Nikki A.S.H. wins the briefcase

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WWE fans may have returned to the arena on Friday night, but the Money in the Bank pay-per-view is the peak of a three-shows-in-four-nights celebration of that shift.

The seven-match card features two of the titular Money in the Bank ladder matches, with a wide variety of potential outcomes for both the eight men and eight women involved. If history is any indication, the currently announced field might not even be the lineup we ultimately see once the bell rings.

There’s also three world title matches, as Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair renew tensions over the Raw women’s championship, Roman Reigns and Edge go one-on-one for the Universal title and former WWE champion Kofi Kingston challenges current champ Bobby Lashley.

Finally, both the Raw and SmackDown men’s tag team championships will be on the line, with the SmackDown version set for the kickoff show. Follow along live throughout the night as we break everything down match by match.

Match in progress: WWE championship: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Kofi Kingston

Results:

Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match: Nikki A.S.H. def Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Natalya, Zelina Vega and Tamina

Since she started in the WWE five years ago, Nikki Cross has often been overlooked despite consistently impressive in-ring performances.

She was seemingly sidelined into a comic relief superhero character as “Nikki A.S.H.” (Almost a Superhero) in recent weeks, but embraced the silliness. Now she’s Ms. Money in the Bank.

Cross took advantage of the chaos of six other competitors fighting atop three ladders, climbed over them and snatched the briefcase before anyone else could realize what had happened.

The highlight reel packages for the Money in the Bank and title wins for Bliss and Asuka, and the SmackDown women’s title victory of Naomi, was a great way to set the stakes and label the clear favorites in the match. It also took the spotlight off of the other five competitors and made the surprise ending all the more impactful.

The match was seemingly framed around Bliss from the start. She stood motionless — and emotionless — on top of the second rope as everyone else entered the match. As the rest of the competitors in the match scrambled outside to grab ladders, Bliss skipped around the ring, paused directly underneath it and motioned her hand upwards, as if to summon it to herself. But that was quickly forgotten as Asuka attacked her.

Liv Morgan made the first move towards the ladder as Tamina and Zelina Vega briefly held it, unfolded and aloft, until they realized what happened and let the ladder (and Morgan) fall.

Bliss seemingly utilized her spooky powers as Vega climbed a ladder and reached for the briefcase. Bliss climbed the other side, did mirrored hand movements and led Vega down the ladder without touching her. That spell was broken when Natalya powerbombed Bliss into the side of the ladder and then to the ground.

Naomi continued on that theme as she powerbombed Morgan into Vega, who was laid over a flat ladder sitting on the middle rope.

As Natalya climbed to the top of a ladder in the middle of the ring, Vega locked in a sleeper hold at the top of the ladder and then reached up, but could only get her fingertips on the briefcase. Morgan broke up the effort, and the ladder slowly tilted towards the ground.

It erupted into chaos in the middle of the ring. And Cross, who climbed a ladder on the outside, flew over the top rope and onto the other seven competitors.

Bliss locked in a Sister Abigail set-up for her DDT on Cross, but Natalya and Tamina, collectively the women’s tag team champions, worked together to stop Bliss and then took her out of commission with ladder shots. They then buried Bliss under a pile of ladders, and the rest of the participants joined in and built the pile higher.

Morgan tried to take advantage of the chaos. Tamina interrupted, then Morgan did a spinning head scissors to Tamina. Morgan hit a suspended Flatliner on Asuka to put her alone in the ring once more, but by the time she realized it, she and Naomi climbed the middle ladder.

Tamina and Asuka climbed a second ladder off to one side. Natalya and Vega scaled a ladder on the other side. Cross joined the middle ladder in the midst of it all, climbed over Morgan to the top and then unlatched the briefcase, becoming Ms. Money in the Bank.

What’s next: The women’s Money in the Bank briefcase has been cashed in quickly on a number of occasions, and a surprise win like this would seemingly carry more benefit if Cross continued to build tension over a long stretch. She might get more serious. She might get even sillier. But it will undoubtedly be a more compelling story than it would have been had any of the favorites won the match.

SmackDown tag team championships: The Usos def. Rey Mysterio & Dominik Mysterio (c)

Name a better pair than The Usos being jettisoned to the kickoff show despite being more than worthy of a prime pay-per-view slot, and then stepping up and over-delivering. I’ll wait.

The now seven-time tag team champions defeated Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio to win the SmackDown tag team titles with a little bit of creativity and a lot of rule bending.

It took the crowd a while to fire up, and they struggled at times to get behind Rey and Dominik, who have largely had this run inside the Thunderdome without live fans in attendance. But the collective performances of all four participants slowly brought the crowd energy up throughout the match.

They came alive and exploded into “this is awesome” chants in the closing minutes. Jimmy Uso absorbed a 619 for his brother Jey and saved the match for his team. Then Jey superkicked and top-rope splashed Rey, which the audience thought was the end. When Rey kicked out, the energy spiked again.

Finally, in a chaotic ending, Jimmy dropped Rey face-first onto the top turnbuckle, rolled Rey up for a pinfall, and Jey added illegal leverage to Jimmy’s back by sticking his legs under the bottom rope to get the three-count.

What’s next: With the cheating finish, there’s likely to be a rematch in the short term. But for now, pending Roman Reigns’ Universal championship defense against Edge later in the night, Reigns and his family have increased their power and influence over the rest of the SmackDown roster.

Raw tag team championships: AJ Styles & Omos (c) def. The Viking Raiders

AJ Styles and Omos successfully retained the Raw tag team championships, following the most complete match of Omos’ career thus far.

Omos picked up the pinfall victory after delivering a standing choke-bomb to Erik, and then, rather than his customary one-foot cover, put all of his weight onto Erik to secure the win.

Generally, it doesn’t seem right for Styles to play the fool, even to an established tag team like The Viking Raiders. He’s a two-time WWE champion and still one of the best wrestlers in the world, with the swagger and charisma to match. That was clear as the now-returned WWE fandom largely cheered for Styles over the course of this tag title match.

Styles did take the majority of the damage in this match, bumping around like crazy as Erik and Ivar put on a strong performance of there on. But there was one particularly impressive moment when Omos threw Styles feet first over the ring, and into a hurricanrana on the outside to Erik.

Omos is still clearly raw and inexperienced, but his moveset is expanding and his presence is undeniable. He effectively hit a scoop slam and a military press over the course of the match and then closed out strong. After a Styles Clash was stifled, and the Viking Raiders hit a Viking Experience on Styles, Omos broke it up by grabbing Erik by the throat and tossing him backwards into Ivar to stop the count.

Then Omos ended the match, quickly and effectively.

What’s next: If Styles and Omos are indeed the long-term plan, start building some of the other teams up to benefit both the champions and their challengers.

Still to come:

Universal championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Edge

Raw women’s championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match: Big E vs. Drew McIntyre vs. John Morrison vs. Kevin Owens vs. Matt Riddle vs. Ricochet vs. Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura



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