It's Saturday night in North Greenwich and 20,000 people are currently camped out in the O2 Arena singing "Sold my car...to Santos Escobar!" at the top of their lungs. It can only mean one thing: WWE is in town, and the notoriously rowdy UK crowd is having it large. Over the decade-ish since it became its own fully-fledged Premium Live Event, Money In The Bank has asserted itself as one of the WWE's most important annual shows, and there's certainly a Big Night feel in the O2 tonight. It's an atmosphere that kicks into gear midway through the afternoon as fans begin flocking towards the venue early on to lay their hands on merch, take photos under giant, prop briefcases and ladders and begin stirring up the kinds of hilarious chants that dominate much of the evening.
Luckily, the show itself more than matches the energy of the crowd. Proceedings kick off with a stellar, death-defying Money In The Bank ladder match, featuring six of the company's finest current talents, plus social media sensation Logan Paul, who has proven himself a more than worthy part time addition to WWE's roster. Despite being first on, it's undoubtedly the match that steals the show, stacked with amazing bumps and set-pieces, with particular star turns from the outrageously athletic Ricochet. Not giving the win to crowd favourite LA Knight feels like a missed opportunity (he is by far the most over guy on the card this evening), but a victory for The Judgement Day's Damian Priest does at least set up some tantalising potential angles down the road.
The men's MITB match is followed by a trio of solid bouts: Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez re-capture the Women's Tag Team Championships following a genuinely shocking turn by Shayna Baszler on longtime pal Ronda Rousey; Gunther slaps the hell out of Matt Riddle to retain his Intercontinental Championship before a returning Drew McIntyre pops the crowd big time; popular fan fave Cody Rhodes dishes out a loss to the entertainingly hateable Dominik Mysterio.
The women's Money In The Bank match, meanwhile, very nearly matches the chaos and excitement of the men's, packing a unique finish that sees Becky Lynch and Bayley handcuffed to a ladder while Iyo Sky clambers over them both to grab the sacred briefcase. Seth Rollins overcomes Finn Balor - and a tease for an instant Money In The Bank cash-in by Damian Priest - to keep hold of his World Heavyweight Championship in a close-fought and entertaining contest.
The night ends with an emotional tag team bout featuring former stablemates colliding as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa face off against The Usos. The Bloodline saga has become deservedly acclaimed as one of pro wrestling's greatest ever storylines, and this latest chapter doesn't disappoint, the O2 practically exploding as Jey Uso hands Reigns his first pinfall loss in three and a half years. It's a triumphant end to the show and is treated as such by a crowd that refuses to let up despite the time creeping towards midnight by the final bell.
Incredibly given all the brilliant action on show tonight, it isn't even a wrestling match that provides the biggest talking point of the evening. Midway through the show, John Cena makes a stunning surprise appearance, blowing the roof off the place as he emerges unannounced to demand that London gets to host a Wrestlemania sometime in the near future. Unsurprisingly, it draws ferocious cheers, and the WWE legend makes a fair point: if Money In The Bank has proven one thing, it's that UK crowds remain some of the best in the world, and would surely do the company's biggest event justice. After tonight, should Wrestlemania ever finally head oversees, you'd have to hope London is top of the waiting list.
