With the Raw-exclusive Extreme Rules over, WWE’s most painful period of the year continues with the Smackdown Live-exclusive Money in the Bank in less than two weeks. So far, we’ve learned that there will be a Money in the Bank match featuring three former indie darlings, one man who absolutely despises any mention of indie darlings, The Artist known as Shinsuke Nakamura™, and Dolph Ziggler. We’ve also learned there will be a history-making second Money in the Bank Ladder match, which will feature five women clawing to become the first ever Ms. Money in the Bank.
To help get you prepared for the PPV (or bolster your Vegas betting odds), we’ve provided a series of maybe obscure statistics surrounding Money in the Bank, including the many faces of the briefcase, brand supremacy, and the “brass ring.”
The Wheel of Morality: Money in the Bank Edition
Do you have to be an asshole to win Money or the Bank, or will you emerge triumphant if you comport yourself like the scrappy, white meat babyface that you are? The survey says: Asshole. While valiant winners such as Rob Van Dam, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Dean Ambrose have snatched the Money in the Bank briefcase, as Jadakiss once wonderfully said about Denzel Washington’s Oscar win, sometimes Superstars have had to be “crooked to took it.”
In the 17 matches have taken place over the last 12 years, only seven bouts have ended with a babyface on top. Which makes sense considering the stipulation of the briefcase doesn’t always cater to babyface. In fact, out of those seven babyface winners — four went on to turn heel upon winning the championship including CM Punk cashing in on the beloved enigma, Jeff Hardy, Kane extinguishing the reign of Rey Mysterio a mere 47 minutes after winning the briefcase, Daniel Bryan becoming a goat-faced egomaniac, and Randy Orton assuming his role as the “face of the WWE” by aligning with The Authority.
It’s probably a bad thing that this trend shows kids in the PG Era that being bad will get you everywhere. In that case, see Moral No. 2.
The Brass Ring Is Briefcase-Shaped
Unlike the Royal Rumble match, which sets up the main event of the biggest show of the year — the Money in the Bank has often been used to launch the career of a superstar with true potential (yes, that even includes The Miz).
Out of the last 16 winners of the Money in the Bank briefcase, ten of them have cashed in and won a world championship for the first time. First-time winner Edge clawed up the ranks for a full decade in WWE before cashing in on John Cena at Money in the Bank and finally winning the WWE Championship. Follow-up winner Rob Van Dam was arguably one of the best wrestlers to not win a world championship until his cash-in match at WWE One Night Stand in 2006 brought him to the top of the summit. Dolph Ziggler spent the early days of his career both as a caddie and a male cheerleader, before winning the World Heavyweight Championship on RAW in one of the biggest moments in the show’s history and proving that caddies and cheerleaders do have some future ahead of them.
This year’s Money in the Bank matches features three male Superstars who have yet to win a world title in WWE and two female Superstars who have yet to experience any type of championship glory. Statistics say to put your money in the newbies.
The First Lady To Grab The Briefcase
LIKE LIL KIM AND MISSY ELLIOTT, IT’S LADIES NIGHT AND THE TIME IS RIGHT (The ghost of Mauro Ranallo’s commentary is smiling somewhere). There has been a Money in the Bank match at least once a year since the inaugural battle at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, but 2017 will mark the first time that WWE women will fight for the briefcase.
Over the last year the hashtag Women’s Revolution has taken us through Hell in a Cell, enthralled us for 30 minutes with an Iron Man Match, and the Money in the Bank ladder match continues to add to the boundary-breaking concepts which are redefining the women’s division. However despite no record of a women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match (nor women’s Ladder match in general) none of these five women will be the first to ascend a Money in the Bank ladder.
In the Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match in 2010, Maryse — accompanying Ted DiBiase Jr. into the match (during that period where they were both rich and good looking, so WWE threw them together despite having no on-air chemistry), climbed the ladder on behalf of her man to attempt to retrieve the briefcase before eventually being pulled off by John Morrison. In a way that makes Maryse a trailblazer, but more in a Marge’s dad being the first male steward kind of way and less the WOMEN’S REVOLUTION kind of way. Ironically enough, that 2010 match would be won by Maryse’s now-A-List husband, The Miz.
