WWE Money In The Bank - Money In The Bank Ladder Match

[Jack-Hammer]

As we saw on SmackDown Live last night, the participants in the MITB ladder match this year are AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens. It was a nice little tease for a moment when we thought there were going to be 5 participants and Kevin Owens was #5 while Nakamura was nowhere in sight.

The MITB ladder matches almost always deliver and this one should be no different. As with most of them, there's a good mix of different styles represented in the match. I think the one who has the least chance of walking out with the briefcase is Dolph Ziggler, he seemed an odd choice at first but commentators did drive home, repeatedly, that Ziggler's been Mr. MITB in the past so having a guy with more "experience" in the match is logical.

The match itself feels pretty wide open as far as who wins it. I don't really expect Owens or Styles to win as being Mr. MITB may well overshadow the United States Championship in their feud; even though we didn't really find out last night if their program will go on, there's a general feeling that it will and I like that their next bout will be broken up by the MITB ladder match. Zayn is a possibility as he's gaining some momentum, though Corbin winning wouldn't be a surprise considering that WWE likes to use a formula in which someone who wins the briefcase has been losing a lot prior to the MITB match itself. Nakamura winning would put the minds of a lot of people at ease concerning how WWE is going to use him as winning this match would all but guarantee that Nakamura is the first Japanese wrestler, or Asian born wrestler for that matter, to become WWE Champion. And just in case someone brings it up, I know that Antonio Inoki did beat Bob Backlund in a title match way back in the day but it's not recognized as part of the title's continuity.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Corbin appears to be entering a losing streak so he's my pick. It seems pointless to give it to Owens, Styles or Nakamura when they'll inevitably find their way into the title picture.

 

[Khalifa]

Would be ashame if the U.S title was again overshadowed by something else, so I'm ruling out Owens winning. I feel either AJ takes Owens out or the other way around, so that would rule out AJ. Couldn't imagine Nakamura winning based on usually the money in the bank holder does a lot of promos, something Nakamura doesn't need. Plus he is big enough to not need the brief case anyways. That leaves Ziggler, Corbin and Zayn. Ziggler doesn't win anything. Seriously though he had a push last year and it just fell flat, I can't see him winning it.

So it's down to Corbin and Zayn for me. Which is pretty hectic considering who is involved but it's a good slingshot move for either guy. While Corbin winning would be huge for the big fella, he can find his way to the top just doing what he was doing prior to Zayn. As a big guy he doesn't need the briefcase. Sure it makes him more credible but like I said, he's got other ways of getting to the top. Give him another year in the high mid card and finish it off with a Cena, AJ, Randy combination in which he wins for the title.

So obviously my pick is Zayn. A few reasons other than just eliminating everyone else. Smackdown is so heel heavy at the moment. The women's title is the only that is being held by a face and to throw another high demand storyline always based around the heel, well it could be bad for viewrship. This is exactly what Zayn needed to get a jump start for his career, he has what it takes to be in the main event for a little run. It'll just start the crowd pumping. If you get the title of Mahal he will have a good match with anyone. Go Sami.

 

[The Perfect Max]

I do think the booking of Baron Corbin makes it perfect sense to then have him win the Money in the Bank briefcase. Having said that, the booking of Baron Corbin has just been, in general, very odd since WrestleMania anyway, but they'll make it look purposeful even if it wasn't. I'm happy for it to be Baron Corbin. AJ Styles, Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura do NOT need to win this match. Absolutely not. When you then consider who is the better choice from Corbin, Dolph Ziggler or Sami Zayn, it seems pretty obvious. Corbin cannot afford to keep losing without a pay off, and this can definitely be it. I'm a fan of his and it would be interesting to see where it heads. Sami could potentially come out of this as the winner, but again, I don't think he actually needs it yet. He needs stability and I don't think throwing the briefcase on him is the way to do it.

I think what makes this interesting is that Jinder Mahal is WWE Champion. How long is he expected to be champion? Hopefully he keeps the title at MITB, but could the quick switch be made just so WWE can say Mahal was champion, but now let's move on? It's not entirely clear what the deal is here with Mahal, and while I obviously like that because predictability can ruin things, it makes it a little harder to predict based on the current climate on SmackDown.

