5 Ideas That Haven’t Been Done with Money in the Bank So Far
Money in the Bank has been around since 2006. After 17 years and nearly 30 winners, in many ways, it feels like it’s all been done before. But WWE actually has a lot more flexibility with these briefcases than you’d think.
Most of the cash-ins and the way WWE has booked Mr. and Ms. Money in the Bank over the years have been largely the same. For the most part, it plays out as one of the cash-ins taking place either on the show itself or a few days later (the last 5 out of 6 women), while the other goes on for around 3 months before getting a surprise win over an injured champion or merely coming up short and the whole thing was pointless.
Once in a while, WWE throws something new out there. The briefcase has changed hands, Austin Theory cashed in on a midcard title last year, and so on. We’ve seen people swap brands, cash in mid-match, and even win the match back-to-back two years in a row.
But what else can WWE do with this concept that we haven’t seen before?
Here are just five suggestions I could think of off the top of my head that proves Money in the Bank isn’t a dead concept—it just takes some creativity.
1) Cashing in for a Tag Team Championship Opportunity
Technically, the Intercontinental Championship could also be on this list, but since Theory cashed in on the United States Championship last year, that’s effectively crossed it off the list. The idea of trading in the briefcase for a midcard title belt is now just entirely on the table.
But what about a tag team title?
You may roll your eyes at it, because it’s “supposed to be for a world championship”, but if every belt is up for grabs, that should mean that the tag titles are in play, too. And while I agree that the best case scenario is to use it for the top championships, I could see this being an interesting way to build more prestige for this division.
At this particular moment, no one is so focused on the tag team division that it would make sense for their characters to care that much. I can’t imagine Ricochet being so much more concerned with winning tag gold alongside Braun Strowman (once he returns to action) so as to forego a singles title, for example.
But something fun to think about is how the logistics of this would work. The confusion could even play into the cash-in itself. You’d assume the one holding the briefcase chooses their partner, but if they can cash in at any moment, does their chosen partner have to be ready? What happens if only one of the tag team champions is out there? Can the MITB winner force them to defend in a handicap match, giving them an even bigger advantage?
WWE doesn’t care much about the tag team division, so I don’t think this will ever come to pass, but eventually, maybe a storyline will come around that will lean into this.
2) Cashing in for the NXT Championships
It’s firmly established now, after last year, that every title is on the line to be cashed in on. Theory teased using his briefcase on Bron Breakker, for example. But that hasn’t been followed through with just yet, meaning all NXT championships are on the table.
We’ve seen Charlotte Flair use the Royal Rumble victory to challenge Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship. Maybe it’s time we see someone cash in their Money in the Bank contract to beat Carmelo Hayes for the NXT Championship, instead of being sucked into the can’t-win scenario of the world titles on the main roster. I think it is guaranteed we’ll have another failure MITB this year for the men’s division. Maybe do this to avoid wasting it again?
Of course, out of the current crop who have qualified, I don’t think any of them make sense to beat Hayes, either. Nor do I think any of the women using it to dethrone Tiffany Stratton for the NXT Women’s Championship would be worth it, either.
This means once again, it’s looking like the 2023 year will have to skip this idea. But in the future, I certainly wouldn’t mind someone using this to elevate the NXT titles by putting the spotlight on them as being worthy of a cash-in.
3) Running Out of Time to Cash In
This is my favorite option on this list and something I’ve been pitching for years. I want to see someone go the distance and reach the full year mark of holding the briefcase.
Think about it. The rules state that once you win the match, you have a title shot for any belt that you want, at any moment, for one year. That one year mark could be measured as “until the next Money in the Bank event” if WWE wants to play around with it, or it could be the true calendar one-year mark.
But what happens if you don’t cash it in in time?
I thought The Miz had a PERFECT opportunity for this when he took the briefcase from Otis. There was so much room to lean into his weasel heel nature by having him say he has all the time in the world to pick his best spot, thinking he’d have a full year from when he beat Otis, only to find out that the contract doesn’t reset and he’s on Otis time. Then, he has to scramble, trying to get in his cash-in for the few months leading up to the Money in the Bank event.
