WWE Money In The Bank 2011: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to another edition of Wrestling Inc.'s retro reviews, where we take notable wrestling shows from the past and apply our universally celebrated loved/hated format! After finally doing our first historic dive into All Elite Wrestling last month, we are back to WWE this time around, because it's just about time for the latest edition of Money in the Bank! And when you're looking back at old Money in the Bank shows, there's really just one that comes to mind first and foremost: the fateful night in Chicago in July when CM Punk defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship and walked out on the company — seemingly for good.

To set the stage for Money in the Bank 2011 ... it's the pipebomb promo, ever heard of it?  In an iconic six-minute stretch that changed the course of history despite being legitimately cut off before it was over, Punk sat down cross-legged on the stage and explained that his WWE contract was about to end, but that he intended to leave with the world title after defeating Cena. It's one of the most influential wrestling moments of the modern era because of how many lines it crossed, but it was also clearly a worked shoot — no matter how far off the rails Punk gets, he never stops selling the pay-per-view. Nor are Cena and Punk the only attraction; an acclaimed world title match between Randy Orton and Christian headlines the undercard, along with Kelly Kelly vs. Brie Bella and Mark Henry vs. The Big Show. There are also two titular Money in the Bank ladder matches, one that we'll discuss here, and another that's won by Alberto Del Rio. The WINC staff has a lot to say, about this show and what came afterward — here are three things we hated and three things we loved about WWE Money in the Bank 2011.

Part of the difference in the experience of going back and watching an event 14 years after the fact is the added benefit of hindsight – for better or for worse. It seems like a foregone assumption that anyone who has followed, perhaps even enjoyed, the career of Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson will attest to the fact that it hasn't always been the easiest of roads. But looking back on it, and this is something he himself has attested to, things certainly seemed to have worked out for the "American Dragon." 

Obviously there were several moments before Money in the Bank 2011 that had established Bryan within professional wrestling, but this night was the first step in his journey to becoming WWE World Champion. Yes, it would take three probably unnecessary years for him to reach the pinnacle at WrestleMania 30. But that night is rightfully considered to be one of if not the greatest moments to happen at the "Show of Shows" – one might even say an "Immortal Moment." And as bizarre as it seems, Bryan winning the blue lunchbox ladder match was the first domino to fall. 

Now, the match itself. Oh, the match itself. That in itself served up a manner of nostalgic fun, Kofi Kingston during his "SOS" and "Let's do the most insane spots" era, Sin Cara when it was Mistico under the mask (otherwise known as the good Sin Cara), Wade Barrett when he was a wrestler as opposed to a commentator, Cody Rhodes when he thought he was ugly (poor chap), and Kane when he was just a villain on TV. Again, with the benefit of hindsight the focal storyline in this match was the contention between Sheamus and Bryan, with both constantly coming close and then having the rug pulled at the last minute. And that does make the moment even more bittersweet given that their grand finale was allocated less than 20 seconds at the following WrestleMania. But on the balance of things, and especially for the night itself, this ladder match was an excellent way to get the show started and will stand in history as chapter one of Bryan's ascension in WWE, so it's easy to love.

Written by Max Everett

A common complaint amongst WWE's PG era centered on the consistent lack of screen time for the women in the company, who were then known as WWE Divas. That theme rang especially true at the 2011 WWE Money in the Bank event as the Divas filled maybe seven minutes of air with entrances, one five-minute match, and a brief, post-match verbal spat.

On this occasion, Kelly Kelly defended her newly-won Divas Championship against Brie Bella, with Eve Torres in her corner. Meanwhile, Brie came with her sister Nikki Bella by her side. The month prior, the WWE Universe overwhelmingly voted Kelly into a Divas title match against Brie on the special "Power to the People" edition of "WWE Raw." Unfortunately, those same people were virtually silent in her first title defense, with Kelly's efforts to hype them up done in vain.

Given that Kelly was arguably the most popular Diva (and certainly my favorite) at the time, the live crowd's lack of care was a bit concerning to see. To be fair, though, a less than five-minute match doesn't offer much for them to invest in.

