Winners & Losers: WWE Money in the Bank 07.18.21. WWE’s first PPV in front of a packed house in 15 months, Money in the Bank featured a tonne of action and excitement. It was so great to see and hear the crowds back and along with what went down in the ring, it made for a memorable night. The first match of the night was the women’s ladder. Print your own Money in the Bank contract. Few prizes in WWE hold the luster of the guaranteed championship contract contained inside the Money in the Bank briefcase every year since 2005 (and, since 2010, two briefcases each year). Yet, the WWE Universe has never before had the chance to view this valuable and highly coveted.

Wwe Money In Bank Briefcase
Money In The Bank Briefcase

On a Money in the Bank pay-per-view that overdelivered, Edge and Roman Reigns did that and more for over 30 minutes. The energy was high, the crowd was plugged in and both men could have convincingly walked out of Fort Worth, Texas with the Universal championship in hand.

But with Seth Rollins' interference on two occasions, Edge's fate was set. Reigns emerged from the main event of Money in the Bank with his title intact, and Edge and Rollins brawled to the back of Dickies Arena, both feeling the other had cost them the title. Reigns got on the mic, stating definitively that the whole world could now acknowledge him.

Then a very familiar series of horn notes blared through the arena's PA. John Cena emerged to perhaps his loudest and most positive reaction to date, bounced back and forth between the ropes and then stared Reigns down. With a single 'You can't see me' hand gesture, a SummerSlam main event was seemingly cemented before the Money in the Bank broadcast had even faded to black.

It was a landscape shifting night on several fronts. Nikki A.S.H earned a shock Money in the Bank win on the women's side, and Big E claimed the men's Money in the Bank briefcase. Charlotte Flair returned to her perch as Raw women's champion and new SmackDown tag team champions were crowned as well.

But for as quickly as Cena's return will overshadow the rest of the night, and the main event in particular, the match between Reigns and Edge deserves considerable praise.

As the bell rang, they simply stared each other down, slowly circling. 'Let's go Roman' and 'let's go Edge' dueling chants rang throughout the building. Each man sought to gain the mental advantage rather than the physical advantage early on as they shoved each other in the face.

But once Edge sent Reigns shoulder-first into the post, it was on. They traded punches. Edge kicked Reigns out of the ring. Reigns hit a Samoan drop on the outside and then, as Edge struggled to get back into the ring, Reigns took total control. He wore Edge down and then, in the middle of the ring with a sleeper locked in, Edge buckled down and broke the grip. Reigns locked it right back in. Edge fought his way back up with body shots and bounced off the ropes before Reigns connected with an uppercut to the jaw, with Edge barely moving, draped over bottom rope. Reigns connected with a Drive-By kick.

Both of them had the crowd in their hands. Edge fought his way back, dodging a Superman punch and connecting with an Edge-O-Matic slam, both getting two-counts. An Edgecution DDT similarly gained Edge a two-count.

When Edge locked a Crossface on Reigns and Reigns finally got to the bottom rope, referee Charles Robinson had to pry Edge off -- and that wasn't the last time Robinson would loom large.

As Edge charged forward for a spear, Reigns locked in a standing guillotine. Edge drove Reigns into the corner, but Reigns locked it back in. Edge started fading, but as he dropped to his knees, he desperately sent himself and Reigns tumbling through the middle rope.

Reigns went for the spear through the barricade, but missed and crashed through alone. Edge then successfully speared Reigns through a different wall, slung Reigns over his shoulders, tossed him back into the ring and covered him. Another two-count.

Reigns scrambled his way out of a tie-up with an uppercut and Superman punch, but on the punch Edge stumbled into the referee, taking Robinson out.

Reigns stomped a brace out of a folding chair, looking to return the favor for what Edge had done to him at WrestleMania and repeated to his cousins, the Usos, a crossface with the brace across the mouth.

But Edge blocked it, headbutted Reigns repeatedly and then got Reigns with the crossface and the brace in his mouth again. The Usos stalked towards the ring, but their opponents from earlier in the night, the Mysterios, were right behind them. They fought and chased the Usos to the back, and it was left to Edge and Reigns, seemingly alone.

But then Rollins, aggrieved with Edge for 'stealing' his opportunity, kicked Edge in the neck and finally broke the hold. Edge cut off Reigns' spear with a successful spear attempt of his own. A new ref charged to the ring, but Reigns kicked out at the absolute last moment.

Rollins came back once more and though Edge was able to kick him off the apron, Reigns speared Edge and then pinned him to retain his title.

Rollins attacked Edge post-match and got in Reigns' face, screaming he would be next.

Edge got back up, brawled Rollins to the back and then Reigns had his moment to gloat. But as soon as he dropped the microphone from his lips, Cena's music hit.

What's next: Reigns vs. Cena and Edge vs. Rollins at SummerSlam. Outside of a non-match against 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 36 last year, Cena hasn't been involved in an actual match since January 2019. This year alone, Cena has starred in a Fast and Furious franchise movie, and he'll feature prominently in the upcoming DC comic book movie The Suicide Squad, which happens to have a release date of Aug. 6, just a few weeks before SummerSlam. To say this match is an attraction with off-the-charts mainstream appeal would be an understatement.

Edge vs. Rollins has the chance to be a show-stealer, and the intermingled build-up to these two matches on SmackDown in the coming weeks should be spectacular.

Men's Money in the Bank ladder match: Big E def. Drew McIntyre, John Morrison, Kevin Owens, Matt Riddle, Ricochet, Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura

Big E's career in the WWE has certainly had its high points. He's had singles success as NXT champion and Intercontinental champion. He was an integral part of making The New Day, the most popular act in professional wrestling.

But the one thing that's been lacking, at least since he has been a part of the Raw or SmackDown rosters, was that final boost to the top tier. And at Money in the Bank, by grabbing the briefcase that earned him a future world title shot at the moment of his choosing, Big E finally has that moment within his reach.

The match itself was absolutely incredible. It started with Matt Riddle and Ricochet doing all kinds of acrobatics, taking out Seth Rollins and John Morrison, respectively, with flips to the outside of the ring, and it rarely slowed down.

Morrison jumped off the top turnbuckle, leapfrogged a ladder for leverage and spun himself into Shinsuke Nakamura. Morrison and Rollins teamed up for a considerable stretch, crushing Nakamura and then Riddle with a ladder. Morrison did a backflip to drive Riddle head-first into a ladder on the ground.

The team-up was seemingly over once Owens backflipped off the second rope into a ladder held by both Rollins and Morrison, but they recovered quickly and hit a double team Falcon Arrow to Owens that sent him spine-first into the blunt side of a ladder.

Rollins made the first climb for the briefcase, but was stopped by Ricochet and Big E.

Nakamura and Riddle kicked each other in the head simultaneously, setting both of them up for a double Claymore from Drew McIntyre. Then it was a Future Shock DDT to Big E and a reverse Alabama slam to Ricochet, face-first onto a bridged ladder. McIntyre went into a running flip over the top rope to the outside onto all of his competitors.

And then, once back in the ring, McIntyre hit another Claymore to Rollins. As the only one left in the ring, McIntyre climbed the ladder until Jinder Mahal's pair of lackeys inserted themselves into the match to attack McIntyre as retribution for damage done in recent weeks. Mahal had a chair waiting for McIntyre once he was outside the ring, and McIntyre was neutralized. It was anyone's match once again.

In a moment that will be played on WWE highlight reels from now until forever, Ricochet came off the top of a falling ladder, landed nimbly on the top rope, bounced to a seemingly impossible height and flipped onto everyone standing on the outside.

Somehow, the pace quickened even more in

Real Money In The Bank Briefcase