With Braun Strowman cashing in his lovely gold Money in the Bank briefcase for his upcoming Universal Championship match at Hell in a Cell, one starts to wonder if this is potentially a waste of a cash-in.
Considering previous years of briefcases, in various colours, have provided some of the greatest moments in professional wrestling history, seeing it used to set up a match in the future which could have occurred regardless of the contract does seem to be robbing us of a potentially fantastic moment.
With that in mind, let’s take a look back at some of the very Best & very Worst Money in the Bank contract cash-ins.
As always, this is just my opinion, so feel free to tell me how wrong I am on Twitter!
Apologies for no Best & Worst last Saturday by the way, I was too busy being whipped by Oli, Luke and Laurie at Wrestling MediaCon. Blame them.
BEST – Seth Rollins | WrestleMania 31
This is by far the grandest cash-in of them all, taking place in the main event of WrestleMania 31, and what a cash-in it was. Roman Reigns was facing Brock Lesnar (that’s strange, that matchup sounds familiar, can’t think why) in a match that was far better than anyone thought it would be. The crowd wanted Lesnar to retain as they had started turning on Reigns at this point, but the company didn’t want Lesnar to hold on to the title, so what do they do? Enter Rollins.
As the two competitors were laid out after an F5, ‘The Architect’s music hit to a massive ovation as he sprinted down to the ring, handed over the contract and initiated the match as a Triple Threat. After a tense back and forth, Rollins was able to hit the Curb Stomp on to Reigns to obtain his first WWE Championship. The sight of Rollins holding up his new title on the ramp is an iconic image that will live on for a long time to come.
WORST – Baron Corbin | SmackDown Live August 15, 2017
Big bad Bazza Corbs. He seemed to be destined for a big push in the summer of last year, yet alas, it was not meant to be. Having won the Money in the Bank contract in June, he was being positioned for a big singles run, even engaging in a feud with John Cena. But, that’s where everything fell apart.
On an episode of SmackDown Live, the WWE Champion Jinder Mahal (yep, that was a thing that still happened) had just had a match with the aforementioned Cena which ended in DQ after Corbin interfered. It seemed like a perfect time for him to cash-in the briefcase, and that’s exactly what he tried. The problem was who he had just attacked to initiate the match.
As soon as the bell rang, Cena was up on the apron, which caused a distraction for Corbin. As he clocked him, Mahal came up from behind and rolled up Corbin for a quick three count.
Underwhelming is an understatement. What an anticlimactic use of the briefcase, and of course, it had to be Cena to do it.
BEST – Dolph Ziggler | Raw April 8, 2013
This still gives me goosebumps to this day. This was the Raw after WrestleMania 29, and World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio had just had a gruelling match with Jack Swagger, during which he sustained an injury to his knee and ankle. As he lay there, receiving medical attention, excitement built for the crowd as they saw what was coming. The moment Dolph Ziggler’s music hit, the crowd exploded in one of the loudest pops of all time. He marched down to the ring, handed over the contract and after a couple of close calls, hit the Zig Zag on Del Rio and won the World Heavyweight Championship. Where Ziggler’s career went after that is unimportant, because this moment was an outstanding one.
WORST – Damien Sandow | Raw October 28, 2013
This was the night Damien Sandow lost his career. People were hopeful for a big singles push for the old school heel, and things seemed to be looking up once he altered his briefcase to become “Sandowized”, with a wood finish to make it more classy. It was a nice touch and Sandow was the perfect type of character to hold the case.
So, it was an episode of Raw. John Cena was the World Heavyweight Champion, having just returned from injury to beat Alberto Del Rio at the previous night’s Hell in a Cell. Funny how ‘Big Match John’ keeps cropping up on this list. Sandow came out to taunt Cena, reminding him that he could cash-in anytime, any place, but not tonight. As he went to leave, he then attacked Cena, targeting his elbow in particular, which is the injury Cena had just recovered from.
Now you may have noticed, a lot of these cash-ins take one or two finishers, and that’s about it. Sandow went to town, smashing Cena’s elbow with the briefcase, against the ring pole, against the steps, with a chair, all sorts of stuff. After that, the match started and Sandow locked in a crossface on Cena, and it seemed all but certain he’d win. But, classic Cena, he powered out. Sandow hit his finisher. He kicked out. Sandow dodged a crossbody from Cena. Cena came back. Sandow went to hit what looked to be a piledriver. Cena countered, hit the AA with one arm and won. Ugh. Once again, it’s Cena damaging the briefcase holder. Vintage Cena.
BEST – Edge | New Year’s Revolution 2006
It wouldn’t be right if one of ‘The Ultimate Opportunist’s cash-ins didn’t make the Best list, and this one easily takes the cake. Following a bloody and brutal Elimination Chamber match featuring the likes of Carlito, Chris Masters, Kane, Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels, John Cena was the one standing tall as the WWE Champion. He didn’t have much time to recover though, as Vince McMahon came out on the stage following the match and announced Edge was cashing in his Money in the Bank contract. It took two Spears to put Cena away, but when he did, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The fans had started to turn on Cena and this gave them the much needed satisfaction of seeing him topple, albeit to a top heel in the company.
WORST – Sheamus | Survivor Series 2015
I would not blame you if you said you forgot this one happened, because I did too. The main event of this show saw Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose fighting it out over the vacant WWE Championship, with the two having a tense finish which ultimately ended in Reigns winning. Triple H came out to congratulate Roman and offered a handshake, but Roman Speared his boss, because he’s Roman Reigns. Out came Mr. Money in the Bank, Sheamus who cashed in his contract and became the new WWE Champion after two Brogue Kicks, leaving Reigns laying in the ring, covered in confetti. And if this sounds similar to the ending of SummerSlam 2013 with Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton, that’s because it’s exactly the same. It was an uncreative, boring finish featuring wrestlers the audience didn’t care about and didn’t want to see with the title. This was a bad time.
BEST – Dean Ambrose | Money in the Bank 2016
We end the list off today with one that people have mixed feelings over, but I personally absolutely loved. I’ve heard people say this was a waste of the briefcase, but I think it played its part perfectly and helped cement a milestone that otherwise may not have been achieved.
Roman Reigns, the WWE Champion, was coming off a victory over AJ Styles at the previous event, Extreme Rules, where his challenger, Seth Rollins, made his grand return from injury. The stage was set for Money in the Bank 2016, and the two had a stellar match. The finish took everyone by surprise, with Rollins picking up a clean victory over Reigns to win the title, a shocking thought at the time considering ‘The Big Dog’ was booked to be unstoppable up to that point. Seth’s celebrations were premature however, as Dean Ambrose’s music rang out.
He had only just won the briefcase earlier that night, yet here he was to cash-in almost instantly. He clocked Seth with the briefcase, and once the match had started, he hit a quick Dirty Deeds on Rollins to become the new WWE Champion. In one night, all three members of The Shield had been the company’s top champion, and cemented the group’s legacy as one of the greatest of all time.
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