The time restrictions were evident in this Divas Championship bout as The Bella Twins, famous for their trickery and cheating, didn't even attempt their signature Twin Magic maneuver. In fact, Nikki's only mid-match involvement came when Brie distracted the referee, allowing her to land a singular stomp on Kelly on the outside. Nikki and Brie even wore identical green gear that could have seamlessly led to them switching places and giving Brie the momentary upper hand, especially in a rematch for the women's biggest prize. Alas, none of that happened.

The match itself also came with some questionable spots, which also may have been the result of the time limits. Notable spots include a wonky clothesline from Kelly in the corner and the bulldog in which Brie preemptively launched her own face into the mat, rather than Kelly driving it there.

Moments after that bulldog, Kelly retained her Divas Championship, courtesy of the K2. Unimpressed by her sister's loss, Nikki then berated Brie on their way to the back. "She doesn't even eat, how could you not beat that?" Nikki said (in character) in reference to Kelly, after which Brie made eating gestures at the successfully-defending champion. Now, while I recognize this is a way for The Bella Twins to attract heat as heels, it does not send a good message, and could even be triggering, to the young girls watching WWE. Body image is typically a sensitive subject for that audience demographic (especially for 14-year-old me at the time), and hearing something like that is a definite turnoff, though not the worst of that era (Piggy James claims that throne).

Written by Ella Jay

The old question of what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object is one that WWE thought they were asking their fans when they booked The Big Show and Mark Henry in a feud during the second half of 2011, but what they ended up booking was just two immovable objects who couldn't build enough force even if they had an Olympic sized running track to gain momentum.

To put it bluntly, this match from Money in the Bank 2011 is not necessarily bad, there were far worse matches in wrestling throughout 2011 (Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler, don't hide behind the commentary desk because I see you), but it was just kind of there. Granted, this would end up acting as the first chapter in a feud that would not only last until December, but would end up involving the World Heavyweight Championship, so with the benefit of hindsight it's a match that serves its purpose. With that said, this is a show that is often regarded as one of the greatest WWE pay-per-views of all time, and this is not an all-time classic.

My main problem is that it's just boring. These are two men who are behemoths in an arena full of normal people, they are the equivalent of two buildings crashing into each other to see which one would be left standing, this should arguably be more exciting than some other matches on the show from a sheer freakshow perspective. Instead, it moves at a glacial pace at times, and when it looked like it was about to move up a gear into something a little more interesting, it was over, with Henry hitting the World's Strongest Slam and two World's Strongest Splash's for the win.

Surely if you give two guys the size of Big Show and Mark Henry a grand total of six minutes to work with, both of them, and WWE as well, would have the common sense to just try and destroy anything and everything in their way for those six minutes. Like the ring collapsing spot at Vengeance a few months later but for six minutes, the fans would be falling over themselves in disbelief as to what they would be seeing. Think of Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg from WrestleMania 33, an all killer no filler let's try and destroy each other as quickly as possible and leave style of match, would have gone down a treat, but instead they decided to just have a normal wrestling match, and on a show with two fantastic title bouts, two ladder matches, and Kelly Kelly, a normal match isn't going to cut it.

It was salvaged a little by the post-match beatdown by Henry, but it was a lost cause by that point. A match you will likely forget about by the end of the next match you watch, which is frustrating because it could have been so much fun. At least it led to Daniel Bryan being a World Champion.

Written by Sam Palmer

I'll be honest, prior to writing this, I had never seen the 2011 Money In The Bank match between Randy Orton and Christian before nor did I really know anything about the Orton and Christian's feud throughout that year. As soon as I watched the video package that preceded the match (the one and only time I will find one of them useful) though, I was instantly hooked and knew that I would love what was to follow in the match.

Not only was the action of this match from top to bottom fast and well paced, but the in ring psychology that was present throughout it was the thing that really made it what it was. Everything from the structure of the match itself to Christian doing whatever he can to provoke Orton into getting himself disqualified from the match to Orton himself trying to keep his anger in check only to ultimately let Christian get under his skin. It just all worked so well to come together and tell a story within a story through the medium of a match. Orton and Chrisitian further showcased their well understanding of in-ring psychology, with Christian wasting no time trying to provoke Orton by sliding a chair in the ring right out of the gate to get Orton to use it and Orton bringing a sense of aggression that fit the tone of this match. The ending of the match also gave fans the perfect cliffhanger for a Premium Live Event, with Chrsitian becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion after spitting in Orton's face and being low blowed by him. It fit with the rest of the match perfectly, and wrapped up everything nice and neatly.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Well who didn't see this coming?