I'm going with Corbin. Sami is a wild card. I wouldn't hate it, but I hate how he's been used this past year and feel that it would be too soon. Then again, nothing is too soon when Jinder is champion.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I really don't want Corbin to win. He just bores me. He's tall and tough and that's it. He's decent in the ring and he's been doing a steady and solid work. But he's not ready to be world champion. Not yet. Let him continue his work, see how he grows. He's #3 on the heat list of Smackdown, behind Owens and Jinder right now.

If Corbin wins, i'll tell you what you are going to say in 5 years. "In 2017, WWE had Styles, Owens, Zayn and Nakamura in one roster. However, Cena, Orton, some Jinder Mahal and Baron Corbin ended up being the world champions".

We've seen wrestlers with Corbin's character thousand of times. Let's do something special with MITB this year. My idea was to give it to Owens, have him fail, but win the title afterwards. Owens comes out stronger after each loss. Zayn would be intriguing. Last face to win MTB, cash-in as a face and remain a face, was RVD in 2006.
Nakamura is kind of a risk. But he could work as well.

Let's see, Zayn debuted in a classic match against Cena, Owens defeated Cena in his debut, Balor went on to become Universal Champion. Joe took out Seth Rollins. Nakamura definately needs something to live up to his competitors.

 

[ShinChan]

Dolph Ziggler is the least favorite in this match. It would be a horrible decision to give him this win. He isn't a bad wrestler but way too ruined by booking.

Kevin Owens is alright as United States Champion as of now. AJ Styles is in a feud with him.

That leaves us with Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin and Shinsuke Nakamura.

I won't mind about anyone except Ziggler winning it. But I would prefer Corbin or Styles.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

Last face to win MTB, cash-in as a face and remain a face, was RVD in 2006.

Dean Ambrose just won last year and cashed in the same night. He has remained a face.

It's pretty obvious it's going to Baron Corbin. The guy kind of bores me for the most part and just looks like he doesn't give a shit while being there. His attire and appearance could also undergo a transformation. It's hilarious they probably told him to throw a shirt on due to his uninspiring physique.

He could be something special with the right character and appearance change, but I'm just not seeing it right now. After losing repeatedly though however, it makes sense that he will be Mr. Money in the Bank because WWE logic says so. I would prefer Owens as his promos would be gold after and it fits his character to just sneak in and steal it while gloating about it after.

 

[MMK]

While the Rumble and Mania have become incredibly predictable, this tends to be the one event where they go off the beaten path. From Punk to Bryan to Sandow (all winners before fans got behind them), this is the one ppv where they usually go against the grain and pick someone who isn't the odds on favorite.

For that reason I see Zayn winning. I'm not even a fan of Sami Zayn, but unlike everyone else in this match, he has nothing going for him right now.

Zayn will win but I think Styles should win. We all know Cena's inevitably going to win his 17th championship (most likely from the evil foreigner trope Jinder Mahal). When that inevitable day comes I would love to see Styles crash the party and immediately cash in on Cena to add another chapter to their history.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Dean Ambrose just won last year and cashed in the same night. He has remained a face.

It's pretty obvious it's going to Baron Corbin. The guy kind of bores me for the most part and just looks like he doesn't give a shit while being there. His attire and appearance could also undergo a transformation. It's hilarious they probably told him to throw a shirt on due to his uninspiring physique.

He could be something special with the right character and appearance change, but I'm just not seeing it right now. After losing repeatedly though however, it makes sense that he will be Mr. Money in the Bank because WWE logic says so. I would prefer Owens as his promos would be gold after and it fits his character to just sneak in and steal it while gloating about it after.

I totally forgot about Ambrose. Maybe beacuse I never saw him as Mr. MITB, walking around on TV.

 

[MWRedskins]

i would love it if Kevin Owens won the case and cashed in after he loses the US title (use the fact that he's a prize fighter and always wants a prize), but i doubt that will happen.

to me, all signs point to Corbin winning this, BUT like some, i prefer to see Sami Zayn win it and if not him, Kevin Owens or Nakamura. As for AJ Styles, he'll eventually get back into the main event scene. he's too good to be left out in the dark of the WWE Title. As for Ziggler, he's just a body in the match and i give him a 1% chance of winning this. if he wins, it would be more shocking than Mahal winning because the signs started to point upward for Jinder before the ppv match....as for Ziggler, he just screams for a repackaging. he can go in the ring, but the showoff gimmick is now old and outdated.

 

[roipdh123]

Corbin is winning. End of discussion.

