Money in the Bank is always one of the most highly anticipated PLE’s of the year in the WWE, and for the WWE Universe. The winners of the Men’s and Women’s ladder matches get to carry around the coveted briefcase, which they can cash in at anytime in the next year and on any current champion. But, did the WWE creatives get it right in 2026? We half think so!

In addition, 3 other major matches were on the card emanating from New Orleans on Sunday night, October 1o, including two championship bouts where in one case the title changed hands, but again, to the right winner?

Let’s give you a breakdown of the action in a card that featured highs, lows, botched spots, but plenty of talent on display!

Photo: WWE

Roman Reigns defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the opener against LA Knight

This was overall one of the strongest matches of the night. Reigns and Knight delivered near pins and counters that had fans believing for a millisecond that the OTC might actually lose to Knight, who if he didn’t win, would have his main-eventer status in question, and if he would ever get a championship opportunity again.

In the end, Reigns got a clean pin finish, and Knight was left reeling off the ring apron as the audience acknowledged their OTC one more time. Suddenly, at the top of the arena entrance, the 946 emerged and right behind them the Bloodline. The trios then got into a brawl inside the concession stand area of the arena, which eventually took them outside where Jaida Parker, picked up the men in their vehicle and drove away.

We were hoping that somehow, LA Knight would have been revealed in a quick switch to be with the 946. But that has to be coming to save the career of Knight, who has nowhere to go right now as a babyface, right? Kudos though to Roman Reigns who remains the greatest current attraction on the WWE active roster.

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match

While this could have gone numerous ways with Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez, as the kind of veterans of the group, this was rough match which early on had a spot where Stratton almost knocked herself out when she did a dive from a ladder to the outside of the ring, crashing into her opponents, but landing oddly on her head.

The MVP of this match turned out to be Sol Ruca, who landed some exciting moves off the ladder, with the ladder, and off the ring post to the outside. However, there was also another odd spot that had Lola Vice and Jacy Jayne taking a bad-looking spill on ladder that landed them awkwardly on the outside of the ring.

While the red-hot crowd was definitely behind Roxanne Perez, in the end the powers-that-be knighted Tiffany Stratton to grab the briefcase and become a two-time MITB winner having won back in 2024. On her way to victory, Stratton was facing off with Lash Legend, who actually seemed not high enough to get clunked in the head with the briefcase. In the end, Stratton came out victorious.

Oba Femi vs. Bronson Reed

The cliffhanger coming into this match seemed to be from the opening shot of Paul Heyman watching Oba Femi and Bronson Reed on a monitor. Would Heyman align himself with Femi, or continue to do for Reed and the Vision? Well, we won’t know till perhaps tomorrow’s Monday Night Raw, because they never included Heyman in another section of the match or its aftermath.

That being said, Reed gave one of his best performances of his career, really working and selling the moves, and the beatdowns from Femi. It’s clear that WWE is banking on Femi as their next superhero, superstar, so when the Vision came to ringside to interfere, even after getting hit twice with brass knucks courtesy of Austin Theory passing them on to Reed, it did not matter.

The WWE is showing us nothing you do to Femi can keep him down. He’s an invincible force. At the end of the match, Femi got the pin on Reed. In the WWE Post Show, Oba appeared, and in his drop-the-mic moment says he is waiting for Roman Reigns who can’t keep running from him. Many are predicting that match won’t happen until WrestleMania 2027. Stay tuned.

Photo: WWE

Women’s World Heavyweight Championship Triple-Threat: Stephanie Vaquer defends against Liv Morgan and Becky Lynch

The audience for this match was very cooled-down as opposed to all the others on the card thus far. Vaquer asked for this triple threat after having it up to here with both Lynch and Morgan. Vaquer won the title in her home country of Chile from Morgan with Lynch as the special referee.

At the end of the day, Vaquer knocked Becky Lynch off the apron through a table on the floor (which did not break!), and Morgan immediately capitalized by hitting her patented Oblivion inisher on La Primera to secure the pin and the win.

The WWE universe has been questioning this move. If you were going to have Morgan win back the WWE World’s Women’s title, why wouldn’t they have had Roxanne Perez win the Women’s Money in the Bank to cause dissension among the ranks and a storyline within the Judgment Day where Perez could cash-in on her stablemate? Is this the missed opportunity? Stand by.

MEN’S MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH

Going into this match, it had all the intrigue. Would the creatives give the Money in the Bank briefcase to Bron Breakker, the bad ass. to have him go on an uber-threatening run in the WWE with all the power the briefcase holds to win a championship? Would they go with Penta, who showed just how beloved and remarkable he is as a performer after his championship match against Roman Reigns in Mexico City? Would they chose to make CM Punk, the first ever three-time Money in the Bank winner in history?

