From Butch, to Shinsuke Nakamura – who is even more over after the Lil Uzi Vert song – to Santos Escobar, Damian Priest, Ricochet, LA Knight, and finally Logan Paul, a curious decision indeed, considering their reactions from the crowd on SmackDown, WWE decided to march out seven of their finest Superstars to open up Money in the Bank with a match that has closed out the Premium Live Event more often than not, the Men's Ladder match for the shiny green briefcase.

But why? Maybe it's because there wasn't a women's championship match on the card – save the tag team match between Shayna Baszler and Ronda Rousey versus Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the Women's Tag Team Championship – thus eliminating a Liv Morgan-esque cash-in from Becky Lynch, Zelina Vega, Trish Stratus, or IYO SKY. Maybe Paul “Triple H” Levesque wanted to keep that intrigue alive for the remainder of the card, allowing whoever pulls out the W to come out during Gunther's match against Matt Riddle and Seth Rollins' match with Finn Balor to put a little extra pressure on the champs to retain?

Either way, with bigger fish to fry like The Bloodline Civil War and… Cody Rhodes versus Dominik Mysterio – a match that just might headline the show – Trips placed the namesake match of Money in the Bank first and, in what should come as little surprise to fans in the know, the match delivered just about everything you could want from a seven-man Ladder match… except many the winner fans wanted to see.

Money in the Bank opens with a very interesting booking decision.

In professional wrestling, the best matches tell a story. Some are about an underdog finally going the distance, others are about overcoming adversity, and others still are about a veteran trying to keep their career alive against the hands of time just as much as their opponent. The 2023 Men's Money in the Bank Ladder match was all about Logan Paul and how much the other six members of the field really didn't like how the social media influencer handled himself in the contest, from how he qualified for the contest – he just sort of asked for it – to how he talked about his match mates – calling LA Knight the “Megamanager” – to bargaining with performers like Priest to try to form mini-alliances during the match, largely to avoid the sort of beating that fans loved to cheer on during the contest.

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Coming in hot and heavy in front of an absolutely lights-out crowd willing to speak their minds with very creative chants, the fan favorites in the match were clearly Butch, Shinsuke Nakamura, and LA Knight, proving that British wrestling fans clearly know ball, and, for the most part, the powers at be gave the trio plenty of big spots to showcase their strength, with Butch now-famously employing a cricket bat Sandman-style to attack his co-workers and Nakamura proving why he's still deserving of the “King of Strongstyle” nickname despite largely leaving the ultra-physical style of wrestling he used to an incredible degree during all of those IWGP Intercntinental Championship reigns in New Japan.

And yet, in the end, it all came down to the “Megastar” as, after clearing the ring, LA Knight fought through challenger after challenger to stand solo in the ring and pull down the briefcase as cartoon Budlights shared the screen with him for a very strange post-match commercial.

… well, it certainly looked that way. No, in the end, Priest ran up the ladder too and hit the “Megastar” with what Michael Cole called a Broken Arrow, dropping the former Maximum Male Manager to the ring from about 15 feet up to clear the way for the “Punishment” of The Judgement Day to become Mr. Money in the Bank, or should I say Señor Money in the Bank, as he decided to put it.

Was this the right call? No, based on the booing from the 18,000-plus fans in the O2 Arena – plus the thousands more online – it's safe to say Priest was among the least anticipated winners of Money in the Bank, but in the end, maybe Triple H has a plan here. Maybe he has Finn Balor dethroning Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and wants to book his own “Heist of the Century” with a Priest cashing in on his faction mate? Still, bypassing LA Knight in favor of giving the open contract to the heater of an admittedly very popular faction is an interesting call, especially if Dominik Mysterios secures the win against Cody Rhodes later on the card with or without some help from a certain “Beast Incarnate.”