00:00Jacob Fatu turns babyface, I hate you Solo Sokoa, Naomi and Seth Rollins win the Money
00:07in the Bank briefcases, and in the most over spot of the night, Mr. Iguana.
00:17It's Mr. Iguana.
00:19He's got an Iguana puppet.
00:21Owen R-Truth returns to WWE cost John Cena in the main event and appears to have re-signed
00:25in a huge pivot by the company amidst fan and roster backlash at the decision to cut
00:29him.
00:30I'm Oli Davis, a big thank you to War Thunder for sponsoring this video, more on them
00:34in a bit, and this is my review of Money in the Bank 2025 in about 10 minutes.
00:44This episode of Saturday Night Raw with two Money in the Bank ladder matches was a show
00:48of anniversaries.
00:49The Intuit Dome in LA was where Raw made its debut on Netflix.
00:52LA was where the Money in the Bank stipulation debuted at WrestleMania two decades ago.
00:58The date also marked 28 years since Michael Cole made his WWE debut.
01:03And of course, most importantly of all, the first WWE appearance of Mr. Iguana.
01:09It's Mr. Iguana.
01:10He's got an Iguana.
01:11But before that, the show opened with NXT's women's division Money in the Bank ladder match,
01:16which saw new, but also actually quite established, main roster call-ups Julia, Stephanie Vaker,
01:21and Roxanne Perez take on Naomi, Alexa Bliss and Rhea Ripley.
01:25The action was good, with several fun character spots, like Ripley emerging from a pile of
01:29ladders to get revenge on Perez, but I struggled to buy into the interpersonal relations.
01:34Unlike the men's ladder match, which had the drama of Jacob Fatou turning on Solo Sokoa,
01:38and the stakes of Seth controlling Raw if he won the briefcase, the women's match, for
01:43me, felt more superficial.
01:45While Perez and Julia have been fantastic in NXT, they've not had consistent characters
01:49since WrestleMania, so I can never really fully get into them working together again, or when
01:54Roxanne inevitably turned on her one-time tag partner.
01:57Just like the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches, though, I did think Perez was
02:01the standout again, with the main character energy of targeting Ripley, betraying Julia,
02:06and hitting a code red on a ladder bridge.
02:08The loudest received spot of the match, however, goes to Vaker's Devil's Kiss leg buffs
02:13on the ladder on Rhea.
02:14It came down to the veterans in the final moments, as Bliss and Rhea fought in the ring,
02:18but there was another veteran waiting for her chance.
02:22Naomi, who pushed them both off the ladder to unhook the briefcase herself.
02:26Setting up a neat title picture on SmackDown with Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill.
02:30The Kingo was then shown with the AAA Mega Championship in the crowd, having beaten Chad Gable at Worlds
02:34Collide earlier in the day.
02:36Don't worry, that shot was geo-blocked in Mexico.
02:38There were some other AAA stars like the legendary Dr. Wagner Jr, but never mind that bollocks.
02:44Because then, Mr. Iguana got the biggest pop of the night just by being shown on screen.
02:50It's Mr. Iguana!
02:51He's got an Iguana!
02:54Odds Collide had set up an impromptu match for Money in the Bank, when Dominic Mysterio
02:57had an angle with Octagon Jr for being a fan of his dad.
03:01Liv Morgan was at ringside, but she barely interfered, as Dom was portrayed as a far more credible
03:05wrestler easily retaining the IC title.
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04:27After a good video package recapping their NXT Title Match 2, Becky Lynch vs Lyra Valkyria
04:32had trilogy conclusion energy.
04:34While the start to their feud, Postmania was clunky and rushed, their in-ring work at Backlash
04:39was fantastic, and they were every bit as good here.
04:42Take note Cody Rhodes, the grudge match action started right away, as the babyface Lyra jumped
04:46heel Becky during the ring introductions.
04:48They were constantly back and forth, in a realistic blend of aggression and messiness.
04:53Lyra hit a leg drop off the table onto Becky, draped over the barricade outside, Becky hit
04:57a second rope manhandle slam, Lyra hit a Nightwing on the outside, and they both just got back
05:02in to beat the count.
