WWE Money in the Bank results and analysis

It’s only fitting that the highlight of the Money in the Bank pay per view would be someone cashing in their newly won title shot at the event and winning the title. That’s exactly what happened tonight as Kane won the Smackdown MITB match and later cashed it in and defeated Rey Mysterio, who has just beaten Jack Swagger to retain the title.

What does this all mean? It means that Kane now becomes the number one heel on Smackdown and it will be revealed shortly, in my opinion, he is the Undertaker’s attacker. That sets up a title match between the two at Summerslam next month in L.A. Is that very predictable at this point? Probably, but it makes tons of sense and builds a lot of heat for Kane. It’s very possible the WWE throws in a swerve, but at this point they at least salvaged what was a dreadful start to this entire Undertaker “comatose” angle.

A very productive night for the Smackdown side as they are headed into Summerslam very strong. Raw had a few surprises of their own as the Miz was the winner of the Raw MITB match. Randy Orton was the odds on favorite to win and that’s why it was great to have him so close yet lose again. The loss won’t hurt Orton as he has had a few TV loses and suffered no ill effects. That just goes to show how much the fans are really behind him.

As for the Miz, this was not a huge shocker to me. He has been a great U.S. Champion who has spent a lot of time in the mid-card and struck gold for the WWE every time. Let’s just hope that he does not become the first person to cash in the MITB and lose. However, he has 12 months to cash it in and I hope it’s a while before he does. As long as he has the U.S. Title, I don’t see him cashing in the MITB briefcase.

The WWE is not big on double champions over the last few years, at least not with the top two single titles on the Raw brand. The Miz is going to have to take one step back before making that giant leap forward. Lose the U.S. Title and then cash in his title shot sometime at year’s end or early 2011. I rather take it slow with Miz because if you move to fast you have what happened to Randy Orton in 2004 after he won his first WWE Title.

The big question going into tonight was which MITB match would be better. Overall, Raw was the better match with a better winner. However, for the interim, Smackdown was very memorable as it created a big moment for the show when Kane cashed in his shot after winning it earlier in the night. But people will remember this night months from now because of the Miz.

The other big match of note was the Steel Cage match for the WWE Title between John Cena and Sheamus. It was a solid match after a slow start, but the factor was the Nexus. Until this point in the night they were MIA. It was a smart move because they’re over saturating just about everything on TV these days. It’s time to scale it back and have Nexus make one impact on this show. That’s exactly what they did at the end of the match once again costing Cena the title. While the MITB match delivered unexpected outcomes, the WWE Title match was pretty much what everyone thought. It’s time the WWE ends this feud between Nexus and Cena at Summerslam. It has run its course and at this point, enough is enough. We’re seeing the same pattern over and over again and the feud has not really advanced much since its inception. That’s my only gripe about this PPV.

Will the MITB PPV be around next year? Yes and it should. Both matches were solid and gave the fans what they wanted: some high-impact moves and shocking endings. This type of PPV will not take away from its annual spot at Wrestlemania.

Here are the rest of the results:

Kane defeated Kofi Kingston, Christian, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Big Show, and Cody Rhodes in the Smackdown MITB ladder match

Alicia Fox defeated Eve to retain the WWE Divas Championship

The Hart Dynasty defeated The Uso Brothers to retain the Unified Tag Titles

Rey Mysterio defeated Jack Swagger to retain the World Heavyweight. Championship

Kane pinned Rey Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship

Layla defeated Kelly Kelly to retain the WWE Women's Championship

The Miz defeated Randy Orton, John Morrison, Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, Ted DiBiase, Chris Jericho, and Edge to win the Raw MITB ladder match

Sheamus defeated John Cena in a cage match to retain the WWE Championship

Quick Hits:

*I was starting to get really nervous about the future of Jack Swagger. If Taker/Kane happens at Summerslam, I expect Kane to drop the title to Taker and fall out of the main event scene. That will maybe open the door for Jack Swagger to re-enter into the title scene and feud with Taker. If not, Swagger will be back in the mid-card and his title reign now becomes a distant memory. Then he has to prove himself all over again.

*With Cena now paying full attention to Nexus, who becomes Sheamus’ number one contender? Of course Miz is always a threat, but he’s going to parade that briefcase around for a while before cashing it in. Edge? Orton? Chris Jericho? It really makes no difference because the Raw roster is still stacked even without Triple H or Shawn Michaels.

*Do we finally get to meet the Raw GM tomorrow night? My guess is no. Then again who cares? Until the GM is revealed fans will pay no attention to the angle anymore.