Which Brand Owned The Money in the Bank Match?
While the first Money in the Bank match was exclusively a Raw affair, the popularity of the concept eventually lent itself to becoming an inter-promotional match-up on the WrestleMania card. So which brand reigned supreme when it came to the Money in the Bank format?
In the interpromotional bouts which lasted from WrestleMania 22 through WrestleMania 26 (the year Money in the Bank became its own pay per-view), Raw produced three winners in Rob Van Dam, CM Punk and Jack Swagger — with the latter making the move to Smackdown after cashing in his briefcase. Smackdown’s lone interpromotional MITB victory was from Mr. Kennedy — who never even got a chance to cash in his briefcase after losing it to Edge. And in case you forgot, CM Punk’s first Money in the Bank win, at WrestleMania XXIV, came when he was representing ECW.
2017 marks the first year that the Money in the Bank event is brand-exclusive, and the victor will add a layer of unpredictability to the Tuesday Night A-Show.
Does Timing Matter? Television vs. PPVs
The Money in the Bank briefcase allows you to cash it in any time, any place (in the confines of a ring and not at the back of the Chipotle line like the vague rules makes it seem), and timing is key when it comes to crashing a champion’s party.
10 of the Money in the Bank cash-ins have been decided on pay-per view, all of which have led to victory … which indicates THAT may be the route to go to win championship gold. The smartest cash-in by far still remains the first cash-in of the Money in the Bank briefcase, by Edge at 2006’s New Year’s Revolution. Why not wait until the champion has finished outlasting five other superstars in a match that’s guaranteed at least 25 minutes long (in one of the most dangerous structures in the company’s history) to cash it in? That’s not a scenario you’re going to find on Raw or Smackdown.
The remaining seven cash-ins have happened on television, which may be the route if you want more eyes watching — but it has led to two unsuccessful title changes. Once by John Cena on Raw 1000, and the infamous one-armed-crucifixion of Damien Sandow’s career.
Still, The Miz doesn’t become the (self-proclaimed) most must-see WWE Champion without cashing it on Raw, and Dolph Ziggler doesn’t obtain his career-defining moment without breaking the sound barrier during his cash-in the night after WrestleMania.
The Many Looks Of Money in the Bank
For a look through history, here’s the various looks of the Money in the Bank briefcase. Which one was your favorite?
1. The original Money in the Bank briefcase was actually just a briefcase. A legitimate briefcase that we all believed held a contract to a championship shot for one year. At some point during this briefcase tenure when Edge held it, he use it to carry a brick, which he used to strike Chris Benoit in a Last Man Standing match. Geez.
2. The second incarnation saw the briefcase becoming the modern-day metal briefcase as we know it, because they figured “hey — if a person’s gonna carry this around for the entire year, and hit people with it, it might as well hurt.” They should’ve gone from calling it Money in the Bank to the Steve “Mongo” McMichael Memorial Ladder Match.
3. The metal briefcase has seen various custom incarnations, with the two best clearly being RVD’s classic mall-kiosk airbrushing, and Damien Sandow’s seemingly chocolate briefcase.
The remaining custom briefcases followed suit of the standard Halliburton, but with a logo sticker on the front. Imagine if Liv Morgan wins a women’s Money in the Bank one day and covers her briefcase with stickers like it’s a MacBook Pro.
4. When Money in the Bank received its own pay per-view in 2010, the briefcases were now solely for the championship on their respective brand. Rather than black, we now had blue and red.
5. The latest incarnation, which was the result of the formal end of the brand split and unification of the world championships, resulted in the gold briefcase. This is the most marketable version, as demonstrated by the fact that you can purchase your very own from WWE Shop.
The eighth Money in the Bank PPV will take place in St. Louis on June 18. It will feature the 16th and 17th Money in the Bank matches, and history will be made, regardless of who actually wins the damn things.
