WWE Money in the Bank Results: Did AJ Enhance or Ruin CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan?

As we emerge from Money in the Bank, WWE Diva AJ Lee remains one of the most talked about performers in the company.

This isn't really a surprise. She's been plastered all over WWE television in recent months as her soap-opera style romance storyline with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan plays out, with the Diva even being allowed to main event Raw last week as she and Punk took on the team of Bryan and Eve in a tag match.

Not since the heyday of Miss Elizabeth has a female performer been featured so prominently in the main event scene.

AJ played a pivotal role at Money in the Bank too: She threw in weapons, including a steel chair, and generally toyed with both men for a while, before Punk finally won with a back suplex through the table to Bryan.

A confused-looking AJ counted the 1-2-3, but it was difficult to decipher from her reaction how she felt about it. No doubt this will be developed further on Raw tomorrow night.

Yes, folks, this storyline is far from over. Although whether or not that is a good thing depends on how you view the angle and AJ's role in it.

A great deal of what is said about the former NXT star is positive. Many fans have grown to love her quirky, endearing personality, in-ring talent and first-rate comedic timing (her intentionally over-the-top proposal to CM Punk last week on Raw was hilarious), and consider her a huge asset to the stagnant Raw product.

However, AJ has had her detractors too, with some even thinking her presence has greatly hindered the current Bryan/Punk program.

In their minds, Bryan/Punk should have been a serious program between two supremely gifted in-ring competitors, not some silly high school soap opera revolving around romance and turmoil, with the WWE Championship taking a firm back seat.

To be fair to this viewpoint, it is difficult not to find the over-exposure of AJ on WWE programming more than a little over-bearing.

While AJ is undoubtedly a talented talker, do we really need lengthy opening segments in which she dithers back and forth about which man she truly love? Does she have to be in virtually ever other backstage segments? Do entire episodes of Raw really have to revolve her?

It would be one thing if she simply aiding the Bryan/Punk program, and was thrown in there in a supporting role to add a dash of romance and intrigue into the storyline. This would have been the proper use of her.

But this is not what WWE's booking team have chosen to do.

Indeed, rather than being part of the angle, AJ has become the angle. These days she comes off as a bigger deal than CM Punk, Daniel Bryan or even the prestigious WWE Championship. In fact, even as Raw closed out last week, the last segment seemed more dedicated to figuring out just who AJ would pick as her boyfriend rather than who was going to be champion at MITB. 

This was never more obvious than it was tonight at the pay-per-view itself when AJ's involvement dominated the match and took away from what was—a very good wrestling bout between Punk and Bryan. In this respect, she definitely hindered the main event as her antics were dragged out to an almost ridiculous degree. 

In fairness to AJ, Punk's title reign was already floundering prior to her involvement. The former ROH had been stuck playing second fiddle to John Cena for much of his championship run, and he hadn't been main eventing—on television or pay-per-view—much at all until this angle came along. If anything, you could argue that the AJ angle had returned him to prominence and gave him a large role on the show again.

As we emerge from the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, the Punk/AJ/Bryan romance looks destined to continue. Tonight's match simply left too many loose ends for the entire thing to simply be done and dusted.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, a charismatic presence like AJ can aid the strong Punk/Bryan program. However, WWE may want to tone her down and use her a bit more sparingly on Raw and SmackDown. She can be featured in the angle, but not all over it.

As it is, continuing to allow her to upstage Bryan and Punk, like she did tonight, will only serve to greatly devalue both Punk and Bryan, as well as the WWE Championship itself.