Nia Jax Vs. Ronda Rousey Was Discussed To Be The Main Event At 'Money In The Bank'
At the Money in the Bank event, the men's ladder match closed the show, with Braun Strowman winning the match and the briefcase. Among this match, two other matches featured for the event was the women's Money in the Bank match ? with Alexa Bliss defeating opponents Sasha Banks, Ember Moon, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Becky Lynch, Natalya, and Lana ? and the WWE Championship Last Man Standing Match pitting AJ Styles against Shinsuke Nakamura.
During the event, Bliss won the women's MITB match in the fourth match of the night. Four matches later, she appeared during the Raw Women's Championship match between Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey, attacking both competitors with her briefcase before successfully cashing it in against Jax and winning the championship for the third time. Although this match was the eighth of 10 total matches on the card, there were discussions of it being placed at the top.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the Jax vs. Rousey Raw Women's Championship match was discussed to be the main event of the evening, with the major emphasis being Bliss cashing in the briefcase and winning the title heading into Raw to next evening. As seen on Raw, the Rousey/Bliss feud became one of the lead storylines on the show, with Rousey attacking both Bliss and General Manager Kurt Angle. Rousey was given a 30-day suspension as a result, and vowed to take care of Bliss when she returns. Nia Jax has her rematch at Extreme Rules on July 15.
The WON noted that media was told Money in the Bank was going to end at 10:30 p.m. EST, with enough cushion for an overrun to end before 11:00 p.m., as the goal is for only the "big four" pay-per-views ? Rumble Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series ? to potentially run over 11:00 p.m. Early in the show, producers realized that the 10:30 p.m. finish was not going to happen, and the show ended at about 11:20 p.m. EST.
While the feeling was that it would have been a risk main-eventing Rousey in just her first singles match and second match overall, Rousey's performances has caused WWE to be much more comfortable with headlining her in the final match of the card on future events.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Subscribe to The Wrestling Observer by clicking here. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus history pieces. New subscribers can also receive free classic issues.