7 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Money In The Bank 2018

by Scott Carlson

1. Styles Gets Retribution

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The feud between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura had underwhelmed up until Money in the Bank, with their WrestleMania 34 match falling short of the instant classic that was promised. Their other matches were good, but not great, and seemed to focus more on low blows than anything else.

But Sunday’s Last Man Standing match delivered everything while tying a bow around the rivalry. It started slow and took a bit to click, but once it did, it really took off. Both men went for home runs throughout, including Nakamura hitting a running Kinshasa across the announce tables. Styles wrecked Shinsuke’s knee, locking in a Calf Crusher and waffling it with a chair.

Shin hit a low blow (as contractually obliged), but it was AJ, after hitting a Phenomenal Forearm and a Styles Clash off the steps, who delivered the knockout blow: a low kick after Nakamura taunted him. A Phenomenal Forearm from the top rope to the floor and through the table was enough to put the challenger down for 10.

The match was great and hopefully puts a finish to the feud. Styles looked strong, as did Nakamura, even after being beaten down.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.