05:04They were seemingly perfectly matched, apart from one trait.
05:08Becky was willing to cheat.
05:10In a roll-up exchange, Lynch held Lyra's tights to get the pin.
05:14As per the stipulation, Lyra had to raise Becky's hand in victory afterwards.
05:18But Lynch wanted her to put the title round her waist too.
05:21Lyra decided that this respect was too much, so she hit a German suplex and a Nightwing
05:25to leave Becky laying, potentially building a rematch for Evolution 2.
05:29Sometimes you get branded integrations so perfectly matched it's impossible to be
05:33angry.
05:34Of course WWE's PLA Money in the Bank should be sponsored by the Cash App.
05:38It's like a hardcore match being sponsored by PornHub.
05:41Dave Meltzer described WWE's business model on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer
05:46Radio.
05:47There's blank space on screen, TKO wants to monetise it.
05:50TKO's business is to sell sponsorships.
05:52That's their real priority now.
05:54We've already got sponsored matches, sponsored segments, they'll put logos anywhere.
05:59They're trying to turn every frame of WWE content into an ad vehicle.
06:03If they could sell sponsorship for the pyro, they would.
06:07More Dave Meltzer lies and fake news.
06:09WWE aren't going to sell sponsorship for the pyro.
06:12That's ridiculous.
06:13They're going to do it for the ladders.
06:16Because for the Men's Money in the Bank ladder match, the best ladder to use was the Fireball
06:19Whiskey branded ladder.
06:21It even got its own backstage segment with the queens to introduce it.
06:24Ahead of the men's match though, we got a fun video package recapping the stipulation's
06:28history and stats, and Wade Barrett ran through every competitor and their chances.
06:33Seth and Solo had their own factions that could get involved.
06:36While Grande Americano is a Mexican wrestling legend, LA Knight has the whole crowd behind
06:41him.
06:42Penta is still taking the WWE Universe by storm.
06:45And Andrade.
06:47Sorry Andrade, I'm just kidding.
06:53Actually none of them have a chance apart from Seth.
06:55But even with that very predictable outcome, which, fantasy booking wise, you'd expect gets
06:59cashed in after Jey Uso's successful title defence against Gunther on Monday's Raw, this
07:04match had a great mix of drama and high spots.
07:07There was Solo Sokoa's naturally fantastic comedic instincts, where he did everyone else's
07:11pose at them throughout the match.
07:13There was El Brundt Americano being the standout in the ring for me, including the show's
07:17best spot.
07:18Him running up a ladder on the ring post outside, swashbuckling across onto another ladder onto
07:23the main ladder to take out Penta.
07:25And there was heel faction warfare, when the bronze took on the bloodline.
07:29But with everyone taken out, Fatou let Solo climb the ladder to then finally yell, I hate
07:35you, pull him down and superkick him in the face, turning babyface against his bloodline
07:40leader.
07:41Seth was then able to climb the ladder and unhook the briefcase.
07:44I guess Sami Zayn didn't care enough about stopping Seth to actually show up at the event.
07:49Triple H asked us if we're ready to double down for WrestleMania 42, not New Orleans,
07:54and then Panic booked an episode of Raw against declining ratings, announcing the King and Queen
07:58of the Ring tournament matches beginning, and Nikki Bella making her return.
08:02And with 30 minutes left for what really should have been a TV main event, we got John Cena
08:06and Logan Paul tagging against Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso, where Cody was finally in the
08:12ring against Cena after John cheated to beat him at WrestleMania.
08:17Cena dodged him early, tagging in Logan, but then ended up in the ring for Cody to finally
08:21get his long-awaited revenge with a headlock.
08:26What a vicious blood feud over the fate of all of professional wrestling.
08:30The match was one long working over of Jey, giving him more damage going into the Gunther
08:35match on Monday, while Cena and Logan cut him off, tagging Cody… for 12 minutes.
08:40Jey didn't even earn the hot tag himself in the end, making the 12 minutes feel kind
08:44of pointless.
