5 Greatest Money in the Bank Matches
Since 2005, the men and women of WWE have been sacrificing their lives in glorious human demolition derbies.
Money in the Bank PPV is over, and it was one of the better pay per views of the year.
After all, it’s hard to have a bad PPV when there is almost a guarantee of at least two good to great matches in the form of the MITB ladder matches. In honor of last night, I wanted to take a look back at some of the best MITB matches of all time and the cash-ins that followed those matches.
5. Money in the Bank 2014
This match only took place four years ago, but the lineup is slightly bizarre to look back on: Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler and Rob Van Dam. The main focus was Ambrose and Rollins’ feud that had recently begun after Rollin had betrayed The Shield. Ambrose just wanted to get his hands on Rollins and exact some revenge.
Other superstars like Kofi Kingston got their own spotlight in the match with Kingston’s most significant being back dropping Rollins off a ladder and onto a bridged ladder. The crowd was in a frenzy for the few seconds it seemed that Kingston would win the briefcase before ultimately being stopped by Dolph Ziggler.
One of the other bigger spots in the match was a massive superplex off the top of a ladder by Ambrose to Rollins. The finish ended up being “Corporate” Kane costing Ambrose the match and securing the victory for The Architect.
The Cash-In: Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania 31. Rollins’ cash-in during the Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns WWE Championship match has to be one of the most, if not the most, memorable cash-in of all time. Rollins’ frantic sprint down the ramp, the buzzing of the crowd and the elation on Rollins’ face after winning the title in the main event of the biggest PPV of the year created one of the greatest WrestleMania moments.
4. Money in the Bank 2013
The lineup for this match was absolutely insane as the theme of the match was that every competitor had to have been a former WWE or World Heavyweight champion. The superstars included were CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, Christian, Sheamus and a returning Rob Van Dam. This match was paced very well and was a hard-hitting affair as evident by some of the injuries in the match. Christian got his tooth chipped when Sheamus punched through an opening in the ladder and legitimately hit Christian in the mouth. RVD got his head busted open. Punk got the back of his head cracked open from a ladder shot from Paul Heyman (yes, the Advocate betrayed his client).
Sheamus had the most devastating injury as an awkward fall onto some ladders outside of the ring tore his labrum, and as a result, he missed several months of action. Getting past the injuries, this match had a lot of fun moments including a Five Star Frogsplash from the top of a ladder and Daniel Bryan going on a frenzy taking out all of the competitors in the match right around the time the “YES Movement” was really starting to pick up steam. Randy Orton ultimately came out on top after pulling RVD off the ladder and hitting a massive RKO.
The Cash-In: Orton cashed in during the closing moments of SummerSlam after Bryan had just defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship. Triple H, who was the special guest referee, turned on D-Bry and hit him with a Pedigree, allowing Orton to cash in and become WWE Champion. This kicked off the seemingly never-ending Authority storyline, but at least this cash-in was a great arc in Bryan’s “Monster” video package at WrestleMania 30.
3. WrestleMania 24
This was like an all-star team of mid-card performers in the mid-2000’s: Shelton Benjamin, Carlito, John Morrison, MVP, Mr. Kennedy, CM Punk and Chris Jericho. The match featured John Morrison performing a moonsault off the second rope and to the outside of the ring with a ladder in hand; this occurred only about two minutes into the action. There were so many huge spots in this match, and it seemed like everyone had something to prove.
Shelton Benjamin hit a huge sunset flip powerbomb onto Kennedy, who in turn superplexed Morrison off the ladder. Benjamin took one of the biggest bumps in MITB history when Carlito and Kennedy tipped over a ladder and sent Benjamin plummeting through a ladder stretched across the barricade and the ring. Their facial reactions are tremendous as they consider possibility that they might have just killed a dude. Jericho locked in his Walls of Jericho on Morrison on top of the ladder, which was a signature spot for Jericho in ladder matches.
Carlito hit a crazy backstabber to Y2J off the ladder, which could not have been fun at all for Carlito’s knees or Jericho’s back. Then in one of the biggest moments of the match, when MVP looked to have the briefcase secured, a returning Matt Hardy made his way through the crowd and gave MVP a giant Twist of Fate off the top to a huge pop. The match came down to Jericho and Punk, and after a brief struggle at the top of the ladder, Punk pulled one of Jericho’s legs through one of the rungs of the ladder, leaving Jericho to hang there as Punk secured his first of two MITB wins.
The Cash-In: CM Punk cashed in his briefcase on the June 30 edition of Raw in Chicago, Illinois. After Batista had just powerbombed Edge, Punk came out, hit Edge with the GTS and won the world title. Punk would go on to have a relatively lackluster reign, dropping it due to an injury angle when he wasn’t even injured.
2. WrestleMania 21
The inaugural Money in the Bank match kicked off the concept with a bang: Shelton Benjamin, Chris Jericho, Edge, Christian, Kane and Chris Benoit. Benjamin was the MVP of the match, doing massive sentons over the top rope, T-bone suplexing Edge off the top off the ladder, and in one of the most impressive athletic feats in wrestling history, running up a ladder and clotheslining Jericho.
Another cool spot was when five of the competitors were fighting on three different ladders before Kane came and parted the seas. The most uncomfortable spot of the match was Benoit doing a diving headbutt off the top a ladder onto Kane that busted open the stitches that Benoit had coming into the match. A disturbing sight, especially knowing the role that concussions played in Benoit’s deteriorating mental state before he murdered his wife and child.
The match concludes with Edge slithering into the ring with a chair and bashing Benoit in the arm with it as he was about to grab the briefcase. Edge then climbed the ladder, brought down the briefcase and became the first-ever Mr. Money in the Bank.
The Cash-In: Edge set a precedent for future Money in the Bank winners by cashing in on John Cena at New Years Resolution 2006, right after Cena had gone through a hellacious Elimination Chamber. Edge cemented himself as the “Ultimate Opportunist” by spearing a bloody and battered Cena and winning his first WWE Championship.
1. WrestleMania 23
The third installment of the MITB was a star-studded affair that featured Randy Orton, Edge, King Booker, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, CM Punk, Finlay and Mr. Kennedy. The action (like most of these matches) was non-stop, but this match featured the most excellent spot in the history of this match: Jeff Hardy jumping off the top of a ladder to leg drop Edge…through another ladder.
While that may have been the best spot, it wasn’t the only great spot in the match. Randy Orton hit Punk with a massive RKO off the ladder, Booker T hit Orton with a Book End off the ladder, even Hornswoggle ate a Green Bay Plunge off the top by Kennedy. In the end, Mr. Kennedy grabbed the briefcase and became Mr. Money in the Bank, securing his destiny of becoming the next World Heavyweight champion, or so he thought.
The Cash-In: Mr. Kennedy suffered what he thought would be a shoulder injury that would have him sidelined for months, so the decision was made to have the briefcase taken off Kennedy via a match where if he lost he would lose the briefcase to Edge. Kennedy lost, and Edge was once again Mr. Money in the Bank.
The “Ultimate Opportunist” then lived up to his moniker cashing in his briefcase on The Undertaker on the May 11, 2007, episode of Smackdown after Undertaker had just gone through a grueling steel cage match with Batista and had been assaulted after the match by Mark Henry. Edge sauntered down to the ring after the beatdown had commenced, cashed in the contract and speared the bloodied Phenom to get the 1-2-3.
As for Mr. Kennedy, it turns out that injury was not as severe as first thought and that Kennedy had been misdiagnosed, so in all likelihood, he wouldn’t have had to give up the briefcase. This was just the first in a series of unfortunate events that plagued Kennedy until he was released from the company in 2009.
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