It's Vince's fantasy booking - not our's.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

unless the plan is to do something similar to last year and have the winner cash in the same night, i don'T see a babyface winning that eliminates nakamura, zayn & styles. So you're left with Ziggler, owens & corbin. I think that out of these three, Corbin is pretty much the one that need the briefcase the most.

First of all, Ziggler is at a stage of his career we're is job is to make other wrestlers look better and he's doing a good job at that so him winning the briefcase makes no sense at this point

Owens, while i would love to see him with the briefcase just because of the promos he would cut make no sense either because one way or the other, by wrestlemania next year, he will be in the title picture.

Corbin on the other is simialr to Jinder mahal in my opinion. WWE needs to build up new top level heel character and having Corbin win the briefcase actually does that. Plus i kinda see whoever wins the briefcase actually cashing in the briefcase on John cena when they are going to give him his record breaking 17th world title reigns. So at some point they will need to take the belt away from him and that's where corbin cash in and win the title. corbin could drop the belt to somebody before mania maybe aj styles and go into a feud with cena at mania.

 

[Navi]

I'm coming at it from a different perspective. Right now Mahal is champ and looks to either lose the title at Summerslam to a returning John Cena, or carry it until the India tour in September.

So in that case I would have a heel win the MITB and the heels in the match are Owens, Corbin and Ziggler. Now no one that I know wants Ziggler to win, Owens is in a feud with Styles for the US title so that leaves Corbin.

Nakamura as has been mentioned really doesn't need it, neither does Styles they will both make their way to the title without it. You can say that about Owens as well. Zayn could be a darkhorse, but his booking so far has been atrocious and I would give him another year.

 

[GOOZEKING]

Can someone please explain to me why Nakamura is in this match. I just can't picture Nakamura in a ladder match. If it was up to me, I would take out Nakamaru, Owens, and styles and I would replace them with Tye Dilinger, Rusev, and Mojo. I get it you need star power in the match but the money in the bank sells itself. Then I would have Kevin vs Aj for the US title. And possibly Cena vs Nakamaru just like when we got Cena vs Styles last year.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I wouldn't have Nakamura in the match either. Firstly I don't think he should be losing quite yet, noright diluted in a multi-person match. Also, the PPV needs him more than that match does. Even a noting match against an underutilised Smackdown competitor would garner some interest.

 

[enviousdominous]

I imagine that they have some complicated spots planned, which necessitates people like Nakamura and Styles to be in the mix.

Corbin winning would be the smartest thing, but that's never stopped the WWE before. I figure that it's the least that they could do after doing nothing beyond crushing Dean Ambrose with a forklift since winning the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. The only problem I see is the idea of Corbin being thrust into the title picture prematurely, or that he'd join the small club of men who failed to win the belt after cashing in.

AJ and Kevin will likely have a feud, and Ziggler and Shinsuke seem to be brewing a feud. Sami is....Sami. I really hope that if Corbin wins, creative will allow him to be the focus of Smackdown for a few episodes. Lately he's just been a distraction, give him some high profile wins and a better finisher so he can seem like championship material in our eyes.

 

[Greg4WWE]

Just not Owens. He bores me. I don't know what everyone see's in him, but the same lame promo week after week after week. Sure most of that is booking, but still.

I say Zayne, he is the type of "face" that wouldn't go after the title right away IMO. Most faces come out and say, I challenge you next week, but Zayne may hold onto it for a while. And may even be a face that becomes champion the Heel way.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Why do people believe that Nakamura doesn't need it? Nakamura is a small fish right now. He's not AJ Styles. Hardocre fans know him, not casuals. Plus, he was one of NXT's greats right? He deserves a big showing in his first months just like his other collegues.

Corbin is not there yet. He doesn't click to me as a world champion. He just doesn't. Not yet. Nakamura has his name printed in many lists of dream matches. But those are lists made by not casual fans.

I say Nakamura needs it the most right now, for the same reason Balor became the first Universal Champion and the same reason Owens beat Cena clean in his debut.

 

[thebarber]

Hoping Owens drops the US Title, he has lost what, three weeks in a row. He is the perfect chicken shit personality who would thrive with the briefcase. Sure hes getting the belt over, but having it on Styles certainly increases its value also. Corbin isn't ready,in my opinion. We have a heel champion, who apparently has a lengthy reign in store for him. I can see Owens cashing in on anybody.