10 Ways Money In The Bank 2019 Can Save WWE's Year
Can WWE turn their failing product around this Sunday?
While 2019 has delivered euphoric moments like Kofi Kingston's WWE Title win, at least one instant classic between the ropes (Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano), and the continued excellence of 'Becky Two Belts,' the year, as a whole, hasn't been kind to Vince McMahon's market leaders.
Backstage turmoil is rife, with Dean Ambrose gone, and Sasha Banks, Luke Harper, and The Revival all trying to be gone. The Wild Card Rule has all but killed the brand split. Creative is in the sh*ts, as shown by Robert Roode's blink-and-you'll-miss-it reinvention, Ucey Hot, and proven ratings-killer Baron Corbin's continued airtime domination on Raw. The viewership is cratering, and even the financials are starting to look ropey, with WWE's Q1 reports showing declines in revenue and attendance to go with an unexpected operating loss.
Things are as bad as they've been since WCW died. Now, with All Elite Wrestling on the horizon and Fox demanding a massive viewership uptake this summer, WWE need to get their act together. Fast.
Few annual pay-per-views come with as much game-changing potential as Money In The Bank, and, if handled the right way, the choices made on Sunday's show could be the tonic that revives this failing product. Let's run through them...
10. Roman Reigns MUST Squash Elias
Roman Reigns post-comeback reactions have already soured.
For a while it looked like 'The Big Dog' would be hotter than the sun, but the first signs of dissent came at WrestleMania 35. What was supposed to be a cathartic win over Drew McIntyre played out to cricket chirps. The crowd weren't interested, and while Reigns is still received well in some cities, hostile receptions on this year's post-'Mania Raw and WWE's latest UK-based SmackDown highlight the issues with his presentation.
The company must address this at Money In The Bank. They must do everything in their power to stop Roman from sliding back into the old abyss, and that means big changes to the way he's promoted inside the ring and out, starting with Sunday's match against Elias.
'The Drifter' shouldn't muster a slither of offence against 'The Big Dog,' and should fall within 120 seconds. Reigns must batter him. A slow, sluggish 10-12 minute chinlock-fest will only worsen his situation. He needs to come off like an exciting, adrenaline-pumping wrestler, not a boring staller, and Elias is ostensibly a jobber to the stars. He isn't above taking the odd PPV shellacking.