I absolutely loved Money In The Bank, and it seems I’m not alone. Reviews for WWE’s latest premium live event on Twitter were really strong with fans in particular praising the crowd, The Bloodline Civil War, the surprise John Cena segment and the women’s Money In The Bank match. Reaction to the men’s version was a little more mixed, particularly about the ending. Some fans are absolutely furious that rising star LA Knight didn’t grab the briefcase, while others feel Triple H, Vince McMahon and everyone else involved in creative made the right call with Damian Priest. I’ve got some strong feelings myself too; so, let’s talk this out.
No one on WWE’s roster has ascended further faster than LA Knight. In less than a year, the self-proclaimed megastar has gone from being a gimmick manager to the people’s obvious favorite to win Money In The Bank. His promos are being compared to an Attitude Era version of Dwayne Johnson, and his cocky and prickly demeanor is reminding some fans of Stone Cold Steve Austin. I’m not saying he’s the most popular person on the entire roster, but he’s certainly the hottest and the buzziest.
Unfortunately, LA Knight’s booking hasn’t always reflected his surging popularity. He’s picked up recent wins against Rey Mysterio, Butch, Montez Ford and Rick Boogs, but he’s also lost over the last several months to the likes of Santos Escobar and Xavier Woods. Many fans were hoping Money In The Bank would be the moment for him to dramatically leap out of the mid-card and into the main event scene. He was odds on favorite in betting markets, and the crowd cheered him as loud or louder than any other person at the entire event. It certainly seemed like his moment… and then it wasn’t.
After Damian Priest climbed the ladder and won Money In The Bank, a lot of really angry fans immediately jumped on social media to yell about their frustrations, and those who wanted to complain found plenty of sympathetic ears. This tweet from Humble Wrestling, as an example, got more than 10,000 likes…
The hardcores wanted it. The casuals clearly wanted it. But leave it to the WWE to screw it up.July 1, 2023
And it’s far from the only one. If you search LA Knight on Twitter, you’ll find a dozen or so tweets with thousands of likes talking about how WWE needed to take advantage of his rising popularity and give fans a great moment. Many see his loss as just the latest instance of WWE not listening to fans. In fact, my CinemaBlend co-worker Mick Joest shared similar sentiments and feels like he’s been down this road before…
It’s almost like I’ve watched wrestling for years lol https://t.co/JHBjUqCsceJuly 1, 2023
But not everyone feels like LA Knight losing is an all-time miss. There is a very loud contingent of fans who think Damian Priest deserved his Money In The Bank win. He’s at the center of Judgment Day, the hottest non-Bloodline faction in WWE. His match with Bad Bunny at Backlash was praised as one of the best of the year, and his win makes the most sense from a plot standpoint. The writers have slowly been teasing tension between him and Finn Bálor inside Judgment Day, and that played out in Bálor’s loss later the same night to Seth Freakin’ Rollins.
So, this whole thing isn’t as simple as WWE making a bad move creatively. There are tons of tweets from fans praising the writers for sticking with what was likely the original plan and following through with Damian Priest. Here’s an example from What Culture’s Simon Miller that has more than 3,000 likes…
People are livid LA Knight didn’t win. 😂 I like that Damien Priest got the nod, though. Dude has been killing it for years. Hell yeah! #MITBJuly 1, 2023
As for where my head is at, after thinking about it for a night, I’m on team WWE made the right call with one major caveat. The briefcase should always go to the person who can most effectively use it, and I think that person is Damian Priest, which is what I said in my Money In The Bank Predictions. He’s ready to get to the main event level. I want to see him get a World Heavyweight Championship run, and further, the writers can use the briefcase to start making Judgment Day more psychologically complicated, which is something I’ve been calling for for awhile. I don’t even want to see them break-up, but I want them to be given the time to explore the interpersonal dynamics within the group more, which is what The Bloodline has been able to do.
That being said, WWE cannot waste this moment with LA Knight. He doesn’t need the briefcase, and he doesn’t even need an immediate run with a big title. He’s primed to have an all-time mid-card title run right now, and he should get on that trajectory ASAP. Fans are ready to see Austin Theory lose the belt, and LA Knight is the perfect person to take it. At SummerSlam. A win there would feel like a huge step up, and he could be given his own little corner of SmackDown every week to cook and make the US Championship feel important in the same way Gunther has for the Intercontinental Championship.
If WWE does this right, Money In The Bank should elevate both Damian Priest and LA Knight. With the briefcase, Priest can finally cement his status as a main event guy and explore some really interesting plotlines with Finn Bálor. With fans mad he lost and even more invested in pushing him, LA Knight can and should ride that wave to a big moment at SummerSlam, probably for a mid-card title. That would be great for everyone involved, but we’ll just have to wait and see if the writers can pull it off.
