WWE’s annual PLE ‘Money in the Bank’ took place this past Saturday October 10th live from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana! The first official big WWE PLE since SummerSlam which was in early August. Honestly, crazy for WWE to go that long between big shows because they usually try to hit us with at least 1 if not 2 big PLE shows a month. I guess we had Sunday Night’s Main Event over Labor Day weekend in September but even those don’t necessarily feel like PLEs do, while still feeling bigger than the weekly shows. Strange. I felt like this long stretch of time gave the Money in the Bank match itself and the participants involved in them a lot of emphasis on the weekly shows which was good, but it honestly made some of the weekly shows feel slow or lifeless to a point as well. Call me a cliche, top market wrestling fan all you want but I kind of like the monthly PLEs, that way it always feels like we’re kind of building to something and the show doesn’t stagnate. Anyways, enough rambling. Let’s get into the action!
The show led off with the World Heavyweight title match as ‘The Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns defended his belt against ‘The Megastar’ LA Knight. The show being led off with this match made it almost a given that Roman was going to hold onto that belt, not that I didn’t really expect him to anyways, but Roman nearly always closes the shows he’s on anyways so having them be the vibe setting curtain jerker match was interesting but made the result obvious. Not that it wasn’t a good match because it was, probably the longest and best match in LA Knight’s entire WWE career in my humble opinion and a real good showing especially for LA Knight who dominated Roman in portions of this match. He threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Tribal Chief. Driving him through the barricade on a failed Roman Spear attempt, powerbombing him through the announce table, countering a Spear into a BFT, countering a Super-Spear with a Spear of his own. It felt like every time Roman would start to get the advantage back and go for his big shot, LA Knight would sweep the rug out from under him. Like he had his number. In the end though, Roman did what Roman does and had to. He crotched LA Knight on the top rope, followed up with not 1 but 3 Superman Punches, and connected with a Spear to put the Megastar down for the 3 and retain the belt.
After the match, the 946 (Royce Keys, Bronco Nima, and Lucien Price) showed up coming in from the crowd to taunt Roman, only they were met by The Usos and Solo Sikoa who snuck up behind them in the crowd and a brawl ensued. They brawled all through the stadium and it eventually led outside of the arena where Jaida Parker was waiting with an SUV for the 946 to jump into and speed away as Jimmy, Jey, and Solo huffed and puffed and watched the car peel out of the arena.
Next up was the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match between Tiffany Stratton, Roxanne Perez, Sol Ruca, Jacy Jayne, Lola Vice, and Lash Legend. This was one of the youngest and freshest Money in the Bank ladder matches of all time. All these women are the future of the company basically (along with others) and hardly any of them have experience in these types of matches or Ladder matches in general aside from Tiffany and Roxanne. This match was a violent and scary car crash but honestly, I had a lot of fun with it. I feel like I appreciated the chaos of this more than some, not that it didn’t have me just straight up worried and concerned for these women’s safety at points in the match, but it was certainly a ‘Holy shit!’ style of match if there ever was one in modern WWE. Roxanne hit a nasty moonsault onto Sol and Lash on a ladder, Sol Ruca dangled from the briefcase and took out the field below her with a cannonball, Sol also hit a Splash from the top of the ring post onto Lash and through a ladder. One of the scariest and most violent spots of the match though involved Tiffany hitting a Swanton Bomb off the top of the ladder and onto the field of competitors below her. The only problem is the ladder kind of kicked out from below her when she leaped and the girls didn’t adjust to catch her in time, so the back of her head hit the ground pretty hard, and it was pretty dang scary. Another scary part involved Lola Vice choke-holding Jacy Jayne on the top of the ladder which caused both of them to fall backwards and onto a ladder set up in the ropes below them. The ladder kicked out and both women chaotically tumbled out of the ropes and to the floor in another scary spot. In the end though, Tiffany fought Lash off the top of the ladder and got the briefcase to become Tiffy 2x Money in the Bank winner.
Again, I’m not mad at this result. I am a Tiffany fan though. I understand some of the negative sentiment as well though because Tiffany didn’t necessarily need it since she’s already an established woman in WWE and this could be a chance to establish a new star, but Tiffany has had a bit of a down year in her own right also after holding the WWE Women’s Championship for a lot of the year in 2025. This sets her back right up at the top of the division and creates an immediately interesting dynamic shift between her and Chelsea Green. I’m not mad at it personally.
Then, WWE’s current darling and potentially the next big thing, Oba Femi took on a recently returned Bronson Reed and in turn most of The Vision in what was supposed to be a 1-on-1 match. Oba Femi took a beating though as he couldn’t consistently focus his attention on the big man in front of him because of outside interference. We saw Oba have to kind of battle from underneath which is not something you see very often or something we’ve really seen at all up to this point of his main roster run. Even still, after a shot from brass knuckles and 2 Tsunamis (which is a move no one has ever kicked out of up to this point) Oba still got back up like The Incredible Hulk and got his lick back. He tossed Big Bronson Reed across the ring, chokeslammed Austin Theory on the ring apron, and dropped Bronson Reed with his signature ‘Fall from Grace’ for the pin and win. I understand they want to book Oba strong, but my gosh like how in the world are they going to have someone believably beat this guy at this point? It’s getting dangerously in the territory of being ridiculous and unbelievable and in turn, silly. I want to like Oba and I do, but he just ran through one of their biggest factions in WWE right now (that also has future stars of the company in it) like it’s nothing. I just think that here, it would’ve been acceptable for him to take a dirty loss and keep the story going. Now he just squashed and killed The Vision so what’s next seriously? On the turn though, Bronson looked trim in this match! You can tell that boy has been working hard since he’s been rehabbing from his injury. The dude even went for a freaking moonsault in this match which is incredible! Bam Bam Bigelow anyone?
