Sheamus

Money in the Bank is a pay-per-view that can help change the landscape of WWE for the remainder of the year. This year's installment featured two Money in the Bank ladder matches, two title matches and a number of additional unannounced matches. In the end, both champions retained their titles, and new -- yet familiar -- challengers have emerged. Here's a match-by-match look at the show: Pre-Show Match Tag Team Championship R-Truth and Kofi Kingston (c)

This year's Road to WrestleMania feels like a construction zone. Momentum is stalled, speed is halted and the scenery doesn't seem to change. Despite all the negatives, the promise of a new, improved motorway lies ahead in the future. Coming off the heels of the Royal Rumble pay per view, Raw delivered a highly entertaining episode that seemed to kick the product into high gear. Unfortunately, WWE has been unable to continue that momentum, slowing things down with a decent Smackdown last week and sending them to a screeching halt with this week's programming . Monday's Raw was a letdown, and tonight's Smackdown, while not as bad, still failed to reignite interest as WWE moves toward Elimination Chamber and, ultimately, WrestleMania.

In the wake of WWE's Over the Limit pay-per-view, a new Intercontinental champion has been crowned, four other champions continue to hold onto their titles and John Laurinaitis remains employed. Sunday night's show delivered an evening of quality entertainment and good in-ring performances. On a non-major PPV event, WWE delivered a product that surpassed the expectations of many. Here's a match-by-match look at the show: Battle Royale This last-minute addition to the card was a means of crowning a No. 1 contender for one of the midcard titles.

If the very first WrestleMania taught us anything, it's that celebrities will always have a place in the WWEUniverse. For years, WWE fans have been used to seeing actors, musicians, athletes, billionaires, reality stars and pretty much any other form of celebrity journey through WWE TV, with many treating it like a stop on a media tour (Leno, Letterman, WWE, Conan, etc...). Today, the most interesting WWE celebrity involvement may not even have an official agreement in place between parties.

Let me start by saying this -- I want more WWE televised events to happen outside the U.S. Maybe that's not entirely true. Let me rephrase -- I want more WWE televised events where we hear reactions like the ones we heard this week. Both Raw (Monday) and Smackdown (Tuesday) were in Birmingham, England this week. The crowd was so good, that even on the second consecutive night of WWE action, the crowd reaction and party atmosphere rivalled many WWE crowds stateside. Many segments and matches felt even more special just because the Birmingham crowd was so vocal.

Star power. WWE fans have thrown those two words around a lot lately, mostly in the context of its absence from the current roster. One needs to look no further than the two world title bouts announced this week for the upcoming Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to see where these complaints originate and develop. On Monday night's Raw, it was announced that CM Punk would defend his WWE Championship against Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, R-Truth and Kofi Kingston. Smackdown's match, which pits World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan against Big Show, Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes and the Great Khali, was announced on Friday night's show.

After Vince McMahon gave CM Punk the ultimatum of John Cena or Ryback as his Hell in a Cell opponent last week, one of the fine people I follow on Twitter alluded to it being a choice between "the devil Punk knows and the devil he doesn't know. " On tonight's edition of Raw, Punk himself used those very words when addressing the crowd. It was a clever tie-in with the pay-per-view poster that depicts Punk as a devil himself. Punk's desire to toy with the crowd cost him, though, as Vince McMahon told him he was taking too long to decide, and that McMahon would make the choice for him later in the show.

Both the WWE and World Heavyweight champions walked out of Sunday's Night of Champions pay-per-view with their titles in tow. Sheamus cleanly put away his rival Alberto Del Rio, while CM Punk retained his title after a controversial double-pin with John Cena. But as Paul Heyman was quick to point out on tonight's Raw, in a situation like that, the champion is to be declared the winner. Both challengers, though, laid claim to another shot at the title, so General Manager AJ Lee put all four men in a tag team match that she said could have ramifications on who could possibly get a rematch.

For all intents and purposes, Friday's edition of Smackdown was the blue brand's go-home show for next weekend's WrestleMania. With a series of events scheduled to begin in Miami next week, Monday's Raw will be the last show taped before the big night next Sunday. That means there will not be a new episode of Smackdown next week. At least not a regular show. In recent years, WWE has used those final hours of television to highlight the WrestleMania week festivities and build final hype for the show.

Twelve months ago, fans asked the question, "Can WWE maintain the momentum for a match between John Cena and The Rock for a whole year?" On Monday night, the answer resounded with a definitive yes. Almost one year after the epic showdown between the biggest star of an era past and the current generation was announced, the two men stood together in the ring on Raw in their final showdown before Sunday's WrestleMania. But that wasn't all. The duo was also the focus of a special one-hour documentary, "Once in a Lifetime," that aired on USA before Raw. It has been said before, and it deserves to be said again: The WWE video production team excels at its job. This program was extremely well directed and produced and helped strengthen both men's images going into the big show.