belong to a different show, and burying Bliss under ladders becomes the practical way to remove that problem from the closing stretch. Nikki A.S.H. wins by recognizing that everyone else is too busy fighting atop the ladders to notice her climb.

This is competent tag wrestling without much emotional weight. Erik and Ivar have enough size to make Omos' presence feel less absurdly mismatched, while AJ Styles handles the quicker exchanges and gives the challengers someone to isolate. The Viking Experience near-fall is the match's strongest moment because Omos has to intervene physically to prevent the title change. His two-handed chokeslam then ends it. Nothing is badly executed; the problem is that the match feels like a television defense placed between more important stories.

The point is not competition. The point is restoring Bobby Lashley as a monster. Kofi Kingston gets an early burst, but once Lashley takes control the match becomes increasingly uncomfortable by design. Three Dominators and repeated Hurt Locks turn the final minutes into an extended statement, and Kingston passing out makes the result feel more brutal than a normal pinfall. As a standalone title match it is too one-sided to rank highly. As character booking for Lashley, it succeeds completely.

Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley have to fight the crowd before they can fight each other. Early Becky Lynch chants threaten to take over the match, and both women respond by increasing the physicality until the audience has something immediate to react to. The result is one of the better performances of their rivalry. Flair's Natural Selection near-fall is excellent, Ripley's power spots look credible, and the finish is built around Flair damaging the leg against the steps before applying the Figure Eight. By the end, the crowd that wanted to hijack the match is reacting to the match itself.

This is the match the concept promises when everything works. The field is deep enough that every section can introduce a different threat: Ricochet supplies the athletic impossibility, Kevin Owens absorbs the ugliest bump, Riddle brings sudden counters, Drew McIntyre looks like a favorite until Jinder Mahal's group removes him, and Seth Rollins keeps trying to steal the ending. The ladder spots escalate without becoming random furniture placement. Owens' powerbomb through the bridged ladder is brutal, Ricochet's leap to the floor is spectacular, and Big E catching Rollins for a Big Ending off the ladder creates a finish that feels earned rather than convenient.

Thirty-three minutes gives Roman Reigns and Edge room to make the match feel bigger than a television main event. Reigns controls the early pace, Edge survives and gradually turns the champion's own offense against him. The barricade Spear is the first major escalation, and the Crossface exchange with the broken chair piece gives Edge a believable route to winning. The interference becomes crowded late: the Usos arrive, the Mysterios cut them off, and Seth Rollins finally lands the Superkick that changes the match. Reigns still finishes Edge with his own Spear, preserving the champion while making Rollins responsible for the lost opportunity. Cena's return after the bell turns the ending into a launchpad for SummerSlam.