Money In The Bank 2014

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 185 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: September 15 2014

More than in any other year, Money In The Bank 2014 is all about the Ladder matches. Both are exciting battles, and with one additional thriller on the under-card, MITB 2014 makes for an enjoyable wrestling DVD.

The non-Ladder highlight of the show is the opening Tag Team Title clash between The Usos and the team of Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, which greatly exceeds expectations. A short Paige-Naomi bout is not exactly a classic; even Cameron at ringside looks bored (although this indifference was used to set up Cameron's heel turn). Damien Sandow vs. Adam Rose is another short match, the first of two comedy bouts on the show. At this point, the show is dragging badly, but things turn around with an excellent MITB Ladder match involving Seth Rollins (who takes a jaw-dropping backdrop off a ladder onto another ladder), Dean Ambrose, Rob Van Dam, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler. That the match is built around the Rollins-Ambrose feud gives this a different flavour to previous MITB Ladder matches, and the stunts catapult this into being a very enjoyable thrill-ride.

Goldust and Stardust against RybAxel is a Raw-level match at best, Ruse vs. Big E is good but not great, and Layla vs. Summer Rae with Fandango as referee is yet another match played for laughs. The main event is at least worthwhile, with an 8-man Ladder match deciding the fate of the WWE World Heavyweight Title, vacated by Daniel Bryan due to injury (a Bryan promo from the Kick-Off Show is the DVD extra, by the way). Though inferior to the earlier Ladder bout, it's still an enjoyable headline bout, which is perhaps most notable for the accidental, and heavy, blood loss sustained by Randy Orton.

Fans would be buying this DVD for the Ladder matches, and in that respect the DVD is an easy recommendation. But the opener aside, the rest of the card is skippable at best and totally unsuitable for PPV at worst. Had the rest of the card been up to scratch, the rating below could have been very high indeed.

Overall Rating: 7/10 - Respectable