Money in the Bank used to be the PPV/match that set up future champions and stars for WWE. There have been so many iconic cash-ins from Edge’s inaugural win in 2006, Dolph Ziggler in 2013 and Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 31 in 2015. However, over the past few years, MITB has been absolutely woeful. The last good reign with the briefcase was probably Lesnar in 2019, and the only reason that reign was good was because he treated the thing as a joke. Prior to that, I’d say Seth Rollins in 2014-15 was the last good reign with the briefcase.
What irritates me the most is that MITB matches are always pretty good. There are always amazing ladder spots and creative work that makes the matches feel special, especially last year when we had the WWE headquarters match. However, even if the matches are good, the most memorable moments come from the superstar holding the briefcase and then either successfully or unsuccessfully cashing in for their major title shot.
Last year, having Otis win who they clearly didn’t have faith in was stupid and I even called that they were going to make him give up the briefcase before getting the opportunity to do anything with it. Asuka was literally handed the belt when Becky Lynch got pregnant so her reign with the briefcase was lacklustre as well. I don’t even want to talk about her horrid title reign as well.
On the other hand, when you look prior to 2017, the majority of MITB winners were picked to become future stars, Del Rio, The Miz, Ziggler, Rollins and Ambrose all became much bigger stars when they won MITB and cashed in for a title shot. If we look post 2017, only Alexa Bliss actually became a bigger star long term after winning MITB. It’s as if the value of the MITB has turned into nothing, whereas before it used to be as good as holding a world title.
Anyway, after the few horrible years we’ve had with Money in the Bank winners, I hope we actually get a good holder of the briefcase so fans actually have a reason to care about it going forward because I currently have no reason to care about who wins this year after the last few years we’ve had.
TheWrestlingFallacy 