All of that was at play, plus Trick Williams, Kevin Owens and Je’Von Evans as well. When the smoke cleared, it was Bron Breakker who showed why he was the MVP of the match with spear after spear and takedowns. If he does not break away from The Vision after this, I don’t know what was the point, because in the end he did not get the job done and win the briefcase.

Trick Williams seemed to be the crowd favorite throughout and together with Lil Yachty gave us some fun and entertaining moments. KO and Punk, just kept beating each other up. And this leaves the Je’Von Evans story point.

Photo: WWE

Breakker spears Evans outside the ring. Evans “appears” to be hurt. They take him out on stretcher and load him into an ambulance. We go to the back (first sign we are in kayfabe) and RAW GM Adam Pearce is there making sure they get Evans to a hospital fast.

However, that was not the last we saw of Evans. Suddenly an ambulance makes it way all the way back to ringside, and Je’Von jumps out of it and goes after Breakker. Then alone in the ring, he seems to have trouble with three ladders. We are not sure if one was broken, but he gets an incredibly tall ladder all set up to climb it to retrieve the briefcase.

However, Breakker is back in the ring and pushed Evans off of the ladder and Je’Von goes flying into the middle section of the ambulance which crumbles. WWE playback kept repeating the move, which didn’t help this spot go over one bit.

Photo: WWE

In the end, it was Penta who was able to climb the ladder and win the briefcase, leaving the audience at home, the fans in attendance, and the WWE Universe leaving the Money in the Bank PLE on a big up note! Penta was the feel-good choice and they gave it to us.

You can check out the full highlights from Money in the Bank below, followed by the Michael Fairman Channel’s “What’s Up? Wrestling” MITB Post Show.

So, what did you think of the 2026 Money in the Bank? Happy for Penta and Tiffany Stratton? Would you have preferred others to win the briefcase? What do you think will happen next for LA Knight now that he lost to Roman Reigns? What did you think of Liv Morgan winning back the Women’s World title? Let us know via the the comment section.

In what has been heralded as one of the best in-ring promo in a longtime, Chelsea Green got her flowers, with the WWE Universe rallying around her during the Friday’s August 14 edition of WWE SmackDown on USA Network. In question, was what would be the fate of the WWE’s Interim Women’s World Championship belt that Green won in a ladder match at SummerSlam earlier in August.

The issue: in an unbelievably real-life continued streak of bad luck for Green, she suffered an injury during the April 7 edition of SmackDown in a tag match match-up teaming with Tiffany Stratton against the Women’s tag team champs, Fatal Influence. During the match, Green broke her orbital bone after taking the Fatal Flaw from FI’s Lainey Reid, when she landed awkwardly on Green’s face.

From there: Green knew she was also going to have to take time off to recover, but she, nor the WWE Universe, wanted to see her have to relinquish the title because of it. So, when SmackDown GM Nick Aldis came to the ring to tell Chelsea she has to give up the belt, an impassioned plea from Green went over with huge pop to the crowd and those at home, plus changed Aldis’ mind.

Photo: WWE

CHELSEA GREEN STANDS HER GROUND

Green expressed, “I knew when I climbed that ladder and I took that title, I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because every single time something good and magical happens to me in this business, it’s followed by something devastating. That’s just my story, isn’t it? That’s just Chelsea Green, the comic relief. The perfect opponent for the rest of the girls. Never the champion. Never the QB1.”

Then, Chelsea launched into the sacrifices she has made, and how she came to work and always did her best, even when she was discounted. Green stood her ground with Aldis that she earned the title and that until someone takes it off of her, it belongs to her! Green also appealed to Aldis’ human side after what he accomplished at SummerSlam, too.  The GM laced up his boots and wrestlers for the first time in three years and in front of his young son, against Gunther.

Aldis heard the message loud and clear. He decided to ignore his GM formal duty, and agreed to give Green 30 days to get cleared before forcing her to have to relinquish the title. The crowd broke out in “Yes!” chants (circa Daniel Bryan).

MATT CARDONA SAVES HIS WIFE FROM GUNTHER

However, the drama didn’t stop here! Oh, no! Gunther interrupted the moment and threw insults at Aldis and Green, until none other than Matt Cardona came out from the back to defends his wife! It was great to see Cardona and Green, real-life marrieds, in an angle together on SmackDown. Cardona and Gunther went at each other, with ultimately Cardona getting the worst of it which led to an impromptu match!

Mickie James, former WWE superstar and wife of Nick Aldis took to social media on Sunday and gave high marks to Green’s promo: “Congratulations to Chelsea Green for delivering not just one of her greatest promos…. But legitimately one of THE GREATEST PROMOS I’ve ever watched. I felt every moment. She felt every word. That is how it should be done. You are a star my love. Everyone should take notes.”

Watch Chelsea Green’s talked about moment from Friday Night SmackDown below.

Now weigh-in: did you love Chelsea Green’s promo spot where she spoke of coming back from injury, being the butt of jokes, working hard to gain respect, and not willing to easily part with the highly-coveted Women’s World Title, because she got injured in a match? Share your reactions via the comment section below.

