Money in the Bank 2011: My Personal Recollection.

7-17-2011

As a lifelong wrestling fan, I haven't attended nearly as many events as I could of.  Especially, since I live close to Chicago, a frequent stop for the WWE.  Since Backlash 2001, I went nearly 10 years without going to a live show.  Night of Champions 2010 was my first show back, and I enjoyed the experience.  Last March, I attended my first Raw, it was the go home show to Wrestlemania.  NXT, Superstars, Raw, and Smackdown all taped at one event.  We seen Edge's last Raw match, although we didn't know it at the time.  HBK, Undertaker, and Triple H had a great promo in the ring.  And let's not forget The Rock and Cena had their first face to face confrontation.  I didn't think that could be topped... but then there was last night.

When the tickets were purchased, I figured it would be a fun event in the first place.  The MITB matches were always fun to watch on TV, figured it would be better live.  But then CM Punk shook the wrestling world and would be squaring off against John Cena for the top prize in his home town.  No doubt he would get a hero's welcome.

Pulling up to the Allstate Arena, you can feel the buzz.  When I got to my seats, I looked around and seen CM Punk shirts, signs, and Chicago flags all over the arena.  But let's be fair, kids, women, and even some men could be spotted in red shirts.  Cena was pretty well represented himself, it was going to be fun. As we waited patiently for even the dark match, CM Punk chants echoed through the arena.  It wasn't quite as rabid as the One Night Stand crowd, but I still felt I was a part of something special.

After a less than desirable dark match between the Nexus and Kozlov/Santino, we were ready for the televised event.  The mere shot of Punk on the intro made the crowd erupt.  We got straight to business with the Smackdown MITB match.  Man, was that exciting.  Sin Cara getting broke through a ladder got our first "Holy Shit" chant of the night.  My friends went in joking about wanting Slater to win, but we weren't the only ones.  A couple "One man rock band" chants were started throughout the match.  But in the end, Daniel Bryan got the victory and a well deserved standing O from us at Chicago.  And we are just getting started.

Next up we got the Divas match.  I give the ladies a good grade for effort, but the crowd was lost.  This is when the smarky chants broke out.  Including an attempt at a Colt Cabana and Zack Ryder chants.  I yelled out a "Woo Woo Woo" and several "You know it bros" broke out. That was very funny.

About every review I read, they liked Henry/Show match.  But once again the crowd didn't seem to care.  A small Pillman and Vader chant broke loose after the post match assault, but it just didn't have the same connection some people seen on TV.

The Raw MITB was next and just like the SD match, it was extremely entertaining.  Evan's SSP off the ladder got the second "holy shit" chant of the night.  There was kids around me, but screw it, I was having fun and paid to be there.  The Miz was extremely over with the crowd, biggest pop of that match and the place went unglued when he came back out.  A great moment is when one of my friends yelled for Del Rio to rip off Rey's mask only to see it happen about 10 seconds later.  I marked out big for Del Rio winning, but missed Ricardo Rodriguez and his announcing, but I did my best to replicate it, much to the chagrin of the children in my section.

As much as I did not want to I had to use the beginning of the Orton/Christian match to use the bathroom.  It was either then or the main event though.  I couldn't believe that Christian won the the title, even if it was in a cheap fashion.  Orton's RKO on the announce table got a huge pop.  The crowd was expecting Daniel Bryan to cash in. Chants of his name kept breaking out.  The crowd wanted one more RKO on Christian, and I read some grief over that, but you know what it was fun as hell and it got a great reaction, that's what wrestling is about right?

And it's the main event.  The anticipation of Punk was electric, it was truly like watching our home team play for a championship against our biggest rival.  Punk's came out like a hero, the noise was incredible.  Cena got booed as expected too, but the atmosphere was set.  Dueling chants rang throughout the match until eventually everyone had their concentration glued on the match.  The close falls, submission holds had us out of our seats, it was incredible.  I can't explain how it was, but I was screaming and dripping in sweat.  I had legitimate nervousness about Cena maybe winning this, I had emotions invested in the match.  We got wrestling how it should be.  I'm not a Cena fan, but I surely will give him credit for being the performer he can be and that night he did great.  Just like at ECW: ONS he didn't try to pander to a hostile crowd, he was a dick and I loved it.  When CM Punk finally got the we went absolutely bat shit.  I've been to several sporting events and that feeling tops nearly all of them.  CM Punk beat John Cena in Chicago for the WWE Title, I couldn't believe it.

