Harsh Realities From Rewatching Money In The Bank 2025

Money In The Bank 2025 came around one year ago, with the WWE taking over the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California for what was the sixteenth annual edition of this event. The show featured some notable moments such as Money In The Bank victories for both Naomi & Seth Rollins, some Intercontinental Title showdowns, and more, but not everything has necessarily aged well from the night.

Whether it be poor booking decisions, hindsight offering up negative instances that came after the show, or something more, there are several harsh realities for fans to come to terms with when rewatching Money In The Bank one whole year ago.

4

Naomi’s World Title Reign Ended Due To Pregnancy

• Naomi’s Money In The Bank win was a long-time coming.
• She cashed in the contract against Iyo Sky & Rhea Ripley.
• Naomi’s world title run was cut short.

After years of being amongst the frontrunners in Money In The Bank ladder matches, 2025 was finally the year that Naomi climbed the ladder to retrieve the iconic briefcase. Not long later, the refreshed heelish version of Naomi cashed in her contract during a thrilling Evolution 2025 main event between Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley, stamping herself at the tippy top of the women’s division as world champion. However, when looking back at Naomi’s Money In The Bank, there is a harsh reality to contend with.

At the same time as her rise to the top, Naomi needed to relinquish the Women’s World Championship due to pregnancy. Of course, instances like this are always more important and take precedent over anything related to professional wrestling, but it is still no less of a harsh reality to see that Naomi’s main event rise was cut short shortly following her Money In The Bank win and Women’s World Title ascension. It would have been nice to see the full extent of Naomi’s capabilities as a world champion, but that may come at some point in the future.

3

Lyra Valkyria’s Singles Run In WWE Lost Momentum

• Valkyria vs. Becky Lynch was the best match at Money In The Bank.
• Lynch dethroned Valkyria for the Intercontinental Title.
• WWE failed to keep Valkyria’s momentum going.

Lyra Valkyria looked ready to break out as a major star in WWE during her Intercontinental Championship feud with Becky Lynch, kicking off with a show-stealer at Backlash 2025. They followed up with yet another impressive, technically sound, and entertaining rematch at Money In The Bank, which once again showcased the incredible talent possessed by Valkyria. Unfortunately, Money In The Bank 2025 was the beginning of the end of her singles push (for the time being at least).

Valkyria dropped the Intercontinental Title to Becky Lynch, lost in their rematch at SummerSlam 2026, and proceeded to fall out of contention for months, instead entering the tag team division alongside Bayley and finding little to no success. It took a whole year for Valkyria to find herself on the receiving end of any sort of singles momentum, turning heel and feuding with Bayley. Despite this being a fantastic match at Money In The Bank, it is a harsh reality of rewatching this show to see how little WWE did with Valkyria for the next year. It is a shame when WWE gives up on someone, especially when they are riding a strong wave of momentum.

2

The Main Event Of Money In The Bank Was Awful

• John Cena & Logan Paul faced Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso.
• Cena’s heel run had gone downhill in WWE.
• Rhodes & Uso won a boring main event.

On paper, a main event consisting of WWE’s two men’s world champions and the two top contenders sound like a star-studded and salivating prospect. However, when you consider that WWE Champion John Cena was knees-deep in an awful heel run, World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso was drastically losing momentum as a top star, Logan Paul’s act was becoming tiresome, and Cody Rhodes’ babyface schtick felt repetitive, this had all the makings of a terrible match – and it was.

The headliner of Money In The Bank was slow, boring, lacked any storyline advancements, and featured zero stakes. This was a waste of all involved, and it certainly took down the overall quality of the Money In The Bank 2025 PLE, which is one of the harshest realities of sitting through and rewatching last year’s show. Picking the right match to close out a PLE can make or break a show, and this was the wrong choice without a shadow of a doubt.

1

R-Truth’s Shocking Return Led To Nothing

• R-Truth returned in the main event of Money In The Bank 2025.
• WWE fans were excited for the repackaged “Ron Killings”.
• WWE did nothing interesting with R-Truth’s comeback.

The only highlight of the underwhelming Money In The Bank 2025 main event came in the form of the surprise return of R-Truth, whose comeback was lobbied for by fans after it emerged that his contract was expiring and not being renewed. He arrived to attack former ally John Cena, costing him the match. In the aftermath, he was repackaged into the more serious “Ron Killings” persona, putting in some tremendous promo work and becoming a serious character for the first time in years in what was a very fresh development… until it wasn’t.

It became crystal clear that WWE had no real plans for R-Truth following his comeback at Money In The Bank, as he wandered around doing pretty nothing of note for many months, before easing back into the more comedic role. WWE completely wasted what was a new, fresh, and entertaining gimmick, which was a huge shame and one of, if not the harshest reality of all when researching Money In The Bank 2025.