Recent backstage reports from WWE indicate a good deal of confusion surrounding the Money In The Bank premium live event winners. The next significant contest on the calendar, Hell In A Cell, is scheduled to go down on Sunday, June 5, at the Allstate Arena in Chicago. After that, though, is the fan-favorite Money In The Bank event. That will happen just over a month after Hell In A Cell on July 5 in Las Vegas.
Usually, the Money In The Bank ladder match winner holds a briefcase that allows them to “cash in” for a title opportunity whenever they want. This stipulation has created some of the best moments in WWE history and gives every championship match an added air of mystery. However, a television ad for Money In The Bank ran during WrestleMania Backlash that produced confusion backstage and online among fans. During the advertisement, WWE’s Cody Rhodes says that the ladder match winner will “have a chance to main event WrestleMania.” That would signal a shift in how WWE usually handles Money In The Bank Winners.
The announcers haven’t clarified that confusion during any broadcast to date, and Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting the following about the match stipulations (h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription): “The only direct company word regarding that question was there is nothing definitive either way. Another person said that Vince has plans already in place for the top matches at Mania, and the winners of MITB in the title matches wouldn’t be that, although that commercial aired three times without an edit.”
As of now, it sounds like the only person who 100 percent knows what’s going on is Vince McMahon. It’s not clear why WWE is running an advertisement for Money In The Bank that might be misrepresenting the stakes of the bout or why Rhodes would have been given the line in the first place. As Meltzer noted, WWE had the chance to edit the ad if it was inaccurate but ran it at least three times last week. The federation could take the evening in any number of directions then, with one thought being that Roman Reigns could “lose” one of his titles during the ladder match.
WWE has gone to great lengths to protect Reigns and his character, going so far as to not even allow The Bloodline to take the pin during the main event of Backlash. That was a great opportunity to build Drew McIntyre into a legit contender, but Reigns was instead booked to pin Riddle after a sneaky tag. Having one of the championships on the line during the Money In The Bank match would make sense, then, as a way to get it off of Reigns without hurting him. Yet for now, it’s still not clear why WWE‘s advertising for the contest doesn’t match the reality of what sounds like it will actually happen.
Sources: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WrestlingNews.co
