Money in the Bank 2019: 5 Mistakes WWE made at the PPV

While Bayley walked out of Money in the Bank as SmackDown Women's Champion and the Universal Championship match was fantastic, MITB actually had a few more head-scratching moments than great ones.

Shane McMahon's win over the Miz at WrestleMania was forgivable because they both fell off of a tall scaffold and McMahon just happened to land on top. The fact that he beat the Miz again makes the A-Lister look foolish. They're likely having him lose in that fashion to sell his emotions getting the better of him, but it still doesn't paint him in the best light.

And even though Elias talked a big game, his performance during the PPV was longer than his match with Roman Reigns.

The Cruiserweight Championship did finally get showcased during the actual PPV rather than remaining a pre-show staple, but the match quality wasn't the same as when Buddy Murphy routinely stole the show.

Despite WWE doing several things right at Money in the Bank, they made just as many mistakes throughout the night. Here is a look at the five mistakes WWE made at MITB.

---

#5 Lucha House Party segment

'The Freak' didn't let 'the Beast' have all the fun.

Two Raw Tag Teams had matches at the PPV and neither of them were the Raw Tag Team Champions, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.

On the pre-show, the Usos challenged the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, Rowan and Daniel Bryan, in a non-title match. Couldn't they either have had the titles on the line or simply had this rematch on an episode of SmackDown?

It just seemed like a weird moment that will obviously set up yet another match between the two teams over the SmackDown tag titles. While SmackDown's tag division is shallow, there are actual teams on the roster like the B-Team and Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura.

The other Raw team that was featured on the PPV instead of the actual champions was the Lucha House Party.

They were slated to have a six-man tag match against unknown opponents, but after a brief promo in the middle of the ring, they were interrupted by Lars Sullivan.

'The Freak' continued his campaign of attacking anyone from legends like Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio and the Hardyz to smaller superstars like the Lucha House Party.

While it continued Sullivan's storyline of attacking wrestlers, it feels like something that could have simply happened on Raw instead of taking away time on a PPV.

I would have much rather seen the IIconics defending their titles against the Kabuki Warriors rather than have a segment like this. All it did was tell us that Sullivan is a monster, but we already know that. It also took time away from an actual team of champions.

#4 Shane McMahon 'defeats' the Miz once again

'Shane-O-Mac' is now 2-0 against the Miz after MITB.

Shane McMahon's first match with The Miz was memorable for three reasons - George Mizanin's part in the match, the fall off of the scaffolding and the fact that the Miz lost. It was all forgivable had the Miz walked out of Money in the Bank with a win. But it didn't happen.

Instead of reasonably tying McMahon with a win each in their feud, he lost the Steel Cage Match to McMahon in goofy fashion when McMahon fell out of his shirt and fell to the floor while the Miz was still atop the cage.

Now the Miz looks foolish for losing to a non-wrestler twice. While he would likely do anything management asks him to do, consistently losing to 'Shane-O-Mac' is more embarrassing than anything.

Had several superstars interfered and attacked the Miz it would have been more palatable (at least to me). But instead, the Miz lost some credibility as a top face and will likely be battling McMahon again this week and going forward.

#3 Roman Reigns squashes Elias

'The Big Dog' made quick work of Elias at Money in the Bank.

The feud between Roman Reigns and Elias had been done well up until MITB. Elias had the upper hand at several points in their feud but had a lot of help at every turn.

While there was little doubt that Reigns would win the match, the fashion in which he won did more damage to Elias than it did help The Big Dog.

We know that Reigns is nearly infallible when it comes to wins and losses in WWE. He will likely only lose in monumental fashion after being attacked several times during a match or if he endures grueling matches in the same night.

But against Elias, someone who had been positioned as a top heel on SmackDown following the Superstar Shake Up, he merely walked out to the ring, punched Elias a few times outside of the ring and then speared him. It all happened in under three minutes.

Elias needed a much better showing against Reigns specifically because he had been an ally of the McMahons.

Now he just looks like the lackeys that the B-Team were when they faced Reigns in a match on SmackDown. Elias should have lasted longer in the match but instead suffered a loss that should have been reserved for a lesser heel. If you want to create new stars, that is not the way to do it.

#2 The Queen adds another minimal reign to her resume

With her win on Sunday, Flair will now be referred to as a nine-time champ.

In order to truly maximize the heelish nature of Flair at MITB, The Queen came out for her match immediately after Lynch had retained her Raw Women's Title by defeating Lacey Evans. The move was typical of a heel and it made the idea that Flair would win even greater.

When all was said in done against Lynch, Flair won her ninth title by defeating The Man. At one point, it even appeared that the ref had counted to three when Lynch had Flair pinned, but nothing was made of it.

Instead, Flair added her ninth reign to her resume and it is being done to break her father's record one day. Since WWE is in control of it, they are having her win and lose the title at least three times a year.

Flair has already won the title twice this year but has only had a reign of two weeks and now approximately ten minutes.

The situation was slightly remedied due to Bayley cashing in on Flair shortly thereafter, but Flair didn't really need another number added to her already gaudy list of reigns. Not even someone like The Big Dog has that many title reigns with the WWE or Universal Championship.

Lynch getting cashed in on would have not have been as well received but WWE's insistence on fast-tracking The Queen to break her father's record is becoming less and less relevant with the brevity of each of her reigns. Are they really deserved?

#1 Brock Lesnar returns and wins the Men's MITB briefcase

Brock Lesnar returned to close out Money in the Bank 2019.

Well WWE, if you wanted to make a new star and someone that was refreshing to the WWE Universe, you were doing it for 95% of the main event of the night.

Ali, Richochet, Andrade, Finn Balor and Randy Orton all could have conceivably walked out with the briefcase at various points of the match.

I'm not saying Lesnar shouldn't have come back, it just would have been better for the entire WWE had he returned out of the title picture. Instead, he's right back in the thick of it and will be the specter looming over the WWE until he either loses the briecase or the cashes-in.

Ali could have pulled down the briefcase instead of gawking at the incoming Lesnar because it would have literally taken two seconds atop the ladder. But since that was not the ending that was booked, he stood atop the ladder and watched as 'the Beast' sauntered down to the ring with huge, smug smile on his face.

That smile alone should have told us that we were in for a massive trolling by WWE. Guys who had been fighting for the right to be champ some day within the next year were tossed to the side in order to hand the briefcase to Lesnar. His part-time reigns were big factors for the ratings' drops but WWE didn't seem to mind having Lesnar win.

It will create the exact problem that they rectified twice. They must not have learned from the history of having Lesnar as champion. The decision was probably made because he's a big star and they think having him on one or the other of their shows will raise the ratings, but it will have the inverse effect.

By not going with one of the younger stars who were sacrificing their bodies throughout the match, WWE lost a lot of the good will it had built during the ladder match. Get ready for the exact same 'Beast' we have come to dread over the last few years.

He might cash-in on Kofi Kingston due to the 'Wildcard Rule' but it will just move the problem from Raw to SmackDown since it will just reopen the same wound of having a part-time champ.