08:45Logan and Cena argued over John's constant blind tags, letting Jey tagging Cody.
08:49From then on, it was an awesome 10 minutes of non-stop action.
08:53AAs, spears, crossroads, nearfalls, one botched buckshot lariat from Logan Paul.
08:58Haha Logan Paul, you're not a perfect in-ring wrestler.
09:01We can finally all hate on you proper l- God damn he just nailed the acai moonsault to the
09:05outside.
09:06Logan actually got all the best spots, including that accidentally wiping out Cena, and having
09:10Cody superplex him while he was filming himself, all from the POV of Paul's own camera.
09:16And then came the finish.
09:18Cena used the championship belt on Cody again.
09:20He was about to ruin wrestling, when a man in a black hoodie ran in and took Cena out with
09:25the title instead, who revealed himself to be a returning R-Truth.
09:32Hopefully this now starts a story where Truth doesn't realise he's actually been let
09:35go by the company.
09:36Cody pinned John Cena, and it wasn't just the babyfaces that stood tall, it was WWE,
09:42for realising not renewing Truth's contract was a mistake, listening to the fans and roster,
09:47and bringing him back in some way.
09:50But what way, you might ask?
09:52And what really went on behind the scenes?
09:54Well, if you ask Triple H, it was all part of the plan, all part of the show.
09:59I'm a genius.
10:00My beard is full of long term feuds.
10:02A USA Today reporter asked Paul Levesque at the post show conference if Truth was actually
10:06released from WWE last week, and how much the fans played a part in him seemingly coming
10:12back.
10:13To which Levesque replied, I love the question, did you enjoy the show?
10:17All part of the show, man.
10:19Not so according to R-Truth himself, who replied to a tweet calling his run-in one of the greatest
10:25moments in history.
10:26Not just WWE history, by the way, but all history that tweet says, presumably ranking it alongside
10:31the end of World War 2, the signing of the Magna Carta and the discovery of penicillin,
10:35and that we all got worked.
10:37To which Truth replied, no work.
10:40A banner then appeared on WWE's official shop of a new t-shirt design for Truth, but under
10:45his non-WWE name of Wrong Killings.
10:49PWInsider then reported, R-Truth is indeed back and will be going under the Wrong Killings
10:54name going forward, at least initially.
10:56He was in discussions with several promoters about appearances and independent booking several
11:00days ago, so the decision to bring him back happened over the last 72 hours.
11:07Then Fightful Select added, R-Truth is back with WWE before he ever technically left.
11:13No.
11:14It's not a work.
11:16Apparently Truth's pre-existing contract had not yet expired, but last weekend he was
11:20notified by WWE that they wouldn't be offering him a new one.
11:24Fightful's sources now claim he does have a new deal under Ron R-Truth Killings, which
11:29Truth's own son posted on his Instagram.
11:31Congrats on the new deal, Dad!
11:33Last run!
11:34Fightful notes that Truth had been flooded with phone calls and messages about his WWE departure
11:39over the last week, and seemed shocked and kind of disgusted, as we all were.
11:45Because it wasn't just WWE getting rid of Truth, it was the nature in how they treated
11:49a 17 year long veteran of the company, reportedly being told by a talent relations employee over
11:55the phone in a very cold and impersonal way, instead of someone like Levesque breaking the
12:00news personally.
12:01Fightful continue that Killings actually ignored many of WWE's approaches during the week, until
12:07Nick Khan took over and called Killings to work out a new deal.
12:11We're told that the deal was a meeting halfway situation.
12:15One WWE veteran told SRS that Levesque isn't happy with the way this has gone down, quoting
12:20them saying, I can tell Hunter doesn't like it.
12:23He doesn't like the fans hijacking creative.
12:27But unhappy or not, WWE made a smart decision, winning back a lot of fan and roster support.
12:32Money in the Bank 2025 is a 3.5 out of 5 show.
12:36Make sure you're subscribed, because Luke and I will have our full podcast review of
12:39Money in the Bank on this very channel soon.
12:42And please support us by checking out this video's sponsor, War Thunder.
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