WWE World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match

KANE VS. SHEAMUS VS. ALBERTO del RIO VS. CESARO VS. ROMAN REIGNS VS. JOHN CENA VS. RANDY ORTON VS. BRAY WYATT

What Will Happen: Kane almost allows Randy Orton to win the title, but turns on him and the Authority at the last possible second. Sheamus looks like he will join in with Kane, but instead sides with Orton. John Cena wins after giving the Attitude Adjustment to all seven other competitors at the same time.

From a purely Creative perspective, this match showed the dichotomy between what the WWE wants to be and what the WWE is forced to be by circumstance. At a time when there is more fresh blood pumping through the collective body of the company, they picked a man who has won 14 World Titles to come out on top in a ladder match featuring many of those very same rising stars.

While “wait and see” is one of God’s great virtues, John Cena has officially reached Ric Flair/Hulk Hogan status (if he hasn’t already) as the default champion when things go wrong and that’s never good creatively. And, as Friend of the Program Rich Kasin and I talked about during the show, it wasn’t so much that Cena won that he didn’t win in spectacular enough fashion. If you insist on having John play the role of transition champion, don’t have Roman Reigns tear the house down with a tour de force performance that — like the Money in the Bank ladder match did with Ambrose, Rollins and the No. 1 Contendership — established him as the “big dog” in the WWE right now, AND THEN have John Cena do a lesser version of the things he’s done in the past to get past him.

Unless the goal is to make Cena look weak, having him almost casually “finish off” Orton and Kane before easily climbing the ladder for the belt, why not have do something like give Orton an Attitude Adjustment off the ladder on to Kane or even Roman Reigns to clear his path to the top of the ladder. And it’s not that he didn’t do that, or that he had to do that or the win wasn’t “legitimate”, but if the goal is to create the most compelling story going forward and have everyone looking as good as possible coming out of it, not to mention do what’s made the WWE as hot as it has been in more than a decade, without giving the crowd something they’ve never seen before by subverting or averting the type of expectations when using the tropes of professional wrestling, especially when building a new megastar and keeping your last one looking good.

HAVING SAID THAT, there were a couple of legitimately incredible spots, with the ladder monsters created by the competitors showing the next step in the evolution of the ladder match: Erector Sets. In an alternate universe, the Money in the Bank PPV becomes what Elimination Chamber is to WrestleMania, the last shake up before the storm, and this multi-man WWE WHC ladder match becomes a yearly occurrence. And if that’s the case, this will be looked back upon fondly as the first. But, unless that happens, this will always be known as a missed opportunity to crown a new star or, at the very least, remind up why we care(d) so much about the last one.
Match .75

The Bottom Line

The Money in the Bank PPV is more often than not the best PPV of the year from a storyline stand point and the 2011 is the standard bearer for all modern shows. But, while this match was nowhere near “bad” it was bordering on disappointing, especially with such a lackluster finish to what had been a pretty excellent match up to that point. Not everything has to be a ***** finish, but at this point, not being aware of the general apathy towards Cena IN HIS HOME TOWN seems to be reaching a fever pitch. While John Cena still sells t-shirt and hasn’t regressed in the ring at all — which is a nice way of saying this isn’t his fault — the older fans in the audience have become aware that reacting to Cena is what gets Cena where he is. They, like a union, understand the power of collective action and have begun to exploit that. This ending, and the crowd’s reaction to it, showcase that while John Cena should still be in the main event, he’s no longer the (as in, only) main event  and adjust accordingly.

Outside of that, this show was a fantastic showcase for the Usos, the Wyatts, Cesaro, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Rusev, Big E. and Roman Reigns. Not bad.

PPV 3.75 | Match Avg.  .46875 (.47, if you’re nasty)

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