The Good, the Great and the Awesome from WWE Money in the Bank 2013

The 2013 edition of World Wrestling Entertainment's Money in the Bank pay-per-view is in the books and several newsworthy events occurred.

Blood was spilled, ladders were broken, friends were betrayed and a viper rose to the occasion in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank match.

Speaking of friends betraying friends, Team Rhodes Scholars made an unceremonious split when Damien Sandow cost Cody Rhodes the opportunity of a lifetime, shoving his tag team partner from the top of a ladder and winning the World Heavyweight title shot for himself.

John Cena retained his WWE title, AJ Lee retained her Divas title and inadvertently cost her boyfriend, Dolph Ziggler, the World Heavyweight title. Curtis Axel fended off the challenge of former WWE champion The Miz and Ryback scored a much-needed win over Chris Jericho in a match few fans remembered was still on the show.

With the show complete and the road to SummerSlam officially underway, here is a look back at the good, the great and the awesome from Sunday night's Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.

The Good

The Black Widow bites Kaitlyn again
For the second pay-per-view event in a row, Kaitlyn and AJ Lee met in a match for the WWE Divas Championship. For the second pay-per-view event in a row, AJ made her former best friend tap out.

The story at the center of Sunday night's match featured AJ working over the injured arm of her opponent. Kaitlyn entered the match with her left elbow wrapped and the champion wasted little time exploiting the injury to her advantage.

Late in the match, Kaitlyn made her comeback and had momentum on her side when she knocked AJ off the top rope and into the waiting arms of Big E. Langston. The involvement of Langston provided just enough of a distraction that AJ was able to apply the Black Widow just moments later and successfully retain her title.

The Philadelphia crowd was not nearly as into the match between the top two Divas in the company as the audience in Chicago was last month, and the resulting match was not nearly as good, but Kaitlyn and AJ delivered solid performances and continued to show shockingly good chemistry with one another.

With no clear direction to go outside of the feud, it should be interesting to see if the Kaitlyn-AJ program continues into SummerSlam or if WWE's Total Divas debuting results in a push for one of the five active Divas on the roster involved in that show.

Chris Jericho vs. Ryback happened. Really.
Contrary to what one would have thought based on promotion for it throughout the last week, Chris Jericho and Ryback did have a match on Sunday's pay-per-view. And it was a fairly solid match that Ryback absolutely needed to win. And he did, without hurting Jericho at all. So there is that.

Moving on.

The Miz vs. Curtis Axel
Intercontinental champion Curtis Axel continued his rise with a major pay-per-view victory over top contender, and former WWE champion, The Miz.

Early in the match, Miz was persistent in his attempts to grab a hold of Axel and apply the Figure Four. When action poured to the outside and Miz realized the potential distraction, and danger, of manager Paul Heyman hanging around ringside, he feigned getting hit by the godfather of extreme and got Heyman banished to the locker room.

This left Axel to defend the title on his own. Thwarting the attack from the veteran opposition, Axel managed to counter Miz's Figure Four and then withstood the pain of the submission hold in order to continue his title defense.

The finish saw Axel utilize the entire squared circle, kicking the ropes back in the face of Miz and delivering a neck breaker/face plant combination for the win.

A solid match that gave the surging Curtis Axel another big pay-per-view victory. 

The Great

John Cena wins...because that's what he does
In the weeks leading up to Money in the Bank, Mark Henry was billed as a huge threat to John Cena's WWE championship. For three quarters of Sunday's match, he was.

Mark Henry entered the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to an ovation befitting the most popular stars in the sports. Cena, on the other hand, was met with a chorus of boos as he took to the ring for another WWE title defense.

The challenger dominated the majority of the bout, cutting Cena off on a number of occasions and looking like the superior competitor most of the way through. 

The champion, as he has become all too infamous for doing, made his Superman-like comeback and appeared to have Henry put away following the Attitude Adjustment.

Then Henry kicked out and doubt crept across the face of Cena. The near-falls in the match went a long way in making it much more than your typical "good guy overcomes the odds and wins" match, creating drama and allowing fans to react accordingly to each and every pinfall or submission attempt. The World's Strongest Slam by Henry after catching Cena in mid-air is an excellent example.

In the end, Cena would lock in the STF and score a decisive and undisputed tap out win over his larger, stronger opponent. Henry delivered in what may be his final pay-per-view title match while Cena continued his latest title reign with a strong showing.

What could have been an absolutely predictable, cookie cutter-type match was aided immensely by strong false finishes and a crowd dying to see Henry flatten the champion.

Del Rio escapes with gold...thanks to AJ?
Dolph Ziggler squared off with Alberto Del Rio in a rematch of their World Heavyweight Championship match from last month's Payback. This time, Ziggler entered Philadelphia as a babyface while Del Rio filled the role of ruthless-yet-arrogant champion looking to regain the title he captured in brutal fashion less than 30 days earlier.

Ziggler and Del Rio had a hell of a match, utilizing a fast pace and relying on high impact offense and several near-falls to get the crowd involved and invested in everything they did. For the first time since the double-turn at Payback, fans completely bought into Dolph as a babyface, and it only helped to enhance the quality of the match.

