The Money In The Bank pay-per-view is still a couple months away, coming from Boston’s TD Gardens on June 29, but it is aiming to include one of the most important MITB matches we’ve ever seen as it will be the first one since the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships were united back in December of last year.
When the Money In The Bank ladder match debuted at WrestleMania 21, it was an interesting concept and provided a certain amount of mystery since there were two possible championships that the winner could cash in on. It would be five years later before it would get its own event and subsequently a ladder match for each of the respective world titles.
Money In The Bank has been able to hold its popularity due to the fact that title changes are exciting. Fans want to see them. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heel or a baby face cashing in, that moment always generates a buzz, an electricity, from the crowd. However, there was a chance that it could become stale and predictable with the guaranteed title shot turning into a guaranteed victory every time. That changed when John Cena became the first person to cash in and lose, although even his loss seemed a little predictable. He chose to give a weeks notice of the cash in, and it was arguably at the height of fan hatred for him, as CM Punk was in the midst of his 434 day reign at the time. Personally I feel the more important loss goes to Damien Sandow, as he was the first to cash in spontaneously, attempting to capitalize on a prone opponent and come up short. Having that briefcase is no longer a guarantee. And now, with only one WWE World Heavyweight champion, it is more important than ever.
When there were two championships, it was easy for WWE to have a younger guy in need of a push to win the World Heavyweight Championship MITB match. It has often been viewed as the “lesser championship” compared to the WWE Title. People often forget that Jack Swagger is a former World Heavyweight Champion, which he won by cashing in against Chris Jericho. Dolph Ziggler’s reign as World Heavyweight Champion was less than spectacular as well. For that matter, even CM Punk’s first time cashing in to win the WHC wasn’t all that memorable. Now though, there is only the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. No chance for a second-tier champion. The cash ins and potential victories have to mean something more. So it stands to reason that the MITB ladder match would have the best of the best in it, unfortunately leaving out the wrestlers who have done well in these matches, but have no real shot at winning, your Kofi Kingston’s, and your Evan Bourne’s. The question then becomes, what do you do with these mid card and lower mid card guys who can put on a great show and have the talent, but who just aren’t ready for the main event? If it were me, I would add in an Intercontinental Championship Money In The Bank match.
Other gimmick pay-per-views like Elimination Chamber and Hell In A Cell have done just fine going from two gimmick matches to just one, and Money In The Bank would probably do alright as well, but why not keep the second ladder match and use it to elevate the mid card title? Fill the match with your Drew McIntyre’s, your Sin Cara’s, and even add in some veterans like Christian and Rey Mysterio. It would be a great way to open the pay-per-view and help to showcase young talent. It would certainly be more believable for someone like Alexander Rusev to walk away with a guaranteed Intercontinental title shot than a World title shot. Plus, this would bring some importance back to the Intercontinental Championship. Suddenly people would want to see this title more because someone might cash in to win it, instead of the IC champion getting lost in the shuffle of other storylines.
Money In The Bank is popular, and WWE can use that popularity to help boost a title that has a lot of history and is a title that a great deal of fans admire. I feel there is still value in having two MITB winners at the same time, only having one for the main event and one for the mid card. Whether or not WWE does this, only time will tell, but I doubt it. The fact that Dean Ambrose doesn’t even wear the United States Championship to the ring anymore should tell you how much WWE cares about their mid card titles.
I didn’t mean to go on about the state of the mid card championships, but using a Money In The Bank match would certainly bring some much needed attention back to one of those titles, and with only one world title to aim for, the Money In The Bank has never been so important. Whether it is used to further the career of an established main eventer like Randy Orton, or give that final push into the big leagues to someone like Cesaro, its importance should not be overshadowed. It has never been needed more than now, and that is something you can bank on.
Photo by Liam O’Donnell
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