WWE Money in the Bank 2016: Results and observations from the show

WWE hyped this year's Money in the Bank as the greatest in the event's short history.

It didn't seem like it for a while, as the first half of the show was largely uneventful. That includes the tag team title match, which seemed out of sorts at times. I expected a lot more from those four teams and I felt that the match was a letdown.

But as expected, WWE delivered in its big three matches and sent the fans — in the arena and at home — home with smiles on their faces.

Before I go into more details about the event, here are the full match results from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas:

- Kickoff match - The Golden Truth def. Breezango

- Kickoff match - The Lucha Dragons def. The Dudley Boyz

- WWE Tag Team championship – The New Day def. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, Enzo Amore & Big Cass, The Vaudevillains

- Baron Corbin def. Dolph Ziggler

- Charlotte & Dana Brooke def. Natalya & Becky Lynch

- Apollo Crews def. Sheamus

- AJ Styles def. John Cena

- Money in the Bank ladder match – Dean Ambrose def. Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Alberto Del Rio, Sami Zayn, Cesaro

- WWE United States championship – Rusev def. Titus O'Neil

- WWE World Heavyweight championship – Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns

- WWE World Heavyweight championship – Dean Ambrose def. Seth Rollins

The Lunatic Fringe is now the Lunatic champion

After coming up short time and time again, Ambrose has finally risen to the top of the mountain and is the WWE World Heavyweight champion for the first time.

How did this happen?

First, he won he won the Money in the Bank briefcase after a very exciting ladder match. Then Rollins defeated Reigns clean to win his second WWE World Heavyweight title.

Wait a second. I wrote that in a very nonchalant manner. Let's not overstate the significance of Rollins coming back and reclaiming the WWE World Heavyweight title he never lost with a clean victory over Reigns.

I'm not sure the last time Reigns lost clean and I'm surprised it happened on this night. I figured he would be holding on to that title for a lot longer, but with the way everything turned out, I don't see how anyone could be upset.

Rollins winning set the stage for Ambrose to cash in. Ambrose's music played, prompting Rollins to get prepared to defend the title he just won moments earlier. However, Ambrose attacked him with the briefcase from behind, alerted the referee of his intentions, hit dirty deeds and became the champion.

There have been times in the past that Ambrose was seemingly the most popular guy in WWE, but for whatever reason, he wasn't given the ball and allowed to run with it.

Fortunately, patience is a virtue and the man that once wrestled in death matches in front of a few hundred people for Combat Zone Wrestling is now the top man in the industry by way of being the WWE World Heavyweight champion.

The crowd went crazy when Ambrose held the title up high after winning it. I almost forgot what it sounded like when a babyface the fans actually like wins the championship. It has been a while.

The obvious question is now where do we go from here? The easy answer would be a triple threat between Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns, as all three have claims to being champion and the obvious story of them being former running mates in The Shield.

But when does that triple threat happen? The logical time would be SummerSlam, but WWE has another pay-per-view before then by the name of Battleground? Does WWE book the much-anticipated triple threat match between these men on a secondary, forgettable show like Battleground? I wouldn't.

Instead of relying on stars of yesteryear such as Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker to sell SummerSlam, I'd use three current stars, three products of the company's developmental system to headline the year's second-biggest event.

The Shield continues to rule WWE

The Shield broke up two years ago, but the group's story is still very interesting today and WWE capitalized on it Sunday night.

The parallels of Ambrose cashing in on Rollins are immense. First, you have Rollins being the one cashed in on after he did the same thing at WrestleMania last year to win his first WWE World Heavyweight title.

Secondly, you have Ambrose finally gaining a huge measure of revenge on Rollins for breaking up The Shield. Remember when The Shield first broke up? Ambrose and Rollins engaged in a heated rivalry that eventually ended up in Hell in a Cell.

The thing was that Rollins always found a way to get the upper hand on Ambrose, including inside Hell in a Cell. So for Ambrose to finally get one up on him and in this dramatic of fashion is great.

Then you have Reigns, who defeated Ambrose to win his first WWE World Heavyweight title back in November. He was supposed to face Rollins. But on Sunday night he was once again watching one of his former Shield brethren hold up the WWE World Heavyweight championship by way of cashing Money in the Bank.

Whether WWE did this intentionally or not, it has put together a great story that has endured for the better part of two years. If you count their days together as The Shield, it goes back almost four.

WWE took three guys from its developmental system and within five years have turned all of them into undeniable main eventers that the company can rely upon for the next decade or more. All three were champion in one night.

WWE doesn't do it often, but it got it right with The Shield.

The Club helps Styles beat Cena

No one should be surprised by how all of this turned out. That is because we have seen this all before.

With the exception of Owens, if Cena loses to someone, it usually happens because of interference, a child with a surprisingly deep voice or Jon Stewart. Something is usually put in Cena's way that prevents him from winning the match, leaving a reason for him to pursue a rematch.

In the ensuing rematch or rematches, Cena usually comes out on top — clean.

Maybe this time will be different. Maybe The Club helped Styles beat Cena at Money in the Bank, don't do it again in the future and Styles still finds a way to win.

Maybe The Club helps Styles defeat Cena again.

History says those scenarios are highly unlikely.

History says that Styles and Cena will tear the house down again, but that Cena comes out on top. Why? Because it's John Cena, that's why. You all know how this goes.

I must say though that the match Sunday night was very good and I have a feeling that their future matches will be even better once they get a true feel for each other in the ring. Once Styles and Cena get their chemistry down together, look out.

Natalya turns heel

Early on, there wasn't much to take away from Money in the Bank. As I alluded to earlier, the undercard was, well, underwhelming and that's probably putting it lightly.

But one of the few bright spots from Money in the Bank's undercard was Natalya turning on Becky Lynch after losing to Charlotte and Becky Lynch.

I'm not sure if good things are to come, but it should be at the very least a nice change of pace for Natalya, who has been running in place since her feud with Charlotte ended.

There is a good story behind it, as she is fed up with coming up short. I can dig that.

Also, how many times can someone turn on Lynch? Someone said on Twitter that she's approaching Sting levels of the number of times she's been stabbed in the back. Maybe it is time for her to paint her face and hang out in the rafters for while.