The Friday night, August 7 episode of WWE SmackDown on USA Network, revved up the aftermath from last weekend’s SummerSlam as past feuds reignited and new feuds are now set to take off.  As far as a post-PLE SmackDown, this was one of the best in a long time, setting the table for what’s to come.

The show started with Cody Rhodes, fresh off his loss for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship to CM Punk, after Randy Orton hit Cody with his RKO when the referee got knocked out. As Rhodes was addressing the SmackDown crowd in Philadelphia (which is where Cody won the belt from Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40), CM Punk interrupts when his music hits and he comes to the ring.

Rhodes wants to know if Punk knew that Orton was going to interfere in the match and allow Punk to retain the title. Punk says he didn’t know and he was just as pissed off about Orton and offered to “Two-Man Power Trip” the place until they found Orton and beat him up. Cody leaves the ring to deal with Orton, while Punk tells him, “Say when.” Thus, Punk has left the door open for Cody to have a rematch.

Photo: WWE

KO AND CM PUNK HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY

Next, Kevin Owens passes Rhodes on the ring ramp, as he enters  to come face-to-face with Punk. Owens won the fatal four-way to become the number one contender for the title.

The two traded trash talk each other when SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis shows up at ringside. Up until now, KO and Punk just trade snide remarks with Owens claiming why he knows Punk is the same sociopath he always has been.

Owens explains how his 17-month battle and recovery from his neck injury (and surgery) made him want to get back into the ring more. However, Punks says, “Do you think they were holding their breath, waiting for Kevin Owens?” Next, KO thanked Punk for setting an example of what not to become and called him a “miserable piece of s**t.” KO pushed Punk and we are off to the races, before the two men are broken up by WWE officials.

Photo: WWE

Later in the show, The Viper Randy Orton makes his entrance to the ring, but once hitting his signature pose atop the ring post. Cody Rhodes interrupts and chases Orton out of the ring.  Then, we get the reset of their feud we it should have been for WrestleMania 42, that was ruined by the arrival of Pat McAfee forced into the build-up.

Now, Orton explains his behavior once and for all. He says when he rolled into WrestleMania 42, he gave Cody the best version of himself, and The American Nightmare still defeated him. As a 14-time champion, he added, “The best version of Randy Orton wasn’t going to win No. 15, but the worst version damn sure will.” Rhodes fired back “I don’t have to be the good guy anymore,” which got the crowd riled up. The two have a stare down.

Backstage, Sami Zayn confronted CM Punk and previously Kevin Owens and Nick Aldis. Zayn cannot believe how he has been screwed time after time to get a rematch for the title that he lost when CM Punk was inserted into the championship match when Zayn was the titleholder.

Photo: WWE

CHELSEA GREEN’S CELEBRATION TURNS TO A DERAILMENT WITH NEWS OF HER INJURY

With the news that Rhea Ripley had knee surgery a few days ago, and will be out longer than expected, new interim Chelsea Green was introduced as the WWE Women’s Champion.

The fans are so behind Green, who they have wanted to see elevated into a top spot. Green thanked them for helping make this moment happen. After Tiffany Stratton joined her in the ring for a celebration, the “friends” were interrupted by Fatal Influence and Jacy Jayne and a match ensued, which saw Green get injured. She d wound up with a broken orbital bone, which will derail her first WWE World’s Women title run for now.

Taking to social media on Saturday, Green shared, “Hey, guys. So, I was trying to keep this kind of private but the Internet knows everything so I thought I would come on here and clear things up. I did get injured last night. Stuff happens. It’s live television, it’s wrestling, it’s an occupational hazard. I ended up in the emergency room and I have a broken orbital bone. It looks amazing, all things considered. It feels awful but looks pretty amazing.”

Chelsea added, “I have no idea what that means for me. You know, usually you guys can see me play into every single injury but like this feels different, obviously. This feels very different. It feels frustrating, and I’m upset. I feel like if I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all. So, I just need to take a little bit more time to process and kind of heal from obviously the head trauma that is going on right now. And then we’ll see what happens. We’re just going to take it day-by-day. So, world domination continues we’ve just had a minor blip.”

Photo: WWE

TATUM PAXLEY ARRIVES!

The SmackDown main event featured Jade Cargill (with B-Fab and Michin) facing Charlotte Flair (with a returning Alexa Bliss) and a very special addition to the duo.

During the melee towards the end of the match, the lights in the arena went out. When they came back on NXT”s Tatum Paxley was atop the ring post and dove into B-Fab and Michin to take them out. Ultimately, Charlotte scored the pinfall on Cargill, and Tatum, Alexa and the Queen celebrated in the ring as SmackDown went off the air.

So, what did you think of WWE SmackDown this past Friday night? One of the better post-SummerSlam episodes? Excited for what’s ahead? Weigh-in via the comment section and take a look at the highlights below.