Next up was a Triple Threat match for the Women’s World Championship as ‘La Primera’ Stephanie Vaquer put her title on the line against ‘The Man’ Becky Lynch, and Liv Morgan. This match focused a lot on the hatred that both of these women have for Liv Morgan and the boiling animosity between them because they’re both on the same trajectory and wanting the same thing. This allowed Morgan to capitalize on their emotions and distractions as the match went though and in a way, her being the black sheep between the 3 was her ultimate advantage. The match started a bit slow and clunky and the crowd felt a bit dead after giving all their energy for the first 3 matches of the night. Liv survived the wrath of both women at moments of the match, taking a beating from Becky in the corner and eating a ‘Devil’s Kiss’ from Vaquer at one point as well. She also survived a dual submission spot as both women worked over her arms and legs. Lynch and Vaquer’s partnership incinerated as the match reached the later stages, starting with Becky yanking Jessika Carr out of the ring and stopping Vaquer from getting a 3-count and ending with Stephanie knocking Becky off of the ring apron and (sloppily) through a table that was set up at ringside. The table spot distraction set up Liv Morgan though as she slithered back into the ring and dropped a caught-off guard Vaquer with an ‘Oblivion’ for the 3 count to win the Women’s World Championship back.
I was just immediately disappointed in the result of this match, not even that I don’t like Liv or think she plays her character well, but she just had the belt. Not even that she just had the belt, but she just had the belt and they did NOTHING with her reign for months. That’s not even her fault, but that’s just ridiculous to me that you’d give her the belt for a good chunk of the year already, squander the reign, and then immediately just put the belt back on her again after about a month of her losing it. I also just feel bad for Stephanie. She just got the belt, not only that but it was at a house show that wasn’t even televised to audiences. I know it was in her home country and that is cool but still, and then she doesn’t even get 1 successful title defense before she loses it again at the next PLE? I don’t know, not horrible, just not the way I would’ve liked to see it go down necessarily and that’s okay.
Then it was time for the main event! The Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match between Bron Breakker, Jevon Evans, CM Punk, Kevin Owens, Penta, and Trick Williams. CM Punk and Kevin Owens hatred and obsession with one another not winning ultimately cost them their shot in this match and they were 2 of the more predicted winners of the match coming into it, something that I sort of thought might happen but I wasn’t sure. My pick to win this match, Bron Breakker, did have one hell of a showing and was probably the standout participant of the bout. He was running and jumping and leaping and lifting all over the place in this match and was involved in a majority of the major spots of the match. He eliminated Jevon Evans for a large chunk of the match after hitting a flying spear into his side and ramming him into the barricade “injuring” him as he had to be carted off. He also had a spot where he ran across the barricade and announce table to take out Trick with a flying clothesline. The run itself was really cool and a neat feat of agility and athleticism, but the execution of the clothesline left something to be desired. There was a funny spot where Kevin Owens was going stunner crazy on everyone in the ring and Lil Yachty tried to sneak one by everyone and climb the ladder and win the briefcase for Trick. Well KO caught him and urged him to get down from the ladder like a parent before dropping him with a stunner as well and sending him out of the ring. Punk and KO, busy fighting amongst themselves on the outside, were speared and driven through the barricade by Bron as he looked like he had a clear path to victory, until an ambulance pulled back into the arena and all the way down to ring. Out of the driver’s seat pops Jevon Evans (who saw that coming?!) as he immediately starts giving the work to Bron before going on a hot streak, clearing the ring, and grabbing a GIANT ladder and setting it up on the inside. As he climbs to the top, he realizes it’s not in proper position to grab the briefcase only to look down and see Bron Breakker awaiting him. Bron shoves the ladder over and sends Jevon tumbling out of the sky and through the top of the ambulance parked at ringside. Bron and Penta start going at it and it looks like Bron may get the upper hand until Penta drops him with a Mexican Destroyer onto a ladder and climbs up and retrieves the briefcase making Penta your 2026 Men’s Money in the Bank winner! Cero Meido!
I’m not necessarily upset with that decision. I mean Penta deserves it. I just like Bron Breakker and want to see him get SOMETHING so I was hoping and actually kind of thinking he would walk out with the win here, but like I said, even in defeat he had one hell of a showing in this match. The match itself was paced a little slow and awkward at times and felt like it spent a lot of time setting up big spots and moments rather than feeling like a natural flow of things at times. That’s why I appreciated the Women’s one a lot as well, it was a chaotic mess at times, but it did feel like a mad dash for the briefcase and beating each other down in any death-defying way possible to retrieve it, and to me that’s what a Money in the Bank should kind of feel like. Didn’t straight up hate this match or anything and not mad for Penta though, I think that showing he had against Roman in Mexico City just really did a lot for this guy and he’s riding that momentum “to the bank” right now, if you will. Get it?…Alright, I’ll see myself out.
Match ratings: 1-10 scale (.25 applicable)
World Heavyweight Championship match: Roman Reigns (c) vs LA Knight- 8.5/10
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match: Tiffany Stratton vs Roxanne Perez vs Sol Ruca vs Jacy Jayne vs Lola Vice vs Lash Legend- 7.75/10
Oba Femi vs Bronson Reed- 6.75/10
Triple Threat match for Women’s World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs Becky Lynch vs Liv Morgan- 7/10
Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder match: Bron Breakker vs CM Punk vs Kevin Owens vs Jevon Evans vs Penta vs Trick Williams- 7.5/10
That’ll do it for this one though folks! Make sure to like the page on social media or come back to the website often to keep up with all my latest posts over pro wrestling, horror movies, and NFL football released weekly! Thanks for taking some time out with me today and until next time, be good to one another!
