Cook: Remember Money in the Bank? It’s Still a Thing.

To say it’s been a busy week in the world of pro wrestling would be an understatement. Did it cause us to overlook WWE Money In The Bank?

We started off with the untimely death of Silver King inside a London ring. Wednesday saw the official announcement of an a deal between All Elite Wrestling & WarnerMedia to include programming on TNT & B/R Live. Thursday saw the hospitalization of Ric Flair, along with the death of WWE Diva Search 2 winner Ashley Massaro. Such sad news, nothing but the best of wishes to Ashley’s family & friends.

Then Friday brought the news of the death of a former Raw guest host. Grumpy Cat was much beloved by members of the Cook Family. As silly as it might seem, Grumpy memes brought my mom, sister & I a connection over the last few years that we might not have had otherwise. They’re not wrestling fans, but they did like pictures of Grumpy with WWE Superstars. Grumpy Cat saw & did more in seven years than a lot of us ever will, and now she’s moved on to being miserable in Heaven.

All Cats go to Heaven, right?

What’s going on in WWE, you ask? Well, everybody’s talking about one of a couple of things. There’s the business with Lars Sullivan getting fined six figures for saying things several years ago that get people elected to public office in some regions of the country. Of course the ratings are at the center of conversation as well. I have always hated talking about ratings & views & clicks. I know it’s never going away. Especially now that we’ll have AEW ratings on TNT & maybe some B/R Live subscriber numbers to pore over.

Oh, and we’re also talking about how Triple H is feeling frustrated & Vince McMahon is driving all the writers insane. But that last one isn’t really new. Vince will continue to drive everybody insane and make himself a bunch of money while doing so until his last day on Earth.

It seems to me that everybody has been talking about everything except the huge event this weekend in Hartford, Connecticut.

Would you believe me if I told you that everything I have done from the first to the last has made me who I am today? How willing I am to risk it all? I’m either walking out of tonight with the #MITB briefcase, or I’m not walking out at all. pic.twitter.com/30xLCkbPrv

— Nikki Cross (@NikkiCrossWWE) May 19, 2019

Money In The Bank

Remember that? I mean, people were trying to tell me it was one of WWE’s biggest shows of the year not that long ago! There was a period of time where you could make that argument. In years past, everybody was curious over who would win the briefcase and eventually become champion.

In 2019…I’m not seeing a lot of people all too worried about that. I don’t know what it is exactly. I’m guessing there’s a confluence of factors going on here leading to Money In The Bank being an afterthought, when it really shouldn’t be. I mean, we’re getting two multi-person ladder matches, and when aren’t those fun? AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins sounds like a dream match. Becky Lynch will be wrestling two championship matches. The Miz & Shane McMahon are going into a steel cage by gawd!

And Roman Reigns is wrestling…Elias? Well, ok then.

This show has completely faded into the background for most wrestling fans. We’re thinking about everything else in the world. AEW has us abuzz with their potential. The most woke among us are more concerned with Lars Sullivan & Saudi Arabia. Which we should be, at least on the latter part because the Saudi regime are quite evil in the grand scheme of things. We should not excuse them because they give Vince McMahon millions of dollars of blood money. Some will. I will not.

Here’s the thing.

We’re all sleeping on a potential Event of the Year contender. I am too, I’ve been putting off picks for this event for awhile now because I just don’t care. But we are talking about a show with two ladder matches. Styles vs. Rollins. Shane & Miz in a cage. Kofi vs. Owens. Two Becky matches. I guarantee you that once Sunday night rolls around, people will be raving about this show.

It’s just impossible to get people hyped up for Money In The Bank right now. Too much is going on. Our brains are overloaded by wrestling, pop culture & the politicians that are trying to take our souls. It’s a rough time in America right now, and it doesn’t look like it’ll be easier anytime soon.

Realistically, all WWE can hope for is to capture our attention on Sunday night. Make us tweet about Money In The Bank all night long & marvel in their splendor. If we get some show-stealing matches on Sunday, you’ll see all kinds of columns here and elsewhere about the marvels of WWE, the greatest wrestling company to ever exist.

Until then, we’re going to be distracted by other things. Wrestlers dying. Grumpy Cat. Evil politicians. There’s a lot going on at our fingertips. I suspect this could be cited by people defending WWE’s ratings numbers & Network subscriptions, and they can do that if they like. This is 2019. A lot is going on.

TAKE OUR ATTENTION, WWE!