Both the straight to kick to the face by Del Rio and the Fameasser by Ziggler led to tremendous near-falls and had fans inside the Wells Fargo Center believing they were witnessing the finish of the bout.

The phenomenal singles bout came to a disappointing end when AJ Lee, the on-screen girlfriend of the challenger, skipped to ringside and made her presence felt late in the match. Minutes later, she would enter the ring and strike Del Rio with her Divas title, drawing a disqualification and signifying a successful title defense for the world champion.

Post-match, Ziggler and AJ exchanged words before Dolph walked out on his significant other.

The match accomplished two things. First, it proved that babyface Ziggler could still wrestle the same type of fast-paced match he was used to, all while doing so as the babyface fighting from underneath and not losing the fan reaction that oftentimes made his performance one of the best on any given WWE broadcast.

Secondly, it planted the seeds for the Ziggler-AJ split, which desperately needs to happen if there is any chance of fans completely accepting the former world champion as a babyface. AJ has been very solid in her performances as a heel over the last seven months and turning her just to fit the newly turned Ziggler would make little sense.

Keeping her as a heel/foil to her one-time boyfriend would result in stories that write themselves.

The Awesome

Team Rhodes Scholars ERUPTS!
The dissolution of Team Rhodes Scholars capped off a phenomenal World Championship Money in the Bank match, which kicked off Sunday night's show.

The seven men involved in the match, only one of which had ever held major championship gold in World Wrestling Entertainment, delivered a hell of a match that had no trouble keeping the audience engaged and excited, despite the fact that all seven performers were heels.

Dean Ambrose was responsible for several impressive spots, one of which saw him standing atop a ladder held by Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro and nearly grabbing the briefcase and stealing a win. The Shield's Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, fresh off a pre-show win over The Usos, would interfere in the match and attempt to secure the win for Ambrose. Unfortunately, those same Usos they defeated prior to the start of the show interjected themselves into the match and a brawl between them, The Shield, Cesaro and Swagger erupted at ringside.

Cody Rhodes, the star of the match, shoved Ambrose off a ladder and into the giant cluster. Battered, bloodied and determined to make the next step up the ladder in WWE, it appeared as though the deserving second-generation Superstar was going to see his hard work pay off.

Then came betrayal.

Damien Sandow appeared from out of nowhere and tossed Rhodes off the ladder before securing the briefcase for himself.

The match was a showcase for seven men who may very well be the future of World Wrestling Entertainment. More importantly, it specifically elevated two performers in Rhodes and Sandow who will likely now feud with one another and enjoy more television exposure and a higher profile on WWE programming than they had previously.

There are very few Superstars who made as much impact in one match in 2013 than Cody Rhodes did Sunday night. Money in the Bank was his show, even if he came out on the losing end of his match.

The Viper strikes it rich
If the first Money in the Bank match of the evening was a showcase for the company's young talent, the second was a display of utter chaos as some of the most decorated stars in the history of the sport utilized ladders to unleash violence and destruction in the main event of the evening.

CM Punk, Rob Van Dam and Daniel Bryan were clearly the most popular among the vocal Philadelphia crowd, but it was Sheamus who proved to be the workhorse of the match. The Celtic Warrior delivered a strong, if unpopular, performance while both Bryan and Punk exploded with bursts of offense that built momentum and had them poised to win their second and third briefcases, respectively.

Unfortunately for both men, Paul Heyman would be responsible for their disappointment.

Bryan looked like a lock to win the match as he unleashed his explosive signature offense on his opposition, only to be halted by Intercontinental champion Curtis Axel, who seemingly interfered on behalf of CM Punk.

Clearly Punk did not get the memo.

The former WWE champion leveled Axel with GTS and turned his attention to the Money in the Bank briefcase. Heyman would appear and deliver a severe tongue lashing to an unconscious Axel before seemingly cheering Punk on as he inched closer and closer to victory. Then, to the shock of no one, Heyman turned on Punk and assaulted him with a second ladder. Punk would be left busted open, bleeding from the side of his head while Heyman exited the arena to a chorus of boos.

Rob Van Dam would seize the opportunity and scale the ladder, only to be pulled directly into an RKO by Randy Orton. With his competition lying broken and beaten around the ring, Orton climbed the ladder and retrieved the briefcase, doing the one thing he had yet to do in his long and storied career.

The win is a nice reward for Orton who, like him or not, has been a workhorse for WWE over the last two years and has not been involved in a main event program since dominating the SmackDown brand in the summer of 2011.

The match was a brutal and violent one that lived up to the hype and delivered the split between Punk and Heyman that will dominate WWE programming leading into SummerSlam on August 18.

Daniel Bryan was outstanding once again, and working him into a WWE title match against John Cena at SummerSlam (or whenever wanted) would not be difficult. Rob Van Dam made an impact on his first night back, even if his involvement in the most important spots of the match were limited, while everyone else did their jobs and contributed to the match.

A high quality pay-per-view main event to end one of the better shows of 2013.

So far.