This year WWE’s Money in the Bank pay per view and the infamous Money in the Bank ladder match has been made exclusive to the Smackdown brand, and this year takes an interesting twist as the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match takes place as well.
Not counting the kickoff show matches, the five announced matches are both Money in the Bank ladder matches, Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton (rematch for the WWE title, Mahal defending as Champion), Naomi defending the Women’s Championship against the returning Lana, and the Tag Team titles on the line when the Usos defend against the returning New Day.
Here are my predictions on what will happen at the event, based on the current card going into St. Louis this weekend:
Rusev becomes the 7th entrant into main Money in the Bank Ladder Match
C’mon, people, we’re seeing Lana; we’re seeing the New Day….it’s a safe bet that Rusev isn’t far behind since he is literally the last person left over from the Superstar Shakeup to make an appearance since being drafted to Smackdown Live from RAW.
Looking back at all the MITB ladder matches since 2006, and the number of participants have ranged from between 5 to 8, so having 7 men isn’t an unique experience. Also, as mentioned Rusev hasn’t been seen since being drafted to the blue brand, what better way to debut than by being in the MITB ladder match.
If you’ll recall in the storyline, Rusev released basically what appeared to be a video of him working out at the gym (presumably rehabbing from his surgery while he was still with RAW) demanding that he be granted a title match at Money in the Bank, or he would move back to Bulgaria. Unless you haven’t followed Rusev’s Twitter feed and believe in the storyline, he lives in Nashville, TN and he kinda likes it there, so there’s little chance he’s actually carrying out his threat.
It would be fantastic to see Rusev enter the arena in a Russian tank flying the flag of the Russian Federation again, but I would settle for him entering MITB as the seventh participant. And speaking of how he enters that match….
Daniel Bryan returns to introduce Rusev as MITB participant
This may sound kind of random, but it shouldn’t be. Daniel Bryan is the General Manager of Smackdown Live. He’s been off WWE television since his wife Brie Bella gave birth to their baby girl last month. I’m not an expert on paternity leave, but usually men would not need up to 6 or 9 months before going back to work like women would, and Brie isn’t wrestling anymore anyway so she’s still with her baby while Bryan goes back on television.
Usually we have been seeing Shane McMahon doing most of the on screen match making decisions, and it’s almost becoming an expected occurrence. It would just seem like a good time to bring back Daniel Bryan as a shock factor for the MITB pay per view, have him introduce Rusev as the seventh participant in the main MITB ladder match.
Double Cash Ins on the Same Night?
Sure, we’ve seen MITB contract winners hold the briefcase for up to almost the very end, like Edge in 2006 or Seth Rollins in 2015, to cash in their contract for the WWE Championship. This was done in order to create that shock factor after building up the suspense, and giving almost every championship title situation that unknown X factor of making fans wonder when a cash in would take place.
But we have also seen some of the quickest cash in WWE history, such as Kane cashing in on Rey Mysterio in 2010 on the same night after winning the MITB ladder match on the Smackdown side (when the WWE still had two MITB ladder matches). Just last year, we saw Dean Ambrose win the MITB briefcase, and cash in on the same night to win the title on Seth Rollins who just defeated his former Shield stablemate Roman Reigns to claim his second WWE title reign. A successful same night cash in may kill off the suspense of having a MITB briefcase holder wander around for up to a year, but it nonetheless has been done.
I mean, even the title matches on the same night for this year are kind of asking for a quick cash in. Nobody expects Jinder Mahal to continue reigning as WWE Champion (how long the WWE needs to build up the company’s appeal in India has probably already been done by the amount of press received already). Orton may walk away winning his 10th WWE Championship, but it is highly plausible that he may not due to WWE’s strange bookings of hometown guys and girls losing in said hometowns, or someone like Baron Corbin (if he wins the ladder match) could come in for a cash in right away after the match, no matter who ends up with the gold.
Likewise, Naomi’s WWE Women’s Championship match with Lana is unique in itself as the Women’s’ MITB ladder match, as it is a title shot granted to someone debuting on one of WWE’s brands for the first time. Lana hasn’t really wrestled on WWE television except a six women tag team match a few years ago, so I don’t think anyone expects her to win outright against Naomi. But if they were looking to make the first MITB female briefcase holder memorable, one of the women coming into the ring after to cash in is not a bad idea either.
The championship landscape on Smackdown is due for a slight shakeup, and having double cash-ins on MITB will do just that.
Baron Corbin and Carmella will end up with the briefcases
My money’s on either of these two to end with up their respective briefcases on Sunday. Unless there is that surprise entry of Rusev into the mix, Corbin looks like the guy with the momentum and the way he’s been booked lately on Smackdown. Even that slight slump of him not walking away with the Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania didn’t really deter Corbin’s recent rise. And on a similar scale, I would say the same about Carmella, since she managed to pin Naomi a few times during the last couple of weeks on Smackdown.
But I would say Corbin has played more of the aggressor in the time he’s been on the blue brand, the attacks on Sami Zayn notwithstanding. His in-ring style is very fast paced, so I would not be surprised that he comes down on the same night for a quick cash-in, either on Orton or Mahal. I just don’t see Corbin as the guy that would carry a briefcase around, even though it would be a good foreign object to utilize during matches (come to think of it, I can’t remember one Corbin match where he had to use a weapon behind a referee’s back to win the match).
As for Carmella, she would be the least likely women in the MITB ladder match that I can see doing a quick cash-in. Her character is someone who appreciates so-called ‘bling’, and she already has an ‘assistant’ in James Ellsworth who could carry it for her should she end up with the MITB briefcase.
What do you think will happen on Money In the Bank this Sunday? Feel free to comment.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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