WWE Money in the Bank Results: 10 Ways the Event Could Have Been Better

Money in the Bank is all over now, but the reaction is still pouring in. The final pay-per-view before SummerSlam has come in with rather positive reviews across the board—but some critical critiques.

While some fans wished to see a title change in either the World Heavyweight Championship or WWE Championship matches, a lot of the criticism came into play with the selection of Money in the Bank winners.

The two Money in the Bank matches yielded Dolph Ziggler and John Cena as SmackDown and Raw winners respectively. Now, Ziggler and Cena are the latest to have guaranteed world-title matches given to them with Money in the Bank briefcases.

Even though Money in the Bank was a fine and solid pay-per-view, it was not the best that it could be. It's also being scrutinized as not being as great as last year's event, which many see as the best pay-per-view of 2011.

Money in the Bank 2012 will not be viewed as the best of the year more than likely, but here are 10 ways that it could have improved and gotten to that potential level.

Fewer Matches

By the end of the night, including the pre-show, there were eight matches on the card. This included three added matches during the night.

The show added a six-Diva tag team match that nobody thought would occur, a Ryback match that was a bit of a waste and a tag team match that simply angered people more than anything.

At least the Ryback match saw the undefeated cyborg superstar receive some opposing offensive action against him. The Divas match really did nothing for anybody, except remind people of what Kaitlyn's theme was.

The real hangup was the tag team match, especially when the tag team champions competed in the pre-show.

Why would you put the No.1 contenders on the main card but not the champions? Could we have seen a tag team title match for once?

CM Punk/Daniel Bryan in Main Event

This should have been the last match. A Money in the Bank ladder match has never main evented any event for a reason.

Sure, there was John Cena and a few other main event superstars, but it has been all about Punk, Bryan and the loopy AJ for weeks on both Raw and SmackDown. If they couldn't main event Money in the Bank, what hope is there for them to main event SummerSlam in a few weeks?

The match itself was the best that we could ask for on the night. The no disqualification stipulation left something to be desired, unless 37 kendo stick shots is your thing.

AJ as a referee really should have been the focus of this match. Outside of her preventing shots with weapons at times and being knocked off the apron, it could have been anyone as the referee.

Still, this match is what you build your television product around, so why abandon that idea come pay-per-view time?

Alberto Del Rio in WWE Championship MITB Match

They added The Miz to the card at the last minute, so what's to say that a disgruntled Alberto Del Rio, a former WWE Champion, couldn't add himself to the main event as well?

It would make for a six-man Money in the Bank match—a standard for the match type. The five men in this match still make for the smallest field in the dozen Money in the Bank matches in history.

Del Rio wouldn't need to win, but the idea that he could go from nearly being World Heavyweight Champion to winning Money in the Bank yet again would turn some heads.

It wouldn't be lazy booking at all. It would actually feel a lot like the times where Edge would move from one championship to the next during his storied career.

Not Having John Cena Win Raw Money in the Bank

I understand that John Cena has been just about removed from the title picture for about a year, but it doesn't exactly justify the Money in the Bank briefcase.

Just looking at the four other superstars in the match shows even longer droughts as champion for all except The Big Show, who was champion for less time than it takes to drink a cup of coffee.

Cena doesn't need the briefcase, especially with an impending 11th WWE Championship reign coming his way now. Triple H (eight reigns) and The Rock (seven reigns) are the only other men with more than six trips as WWE Champion, thus far.

At 35, Cena will get another title reign in his career, but did Money in the Bank have to grant it for him? Won't he be in the title picture by Night of Champions anyway?

Don't Have Reks and Hawkins Tag in and out

Ryback actually saw some opposing offensive action against him at Money in the Bank in what was one of the most surprising moments of the night. But why does this tag team have to be a tag team? Ryback has taken on two men at once. Is it because Reks and Hawkins don't have names that remind people of U.S. Presidents?

Hawkins and Reks actually got a pinfall attempt on Ryback, but just imagine what would have happened had they both been in the ring at the exact same time?

The Ryback's undefeated streak could have been put in jeopardy, and the thought of fans rallying behind Ryback would start to seep in.

After all, that's why Ryback was beat down a bit, right? To get some fan support?

Tag Team Title Match

It's absolutely foolish to put the tag team champions in a non-title match on the YouTube pre-show, while putting the No. 1 contenders in a match on the card and have them lose.

This canceled being able to actually see a WWE Tag Team match on pay-per-view. Kofi Kingston and R-Truth could have faced The Primetime Players to satisfy that title shot that was granted to the contenders.

After all, when the feud with Primo and Epico includes the thought that A.W. blew the title chance for the ex-champions by waiting longer than 30 days, it sounds foolish to see Darren Young and Titus O'Neil, who became the No. 1 contenders 29 days ago, not use their title shot.

Unless their title bout is on Raw tonight, this is another inconsistent move in storylines.

Dolph Ziggler Successfully Cashes in at Money in the Bank

There was actual heat for Alberto Del Rio during the World Heavyweight Championship match.

This doesn't mean that there was a huge reaction for Sheamus defending his championship. As the camera lingered on him and the champion was beat down by Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez, a chant of "We Want Ziggler" started.

His music hit and the US Airways Center erupted. This was a very good sign for Ziggler, who has a lot of support from the crowd now, especially after his great match at No Way Out just a few weeks ago.

It would have been nice to become champion in another way, but Ziggler becoming a world champion any way possible is a positive step. This should tell those higher up that Ziggler needs to cash in at a pay-per-view.

Cashing in on a taped episode of SmackDown will not only ruin the surprise and tank the ratings, but will also likely include canned heat for Ziggler, who's still a heel after all.

No Divas Match

If you're gonna bring six Divas to the ring, not put the championship on the line and have the match go less than five minutes, don't even bother.

Layla isn't a terrible champion, but it certainly feels like there are bi-weekly meetings where WWE asks themselves who their Divas Champion is.

Kaitlyn still has a Divas title shot but seems further from it now than before. Beth Phoenix is still trying to make Layla look strong as a champion.

However, making a basic neckbreaker finisher look damaging is hard to do. With the news on Kharma this week, fans are now more disgusted than ever with the Divas division.

AJ Shows Her True Colors

So, what's the resolution with AJ? Are we going to be exposed to more weeks of AJ being off her rocker?

Counting the pinfall for CM Punk last night proved nothing because it wasn't controversial. Unless this is a payoff at SummerSlam, something should have been done last night with AJ as the special referee. If not for some moments with weapons, it would almost be like anyone was the referee.

There was no turn and pledging allegiance to Daniel Bryan. There was no drastic moment where she put herself in danger. AJ must have forgotten what to do last night at Money in the Bank because she got nothing done regarding her character.

Something from Triple H

It would have been nice to hear from Triple H to update that storyline with Brock Lesnar and a potential SummerSlam match in a few weeks.

Lesnar will be on Raw's 1,000th episode in eight days, so unless there's a Triple H update on Raw, it will feel more like an "oh, by the way, here's Brock Lesnar" moment.

This is supposed to be a big deal and having the Chief Operating Officer on screen in the first pay-per-view without John Laurinaitis would have been an important thing to see. I mean, who was actually in charge last night at Money in the Bank?

Follow @RobertAitkenBR