In-Ring Opening Segment

Shane McMahon is out to start the show. The Commissioner announces that Randy Orton has invoked his rematch clause, and will face Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship in four weeks at Money in the Bank. The crowd responds with a mix of lukewarm clapping and boos. Shane also announces that there will be five participants in this year’s MITB ladder match, and introduces them one by one. They are: AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and… United States Champion Kevin Owens? Shane tells the production truck to kill his music, and says that Owens knows he isn’t in the MITB ladder match, and introduces the actual fifth man, Shinsuke Nakamura.

After all five have made their entrances, Kevin Owens gets on the mic and trashes McMahon for his decision-making. He says that he understands Nakamura and Sami being in the match, because they won their matches at Backlash, but it doesn’t make any sense that Styles lost to him and the U.S. Champion has been overlooked. Owens says Shane is just jealous that he did what he couldn’t do at WrestleMania, beat AJ Styles. McMahon thinks about it, and decides that he’s right, and adds Owens to Money in the Bank. Baron Corbin tells him to stop talking – his mic isn’t working, so he takes Kevin’s mic; nice move. He tells everyone that they don’t have a chance, and they should just lower the briefcase now and hand it to him.

AJ Styles is done listening to everyone. He asks if Corbin is done huffing and puffing, so he can continue blowing, then calls Kevin Owens the Eric Cartman of Smackdown. There’s a brief face-to-face with Nakamura which gets everyone excited. Sami Zayn tries to talk but is cut off by Corbin, and they go back and forth. Owens tells them to shut the hell up, which brings in Dolph Ziggler to tell them all to shut up. He brings up that he’s the only one in the ring who has actually won Money in the Bank, and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t do it again. Last up Nakamura, and the crowd starts chanting his name as soon as he pics up the microphone. He introduces himself for those who don’t know him, but says they can all refer to him as Mr. Money in the Bank.

Backstage Segment

AJ Styles finds Shinsuke Nakamura backstage in the locker room, and brings up the history between them. He says they’ve done it all from Osaka to Tokyo, but for the first time ever they are partners tonight. Nakamura says they are partners tonight, but at Money in the Bank he will take the “house that AJ Styles built” and turn it into his playground.

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA & AJ STYLES vs. KEVIN OWENS & DOLPH ZIGGLER

Styles and Ziggler start things off with a nice back and forth exchange, but things really pick up when Owens and Nakamura tag in. Shinsuke takes his time getting in the ring, and the crowd is buzzing to see the two of them go at it. They skip the lock-up and just start brawling until the go to commercial.

After the break Nakamura throws Owens into the corner and lights him up with the Good Vibrations. Ziggler attacks him from behind and the heels take control, working him over in the corner for several minutes. [We had a power outage here at the house as there’s a storm going on outside, so I’ll go back and update this later. Apologies.] When the feed came back Styles was on the outside, and Owens hit him with a running senton. Nakamura tried to come to his aid but the ref backed him off. The beatdown on Styles continued for several minutes, until he countered the Zig-Zag into a big facebuster.

Finally hot tags were made on both sides, as Nakamura and Owens go after each other yet again. Shinsuke got the advantage with a flurry of strikes and a big kick in the corner for two. He went for another kick but the champion ducked under it, only to get caught with a flashback kick. Ziggler hit the ring but got caught with an exploder suplex. Styles evened it up with a Pele Kick to Owens as Nakamura dropkicked Ziggler out of the ring. Nakamura lined up Owens and dropped the champion with the Kinshasa for the pin. Winners: AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura

The show ends with Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles face to face under the Money in the Bank briefcase, starring each other down.

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