WWE Money in the Bank 2017: Baron Corbin and the Biggest Stars of the Night

WWE Money in the Bank 2017 promoted itself as historical. For the first time, there was a women's Money in the Bank ladder match—an unheard of proposition less than three years ago.

And the traditional men's match was stacked with unbelievable talent. AJ Styles. Kevin Owens. Sami Zayn. Shinsuke Nakamura. Who would have thought, not so long ago, that WWE would be dominated by those four?

The company has come a long way in a short amount of time: courting indie and overseas talent and diversifying its roster to become a truly global brand.

So did the pay-per-view live up to its hype? Absolutely not, thanks to a whole bunch of gimmicky, screwball finishes. The final match barely saved it. But let's not digress. Here are the biggest stars of the night.

Tamina

Credit: WWE.com

What a horrible, baffling way to make history.

After showing a video package that hyped the rise of women in sports entertainment—paying tribute to Mae Young, Wendi Richter and Trish Stratus, among others—WWE flushed it all down the drain by having James Ellsworth climb the ladder and give the briefcase to Carmella. That's right folks. In the first-ever women's MITB ladder match, the winner needed a man's help to get the job done.

No one could really have a star-making turn in a debacle like this. But the woman who best acquitted herself was Tamina. She dominated for the first five minutes, and she was willing to get physical in the sort of match that demanded it. If WWE ever decides to pull the trigger with her, she has what it takes, at least athletically, to make a strong champion.

Kofi Kingston

Credit: WWE.com

Here was another horrible finish. And it's a shame, because up until the very end, this match was a lot of fun. But rather than closing things definitively, the Usos took the chicken's way out, losing by count-out and retaining their titles.

The star of this match, however, was Kofi Kingston. Whatever ring rust he had after returning from injury is far gone. He's doing the best work of his career on the back half of his career.

Usually, Kingston plays the weaker partner, and Big E gets the hot tag to finish the match. But not on Sunday. Kingston was the equal partner throughout, and he had a wonderful spot at the very end, when he landed a double elbow on both Usos by flying backwards off the top rope to the floor.

Naomi

Credit: WWE.com

Well, thank God that Naomi won that one. Lana is way too green to be the SmackDown women's champion. She put on an adequate performance, but it would set a poor precedent and make the women's title too gimmicky to have her win the belt outright.

Naomi has been booked as a weak champion, to the point where the commentators talk about her as though she's the underdog. But on Sunday, she showed that she could mat wrestle, finishing with a nice pin-into-submission combination.

She had less gimmicky spots and applied more basic fundamentals. Hopefully, Sunday's win can be the start of a stronger run for Naomi. It'll be interesting to see her play cat-and-mouse with Carmella for the next couple of weeks.

If the WWE writers really want to make Naomi a star, they'll have Carmella lose her cash-in attempt. It'll be for the best, because then, we can forget that this entire James Ellsworth trainwreck ever happened.

Jinder Mahal

Credit: WWE.com

Jinder Mahal put on a good performance, even if he won with the same finish as last time. (Seriously, what was up with the finishes on Sunday?)

Mahal spent the better part of the match working Orton's left leg, applying the sort of ring psychology that he'll need as a champion heel. He's doing his best to rise to the challenge that WWE has placed in front of him: to perform as a convincing champion without a whole lot of experience to show for it.

And even though it was because Sunday's PPV was in Orton's hometown, the legit heat that Mahal received was overwhelming. Can Mahal capitalize on it? Hopefully. He could afford to be a little more physical and dominant—as muscular as he is, he should be rag-dolling his opponents.

The outside spots with the Singh brothers were good fun. But in the future, Mahal should stand on his own feet. He shouldn't have to rely on interference to win matches.

Baron Corbin

Credit: WWE.com

The MVP of Sunday's main event was Baron Corbin. He started things off properly, first by taking out Shinsuke Nakamura and then by decking Dolph Ziggler in the face, upholding his "Lone Wolf" persona. Everyone, babyface or heel, was getting some.

He used his considerable size and strength to his advantage (take notes, Jinder Mahal!), tossing both AJ Styles and Sami Zayn around like they weighed nothing. And he also knew how to sell; he had some really nice snap to his bumps when AJ Styles kicked his legs out from underneath him.

All six men were fantastic; the main event was the match of the evening, and Styles and Nakamura did a great job of teasing their inevitable showdown (watch their Wrestle Kingdom 10 classic if you haven't already).

But Corbin walked away with the briefcase, and he deserved to. He was dominant throughout, and unlike everyone else, who had an individual axe to grind against another competitor, Corbin kept his eye on the ultimate prize at all times.