The following editorial was written by Neil Raymond and does not reflect the opinions of WrestleZone as a whole. We encourage you all to discuss Neil’s thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post or by tweeting him @NeilfromNYC
Money in the Bank Ladder matches are some of the more exciting matches in a typical WWE year. They bring the excitement of ladder matches with the promise of creating a new main eventer, or a return to prominence for a former top star. Most of the time the winner successfully cashes in their briefcase, but on a few occasions the cash-ins were unsuccessful. I personally am in favor of rare unsuccessful cash-ins as they add realism to the concept, as well as unpredictability as you never know if the wrestler will win the title or not. All that said, I feel that the concept is becoming a bit stale, and that they have a chance to do something interesting with this year’s men’s version of the match. The winner should be the superstar that will benefit from the win the most, and who can open up the best potential storyline possibilities.
The current participants in the men’s version of the match are: The Miz, Finn Balor, Bobby Roode, Braun Strowman, Rusev, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and an undisclosed New Day member. As I’m sure most fans agree, the winner should be able to cash-in the briefcase at an unexpected time, and not well in advance (such as RVD in 2006 or John Cena in 2012). The wrestler should also either be a heel, or a babyface turning heel. In some cases, a babyface can pull this off too, but traditionally taking advantage of a weakened champion is a heel move. This immediately rules out Braun Strowman. It would seriously hurt his character if he had to cash-in on a weakened opponent, and him cashing it in in advance would lead to an unexciting outcome. Heel or babyface he is a monster, and monsters don’t need to go that route. Furthermore, does he really need the briefcase to receive a Universal Title shot?
Let’s look at the other participants: Kevin Owens seems to be a logical choice, he’s a heel and it’s in character to do take advantage of a weakened champion. That said, does he really need it? He’s already one of the top heels on RAW and is a former Universal Champion. He even challenged for the WWE Title earlier this year. Winning the MITB ladder match won’t take him to another level. Samoa Joe is not a good candidate either. He is a “monster” type of heel, and while it would be in his character to cash-in on a weakened opponent, I feel that he’s better off destroying opponents rather than doing sneaky cash-ins and being a cowardly heel. Rusev is pretty popular these days, but is he really ready for a WWE Title run? He seems to be too popular to be a heel and would be better served turning babyface and rising to the top using an underdog babyface type of route. Finn Balor is another former Universal Champion. I would like to see him turn heel, but I don’t really see it in the near future, especially with him doing his “Balor Club for all” gimmick. Furthermore, with all due respect to his wrestling ability, I don’t think that he’s currently interesting enough to get this sort of push.
Next Page: Who Needs To Win This Year’s Men’s MITB Match & What Changes Should Be Made To The Concept (cont.)
