Carmella Wins MITB Again? What’s The Point?
The Money In The Bank event this year was one of the most important events we have seen. You may not think it, with a bunch of feuds that didn’t have much interest, a WWE Champion that has yet to shine in the main event spot he’s been given, and a fantastic tag team bout that was robbed from us by awful booking.
But it really was, as one of the big hooks for fans this year would have been the inaugural Women’s Money In The Bank matches.
Now before I start, I need to clarify that I actually enjoyed the ending to the women’s match. I’ve seen that a lot of fans were upset, using the old cliche “you end a women’s ladder match by having a man go up the ladder and get the briefcase. The man has to save the day” etc. etc.
These people are missing the point. WWE wants you to get angry over Ellsworth climbing the ladder and getting the briefcase for Carmella. It’s so strange that a jobber/manager now has more heel heat than the generic “I’m a foreigner and I’m evil” WWE Champion that we are currently exposed to. It made the duo of Ellsworth and Carmella become one of the most hated acts on the blue brand.
What is getting me wound up however, if the clear lack of direction WWE actually has for it’s women’s division going forward, after this plot development.
As we saw on SmackDown Live last night, a rematch for the briefcase was held. In the exact same match type, with the exact same participants. Only this time, James Ellsworth was banned from the arena… oh yeah, and it was on free television! On top this, Carmella won the match regardless. This makes the issue a completely moot point, the controversy mean nothing, and nearly 2 weeks worth of build an absolute waste.
WWE gave away their key piece of marketing for a pay-per-view away for free only 9 days later. With no title changes, the only thing to come from the actual event now is Baron “charisma vaccum” Cobin holding the male briefcase. Seems like a waste of a 3 hour event really doesn’t it?
WCW infamously did a similar misstep back in the height of the Monday Night Wars. Here’s what Eric Bischoff had to say about the ordeal on his podcast “Bischoff on Wrestling”:
“I think it’s a bad move. It’s a mistake I’ve made in the past. Sometimes you learn from your mistakes. At least, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. When you build up to a big event on PPV and you build up the stakes and you build up the expectation and you basically deliver a screwed finish and then re-match it on free tv… it diminishes the long-term expectation of future big event matches on PPV when that happens. I think it’s a really bad idea. By the way, I’ve done it and the results were always negative.”
One could argue that times are different now, WWE doesn’t have a major competitor, the Network has changed the game for how WWE books their shows (look at Lesnar v Goldberg at Survivor Series ’16), and whilst that is a serviceable argument, the answer doesn’t solve the puzzle as to why they would waste such an opportunity to create history, memories and stars?
It’s apparent that WWE had booked themselves into a corner and didn’t know how to get out of it. So instead just mashed the “undo” button.
Why couldn’t both Carmella and Ellsworth get punished? If you wanted to redo it, then do so, I guess. But have Carmella and Ellsworth banned from the match. Have somebody like Becky win (Charlotte has enough accomplishments), then set up a feud between Carmella and Becky. One has the briefcase, the other claims ownership due to being the original winner. Ellsworth could get involved and tease a break up between him and Carmella for causing this havok. Eventually this leads into a SummerSlam match where Becky puts the briefcase on the line which Carmella wins?
No, instead it was poorly booked tosh that WWE didn’t have the foresight to execute properly, and with a decent storyline.
What do you think of the recent developments on SmackDown Live? Let us know in the comments below!
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