The clock is ticking. He’s upset and keeps petitioning that he should have more time. And by the start of the pay-per-view, he’s told that he has until the next ladder match takes place to cash in, or he’s forfeiting it and will be given a spot in the ladder match to try to win it again.
That’s when it would be funny to have pulled one of those quick change acts, have that person successfully cash in, win the title, and then later on that night, the new Mr. Money in the Bank cashes in and beats them for the belt. But they’ve killed that concept enough that now, if it were to happen, I’d be more interested to see that person just lose the cash in because they were down to the wire and it was their last chance, so they just had to take it, and the champion was too fresh for them.
4) Actually Calling Your WrestleMania Shot in Advance
Mr. Kennedy was only the third Superstar to win Money in the Bank and he set up an interesting idea when he quickly mentioned that he would wait until WrestleMania 24 to cash in his title shot.
Of course, 36 days later, due to a series of injuries, Edge beat him, won the briefcase, then cashed in on The Undertaker and none of that came to pass.
But what if someone actually did that? What if we had a Money in the Bank winner say from the start that they’re holding onto it for their WrestleMania opportunity, and it doesn’t matter who wins Royal Rumble, they’re going to—by default—either make that championship defense a Triple Threat, or challenge for the other title in advance.
Personally, I would hate for this to play out unless WWE did a lot of setup to build this person as being a viable candidate for the title anyway. Plus, they’d have to win the belt at WrestleMania. But I would still most likely look at it as a waste, since the most fun element of MITB is the surprise cash-in.
But there’s always a way to tweak a concept, so maybe it could work. Spending a year with an obnoxious heel saying that they’ve got their WrestleMania moment locked away and ready to go come April could make for an interesting character journey—especially if they tease throughout the year that they might just be lying about it to let each champion’s guards down and strike at a better moment.
5) Briefcase-Holder Cashes in on Their Friend
Many years, at least one of the competitors vying for the briefcase has an ally who eventually becomes champion. When that happens, there’s a tease that we could see a friendship break down, as the one holding the briefcase could cash it in on their ally.
This week on Raw, it was brought up in regards to Finn Balor saying he would beat Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship, asking Damian Priest if he’d cash in on him if he wins MITB. Of course, I don’t anticipate either of those things to happen, but it did get me thinking that if that scenario played out another time, it would be a great turn for someone—heel or babyface.
For instance, I thought for the longest time last year that Sami Zayn holding the briefcase while part of The Bloodline was the best case scenario to eventually set up that feud. Of course, WWE doesn’t want to take that championship away from Roman Reigns any time soon, so that wasn’t going to happen, but if he didn’t have that protection of “not going anywhere until he breaks a few records, so just move along and fight for the third world title instead”, it could have been great.
Right now, Rollins has no bona fide partner like his days in The Shield to play off, nor do Rhea Ripley, Asuka, Gunther, Theory, etc. Reigns has Solo Sikoa, but he’s not entered into this year’s ladder match. We can scratch this off the list for 2023.
But maybe next year, there could be an interesting way to see a story play out where the Money in the Bank holder has to wrestle with wanting to become champion, but not wanting to capitalize on their injured friend, nor waste their chance by tossing it away simply calling for a one-on-one match in advance. Then, they’d ultimately be too tempted, cash in, beat their friend, win the title, turn heel and start a bitter feud over the belt.
A few other ideas that could have happened in the past, but are no longer on the table, would have been to cash in on The Undertaker’s WrestleMania undefeated streak (though that would have been ridiculous), for a woman to win the briefcase and cash in on a men’s title before the women’s division got its own briefcase to fight over, and to use the briefcase to steal the King of the Ring crown from someone (which also would have been rather lame, so there’s no question why that didn’t happen). And who knows what other tweaks to the championship landscape WWE could create in the next 12 months that makes MITB more flexible?
What other ideas do you have to spice up Money in the Bank? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
You can keep up with all your wrestling news right here on eWrestlingNews.com. Or, you can follow us over on our Twitter and Facebook pages.