{"id":92098,"date":"2021-05-20T15:00:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T19:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=92098"},"modified":"2021-05-20T13:12:11","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T17:12:11","slug":"making-the-case-for-nxt-money-in-the-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/05\/20\/making-the-case-for-nxt-money-in-the-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Would An NXT Money in the Bank Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the debut of the<em><strong> Money in the Bank<\/strong><\/em> ladder match at <em><strong>WrestleMania 21<\/strong><\/em>, the match has become something of a yearly highlight within the <strong>WWE<\/strong>. Similarly to the<strong><em> Royal Rumble<\/em><\/strong> match, it is an exceptional tool; with a fun match theme and the added bonus of a unique stipulation (a briefcase which grants a guaranteed title shot to the holder) to build new, main event stars. The likes of <strong>Edge<\/strong> and <strong>CM Punk<\/strong> might never have made that jump to the upper echelon of the card without<em> Money in the Bank<\/em>.<strong> The Miz<\/strong> is another example. Since 2010,<em> Money in the Bank<\/em> has been a yearly pay-per-view and since 2017, there has been a women specific incarnation of the match, also. With <strong>SmackDown<\/strong> and <strong>Raw<\/strong> superstars both having the opportunity to compete in a<em> Money in the Bank<\/em> ladder match, is it time for <strong>NXT<\/strong> to be granted the same luxury?<\/p>\n<h3>It Would Bring Something Fresh to the Brand<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-80102\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/nxt-takeover-wargames-2020.jpg\" alt=\"NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2020\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/nxt-takeover-wargames-2020.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/nxt-takeover-wargames-2020-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One positive of NXT is its ability to embrace exciting, new (and old) ideas. There was the cage fight between <strong>Timothy Thatcher<\/strong> and <strong>Riddle<\/strong> last year. There has been the reintroduction of <strong><em>War Games<\/em><\/strong> &#8211; the <strong>World Championship Wrestling<\/strong> (<strong>WCW<\/strong>) concept which had been dead for decades before its NXT revival. In short, <strong>Triple H<\/strong> and creative have never struggled with keeping the product fresh. That being said, in order to keep fresh, you have to continuously do new things. <em>Money in the Bank<\/em>, though no longer a new concept, would be fresh to NXT. The black and yellow brand has never competed in a <em>Money in the Bank<\/em> ladder match. With both men and women superstars from NXT having featured in<strong><em> Royal Rumble<\/em><\/strong> matches over the years, why not extend the privilege to a <em>Money in the Bank<\/em>?<\/p>\n<h3>&#8220;NXT TakeOver: Money in the Bank&#8221; Would Work<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68210\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/EXu1zrOXsAAojI_-e1589210555820.jpeg\" alt=\"Superstars\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When arguing for an NXT <em>Money in the Bank<\/em>, it need not be a simple one or two NXT matches on the main roster PPV. Instead, what works best is an actual<em> NXT TakeOver: Money in the Bank<\/em> &#8211; a<em> TakeOver<\/em> dedicated to the unique match type. It would work similarly to the main roster incarnation, that being a PPV with two <em>Money in the Bank<\/em> ladder matches (one for men and one for women); with title matches and\/or feud based matches spread throughout the rest of the time available in the show. <em>TakeOver<\/em> has never had a problem delivering in the past. For years now, <em>NXT TakeOver<\/em> shows have been some of the most highly-anticipated events in all of professional wrestling. An <em>NXT TakeOver: Money in the Bank<\/em> would continue this trend; mixing a beloved match-type with a show and roster bound to deliver. It is almost certain to be a success.<\/p>\n<h3>Would There Be Enough Superstars For A Money in the Bank?<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70294\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/06\/Io-Shirai-New-NXT-Womens-Champion-e1591801209579.jpg\" alt=\"Io Shirai\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This can absolutely be seen as a worthy argument against such an event in NXT. In order for a <em>Money in the Bank<\/em> to work, it needs between 6-8 different superstars who are mostly believable future champions. NXT works on a much smaller level than both Raw and SmackDown; it simply does not possess the sheer, swollen roster size of either of these two brands. That being said, NXT could probably scrape together enough people from its roster. If it can&#8217;t, then there is the added bonus of signing independent stars to one-night deals; with the stipulation that should they capture the briefcase, they get to stay. There is also the added bonus of <strong>NXT UK<\/strong>. Much like how the<em> Royal Rumble<\/em> allows NXT stars to introduce themselves to the main roster audience, an NXT<em> Money in the Bank<\/em> would allow NXT UK stars to introduce themselves to the NXT crowd. Not only does this help NXT fill spots with fresh talent, it gives a small boost of exposure to NXT UK. Everybody wins.<\/p>\n<h3>Is the Fan Desire There?<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-89610\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/04\/Johnny-Gargano-NXT.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/04\/Johnny-Gargano-NXT.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/04\/Johnny-Gargano-NXT-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>NXT has built a solid fan-base in recent years. Now that it is shown live on USA Network, we can finally understand just how popular it is. In the United States alone, it does anywhere between 600,000 and 900,000 viewers per week &#8211; a solid number for the oft-dubbed &#8220;third brand&#8221;. Many of these fans are more &#8220;hardcore&#8221; viewers &#8211; wrestling purists who would take to an NXT <em>Money in the Bank<\/em> like <strong>Vince McMahon<\/strong> takes to money. Or Triple H, in this case. Whereas the <em>Money in the Bank<\/em> stipulation has lost steam in recent years, it is through no fault of the stipulation. Frankly, the booking has been poor &#8211; as evidenced by<strong> Otis<\/strong> winning last year, only to lose continuously, be dropped from TV for weeks and then eventually lose the briefcase to The Miz &#8211; who used the briefcase to win the title from <strong>Drew McIntyre<\/strong> and hold onto it for two weeks before <strong>Bobby Lashley<\/strong> squashed him. NXT can make this work and history suggests they would do well with it. So why not have an NXT <em>Money in the Bank<\/em> ladder match?<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the debut of the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21, the match has become something of a yearly highlight within the WWE. Similarly to the Royal Rumble match, it is an exceptional tool; with a fun match theme and the added bonus of a unique stipulation (a briefcase which grants a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":19871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,3],"tags":[229,140,328,111,304,68,6340,648,5380,1749,55],"class_list":["post-92098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-asuka","tag-cm-punk","tag-edge","tag-finn-balor","tag-io-shirai","tag-johnny-gargano","tag-karrion-kross","tag-money-in-the-bank","tag-otis","tag-takeover","tag-the-miz"],"modified_by":"Niklas George","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}