Your Skalbamania IV Champion...

... Is Link!

Link edges out Kermit by 1 vote to claim the championship. It's hard to believe that Kermit was so close to pulling off the most unlikely tournament run, but it almost happened.  That was the fun of this years tournament of how certain factors effected the outcome, who knows what would happen is say 5 more people voted.  Link proves to be the king of the voting tournament and can add this to his GameFAQs titles.  He retires with Mr. Perfect, Costanza, and Chris Farley as champions.  It was fun though. I'd love to have feedback on it, are you happy with the results or who was the person you picked as the character to win it all?  I noticed a lot of views from international locations and I'd love to hear from you.  Thank you everyone for your participation and your enthusiasm.  I will try to make it better next time.  It was a fun time.

Skalbamania IV: THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

THE FINALS

Match 63: Kermit the Frog vs. Link

Kermit the Frog: Defeated Peregrin Took, Garfield, The Undertaker, Svengoolie, and Chewbacca.

VERSUS

Link: Defeated Freddy Krueger, Master Shredder, Leonardo da Vinci,  Super Mario, and Professor Xavier.

The Bracket

This is it! We are finally at the end. Link vs. Kermit the Frog.  After weeks of eliminating the field of 64 to the final 2 we are left with an unexpected final.  Link was the silent assassin in his road, although I'm not surprised he made it this far. Kermit has been a true underdog, taking out some big time players.  Svengoolie played a role on his good fortunes, but that's some of the fun, the unpredictable factors.  Now is time to see who will be added to the list of champions.

Match 63 is Set!

Well people after about a month, we are finally here.  Kermit the Frog and Link will go at it for the right to be called Skalbamania IV Champion!  But sit tight, I'm gonna let the weekend pass as usual and then on Monday we will start the beginning of the end.  Let me get some feedback though, should I do a 24 or 48 hours for the Finals? Any other comments?

Skalbamania IV: FINAL FOUR

Match 61: Chewbacca vs. Kermit the Frog

Chewbacca: Defeated Wolfgang A. Mozart in the Elite Eight.

VERSUS

Kermit the Frog: Defeated Svengoolie in the Elite Eight.

Match 62: Professor Xavier vs. Link

Professor Xavier: Defeated Doc Holliday in the Elite Eight.

VERSUS

Link: Defeated Super Mario in the Elite Eight.

The Bracket

Here we are people, The Final Four.  Chewbacca, Kermit the Frog, Professor Xavier, and Link.  We will head into the weekend knowing what the final will be, and then have a couple days off.  Monday will be the Championship Match and we will crown the champion of Skalbamania IV.

Skalbamania IV: Elite Eight Day 2

Match 59: Professor Xavier vs. Doc Holliday

Professor Xavier: Defeated Rocky Balboa in the Sweet 16.

VERSUS

Doc Holliday: Defeated Butters Stotch in the Sweet 16.

Match 60: Super Mario vs. Link

Super Mario: Defeated Winston Zeddemore in the Sweet 16.

VERSUS

Link: Defeated Leonardo da Vinci in the Sweet 16.

The Bracket

Wow! That just happened.  A very big thanks to Svengoolie for his involvement, his trail of destruction has come to an end however.  Time to add the last to pieces to the Final Four and we have a mighty interesting match up in Match 60.  Two of Nintendo's biggest icons and well icons in all of video games clash in the Regional Final.  Both of these powerhouses just enjoyed a good 25th birthday too.  Tomorrow we will be the Final Four!

Skalbamania IV: Elite Eight Day 1

Match 57: Chewbacca vs. Wolfgang A. Mozart

Chewbacca: Defeated Chilly Willy in the Sweet 16.

VERSUS

Wolfgang A. Mozart: Defeated Luigi in the Sweet 16.

Match 58: Kermit the Frog vs. Svengoolie

Kermit the Frog: Defeated The Undertaker in the Sweet 16.

VERSUS

Svengoolie: Defeated Paul Newman in the Sweet 16.

The Bracket

The field is down to eight and in two days it will be down to four.  Here people is the Elite Eight.