I don't think I'm alone in saying that by the summer of 2011, wrestling wasn't really doing it for me anymore. WWE's PG era had shown glimpses of greatness but could never follow it up, TNA was in the worst state it had ever been in from a creative standpoint, and we were still a few years away from the likes of NJPW and ROH reaching a level where they were accessible to a global audience on a regular basis. Then this story came along.

It's hard to explain how much of an explosion "The Pipebomb" caused within the industry (pun very much intended. That one night where CM Punk finally got everything off his chest is the moment his career changed forever, but at the time, no one knew what would become of "The Second City Saint." Instead, it was simply lightning in a bottle that WWE absolutely had to capitalize on, and pairing him with John Cena, who was at the peak of getting reactions that commentary would constantly say "makes you feel something" was the move WWE made to try and keep people on the edge of their seats.

What transpired at Money in the Bank 2011 is a match that is every bit as good as people say it is and then some. There will be people who prefer some of their later matches which is fine, each to their own and all that, but honestly, this might be one of the most perfect wrestling matches in the history of the business. For the most part, wrestling is all about timing, and WWE, John Cena, and CM Punk couldn't have timed any of this any better if they tried to. Punk legitimately at the end of his contract in front of his hometown followers, all of whom were sick of WWE forcing "Super Cena" down their throats, it was if for one brief moment in a true down period for the business as a whole that the stars aligned.

For the match itself, it's a masterpiece without question. Seeing them embrace the big match feel, gradually advance through the gears as the minutes tick by, culminating in a closing sequence that, even 14 years later, still makes me say "hell yeah." Cena catching the GTS into an STF, Punk inches away from victory only for Cena to fall out of the ring, and then of course Vince McMahon getting a front row seat to see his company's title get taken out the back door.

There's a reason why this match, and these few weeks in WWE's history are remembered so fondly. It's a month that stands alone as one of the best told tales in company history. For as explosive as "The Pipebomb" was, this was the explosion that cemented Punk as a top draw forever, and is still to this day one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time.

Shame about what happened afterwards though...and speaking of that...

Written by Sam Palmer

This is all being said with the hefty benefit of hindsight 14 years after the fact, but Money in the Bank 2011 really set the stage for an epic sequence of events that was never delivered. CM Punk and John Cena wrestled one of the best matches in each of their careers with one another, weeks after Punk had delivered the career-defining "Pipebomb" promo, and Punk took the WWE Championship as the storyline told that he was finishing up his contract with the company. The Chicago crowd was electric throughout and equally ecstatic when he won the title, the stage was set for a second Summer of Punk with the potential to span an entire year of programming and even – with a bit of big-picture thinking – encompassing the wider world of wrestling. 

First, let's take a look at what could have happened. Punk could have taken the Lineal WWE Championship title to the independent circuit, he wouldn't have even needed to wrestle, but purely just appearing with the title belt elsewhere would have had very little risk but done a lot more to emphasize his "departure." Meanwhile, Cena or Rey Mysterio could have continued as the sanctioned WWE Champion. Assuming Alberto Del Rio absolutely has to win Money in the Bank and it's a canon event that he cashes in, then that could have easily been done at SummerSlam between Mysterio and Cena. Punk comes back months later, still with his title belt that he has paraded around the world, and then challenges the company face for the Undisputed title. 

Now, what actually happened; Punk returned eight days later to confront Cena after he had defeated Mysterio after he had won a tournament to crown a new champion. I mean, what? It's indicative of a severe lack of attention span and ambition to actually sell the story that the workers had... worked... to make the story what it had been. Instead, the opportunity to actually anoint Punk face of the company like the story had called for was passed up, naturally, so that Triple H could beat him to set up a Kevin Nash feud that never really happened. I mean, seriously this time, what? 

Obviously, Punk would probably say things have worked out now. But taking it for what it is, WWE did all of the work to completely deflate the balloon they had blown up, and that's a shame.

Written by Max Everett