CHICAGO — Braun Strowman said he was going to win the Money in the Bank contract and cash in on Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. He’s one step down. The Monster Among Men is now Mr. Monster in the Bank, having landed Raw its second contract of the night to set up a potential showdown between Team Red’s superheavyweights.
This was hardly a surprise. Strowman was such an obvious frontrunner that Kevin Owens had spent the entire night attempting to sweet-talk the bout’s SmackDown participants into ganging up on him (Samoa Joe was less than receptive; The New Day seemed sufficiently bought by Owens’ trash bag full of pancakes until KO let slip that he hates breakfast food). As it turned out, he needn’t have tried so hard: The match opened with everyone joining forces to effectively bury Strowman under a pile of ladders atop the ramp.
Braun Strowman, Bobby Roode, Kevin Owens, Finn Bálor, Rusev, The Miz, Samoa Joe and Kofi Kingston leave it all in the ring while attempting to make the dangerous climb to the life-changing briefcase.
With Strowman dispatched, a mad dash ensued to see if anyone could grab the contract before he awakened. The Miz tried to scramble up the ladder when nobody was looking and repeated the strategy throughout the night. Samoa Joe tried to drop his opponents one by one. Owens, Finn Bálor, Rusev and Bobby Roode relied on strategic, stick-and-move attacks. And Kofi Kingston, who represented The New Day for his record-tying seventh Money in the Bank Match, relied on his athleticism and ingenuity.
Strowman possessed a combination of all those strategies, so when he eventually rose from his makeshift tomb, Owens (with an assist from Joe and Rusev) didn’t hesitate to try to put him down again with a Frog Splash off a 20-foot ladder. Alas, the monstrous Superstar scaled the ladder, grabbed hold of Owens and tossed him 20 feet through a table.
Braun Strowman takes Kevin Owens out of the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match by throwing him off a huge ladder and through a table. Courtesy of WWE Network.
Needless to say, six Superstars were not nearly enough to stop what came next. After Strowman stormed to the ring (breaking a ladder held by Roode and Bálor in half with a shoulder tackle), another mad dash began. The Monster Among Men was briefly indisposed again, leading to a pair of astounding maneuvers — a double Accolade to Kofi and Roode that almost became a triple and a Coup de Grâce from Finn to The Glorious One from atop a ladder outside the ring — that seemed like they would sway the match.
Alas, the field balanced itself out too efficiently to deter Strowman’s final push for the contract. Bálor ended up face-to-face with Strowman on the other end of the ladder, while Kofi, having saved his best move for last, clung to Strowman’s back, in the hopes of snagging the contract for themselves. Both failed. Finn was decked, Kofi was dumped, and two seconds later, the Money in the Bank contract was firmly in the grasp of These Hands.
If nothing else, Braun Strowman is a monster of his word. Which means for Brock Lesnar, the question might no longer be if The Monster Among Men comes calling, but rather, when.
CHICAGO — Braun Strowman said he was going to win the Money in the Bank contract and cash in on Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. He’s one step down. The Monster Among Men is now Mr. Monster in the Bank, having landed Raw its second contract of the night to set up a potential showdown between Team Red’s superheavyweights.
This was hardly a surprise. Strowman was such an obvious frontrunner that Kevin Owens had spent the entire night attempting to sweet-talk the bout’s SmackDown participants into ganging up on him (Samoa Joe was less than receptive; The New Day seemed sufficiently bought by Owens’ trash bag full of pancakes until KO let slip that he hates breakfast food). As it turned out, he needn’t have tried so hard: The match opened with everyone joining forces to effectively bury Strowman under a pile of ladders atop the ramp.
Braun Strowman, Bobby Roode, Kevin Owens, Finn Bálor, Rusev, The Miz, Samoa Joe and Kofi Kingston leave it all in the ring while attempting to make the dangerous climb to the life-changing briefcase.
With Strowman dispatched, a mad dash ensued to see if anyone could grab the contract before he awakened. The Miz tried to scramble up the ladder when nobody was looking and repeated the strategy throughout the night. Samoa Joe tried to drop his opponents one by one. Owens, Finn Bálor, Rusev and Bobby Roode relied on strategic, stick-and-move attacks. And Kofi Kingston, who represented The New Day for his record-tying seventh Money in the Bank Match, relied on his athleticism and ingenuity.
Strowman possessed a combination of all those strategies, so when he eventually rose from his makeshift tomb, Owens (with an assist from Joe and Rusev) didn’t hesitate to try to put him down again with a Frog Splash off a 20-foot ladder. Alas, the monstrous Superstar scaled the ladder, grabbed hold of Owens and tossed him 20 feet through a table.
Braun Strowman takes Kevin Owens out of the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match by throwing him off a huge ladder and through a table. Courtesy of WWE Network.
Needless to say, six Superstars were not nearly enough to stop what came next. After Strowman stormed to the ring (breaking a ladder held by Roode and Bálor in half with a shoulder tackle), another mad dash began. The Monster Among Men was briefly indisposed again, leading to a pair of astounding maneuvers — a double Accolade to Kofi and Roode that almost became a triple and a Coup de Grâce from Finn to The Glorious One from atop a ladder outside the ring — that seemed like they would sway the match.
Alas, the field balanced itself out too efficiently to deter Strowman’s final push for the contract. Bálor ended up face-to-face with Strowman on the other end of the ladder, while Kofi, having saved his best move for last, clung to Strowman’s back, in the hopes of snagging the contract for themselves. Both failed. Finn was decked, Kofi was dumped, and two seconds later, the Money in the Bank contract was firmly in the grasp of These Hands.
If nothing else, Braun Strowman is a monster of his word. Which means for Brock Lesnar, the question might no longer be if The Monster Among Men comes calling, but rather, when.
