"There's a right way and a wrong way."--Oliver Hardy.
That classic line, spoken in a number of Laurel & Hardy films back in the day, fits the 2017 WWE Money in the Bank event perfectly. The two titular ladder matches bookended the PPV/WWE Network portion of the card, and, as implied, were as different as night and day in terms of booking.
Let's start with the women's ladder match, shall we?
Never mind that by design, these bouts are No-DQ, you throw that out the door when it comes to a non-participant like James Ellsworth, who has gone from being a punching bag for AJ Styles & Dean Ambrose nearly a year ago to being a stooge for Carmella, and not getting as many opportunities to compete on his own anymore. It was Ellsworth, and not Carmella, who climbed the ladder after tipping over said ladder to send Becky Lynch (who got screwed again) throat first into the ropes.
What that says is that Carmella is now being presented as being a user, a poser, and unworthy of the women's title if she has to rely on Ellsworth to do her heavy lifting for her. Later, it was announced that returning GM Daniel Bryan would make a ruling on Smackdown Live! tonight. That ruling had better be what it should be, which is........
The match result is voided due to Ellsworth's illegal participation, as it should've been Carmella or one of the other women climbing the ladder at the end of the match. The five (Carmella, Becky, Natalya, Tamina Snuka, & Charlotte Flair) would be then rematched in a 5-way elimination match, with Ellsworth banned from the arena so he cannot interfere. They can then say that Ellsworth would be risking a suspension if he interferes anew.
Personally, I don't think Carmella is main event ready. Uncreative made their first mistake by not calling her up with the since-split duo of Enzo Amore and Big Cass 14 1/2 months ago, then hot shotting a heel turn without any rational reason. What I'd do is move the briefcase to a vested veteran like Natalya, who hasn't been a champion in too long, and go from there.
Contrast this farce with the men's ladder match. The attitude here, exemplified by Baron Corbin, who was the organizational pick to win, was, if you want something done right, you do it yourself. Corbin's gimmick is that he's "The Lone Wolf", such that he needs no one's help. Perfect. There's a prospect of him turning babyface if he decides to pursue Jinder Mahal for the WWE title, should Mahal survive the summer, but don't count on it. None of the six men in the match (Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn) had any stooges hanging around to screw everyone else over. This is a match that should not allow for stooges. Period.
So the first ever women's Money in the Bank is tainted by poor booking. What a shock. It's as if Vince and his stooges decided the ladies could not be allowed to have a match on the caliber of the traditional men's ladder match. Bollocks to that. Corbin comes off as a blue chip, blue collar prospect in contrast to Carmella, who's all flash and little substance, and she leeches heat off her stooge, Ellsworth, ruining him as a heel.
Uncreative has less than 12 hours to get it right on the women's side. Watch. They probably won't, and we know whose fault that is.
