At New Year’s Resolution 2006, John Cena had just won the Elimination Chamber, which was the first ever cash of the Money in the Bank briefcase. Battered and bruised, Cena was running on fumes. That’s when Vince arrived and delivered the news.
Money In the Bank – Origins of a Premium Live Event
“This individual is cashing in his MITB privilege that he earned at WM. The WWE Championship match will take place right here, right now.”
The ultimate opportunist, Edge, walked down and speared the champ twice to become the new champion.
In an interview with Sam Roberts, Edge told him he initially turned down any involvement in the match.
“When the concept was first brought to me, another ladder match? Guys, I’m trying to shake that… So at first I said I don’t need to be in it.”
Brian Geweritz, WWE Head Writer at the time, persuaded him to compete and told him he was going over.
The Rated R Superstar then gave us insight into what is now one of the most iconic cash-ins in WWE history.
“As this vile character, if I just say I’m going to do it, and then just do a match… there’s nothing vile about that. But if I cash it in after someone has been beaten the s*** in the Elimination Chamber.”
However, his title reign would last only three weeks.
Edge was one of six participants in the first Money in the Bank match, alongside Chris Benoit, Christian, Shelton Benjamin, Kane, and Chris Jericho. At WrestleMania 21, there were plenty of superstars without any creative direction.
As a result, Y2J and Geweritz collaborated, and the concept was born. The winner of the Money In The Bank would earn a contract that guaranteed the winner a shot at the top prize. This contract would expire after a year, and Vince McMahon had one final twist to it.
“Vince loves it, but he has one condition. It has to be in a briefcase,”
Gewertiz told Y2J.
Before diving into the history, here is a rundown of every MITB winners.
In the following years, WWE superstars climbed the ladder and retrieved the briefcase to become Mr. Money in the Bank. Rob Van Dam announced ahead of time that he would take on John Cena for the title at ECW: One Night Stand. Little did RVD or Cena know that the crowd would be intense. Van Dam won the title after Edge speared Cena through a table, rekindling their rivalry.
Afer RVD, Mr. Kennedy won the MITB match and was supposed to cash in on the Undertaker, who was hurt. However, Kennedy suffered an injury and was told by WWE to drop the briefcase to Edge.
What was initially diagnosed as a torn pectoralis major muscle ended up being a misdiagnosis. Instead, it was a group of large blood vessels that had popped.
The next winner, CM Punk, is the only WWE superstar to win the match back-to-back years.
Then, WWE decided to make Money in the Bank its own event in 2010. Jack Swagger won at WM, but his reign as champion didn’t go so well.
At the MITB event, the Miz and Kane won their selective brand matches. The Miz’s first cash-in had fans furious, including the “Angry Miz Girl’ that was caught on camera.
In 2017, the WWE gave the women their own MITB ladder match. The first winner was Carmella, but not without a little help. Instead of Carmella, it was James Ellsworth who climbed up the ladder and retrieved the briefcase.
This sparked outrage from the WWE fans, and the company decided to have another match where Mella won on her own.
She would also become the longest MITB holder at 287 days, surpassing Charlotte with the unwarranted assistance from the Iconics.
Unlike the men’s briefcase, every woman who won their match has a successful cash-in. Although there was a circumstance where the winner didn’t have to compete in a match.
In 2020, Asuka won, and on the next episode of Raw, Becky Lynch awarded her the title after revealing she was pregnant.
The shortest time period from winning the match to cashing in goes to Kane. After 49 minutes, he pinned Rey Mysterio to become the World Champion
One superstar whose career changed drastically after winning the match is Seth Rollins. He won the briefcase twice in his career. The first being with the Authority, and quite arguably the greatest cash-in of all time.
Rollins inserted himself into the main event at WrestleMania 31 between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. Michael Cole called it the “Heist of the Century”.
Almost a decade later, Rollins captured the briefcase yet again. This time through, the MITB winner and the creative team conspired together with one mission in mind: sell Seth’s injury before the grand reveal.
In the WWE Netflix Series “WWE Unreal,” Triple H made a proposal which can be seen here.
“Whatever it is, he can blow his knee out. Like bull*** blow his knee out, but we shoot it like it’s legit. Don’t tell anybody,”
Laveque said,
“He’s on crutches for a couple of weeks. He’s got his leg brace on.”
SummerSlam comes along. Here comes Seth Rollins, throws his crutches. Runs down to the ring… and take the title. Walks out of there as champ.”
Similar to the first time, this cash-in is called the “Ruse of the Century” and was a focus for Season 2 of the docuseries.
What happens, though, when you win the contract but are booked to lose? There have been six superstars who cashed in and lost.
The other superstars who won the MITB, but were unsuccessful in their cash in were Damian Sandow, Braun Strowman, Austin Theory, and Drew McIytre. Sandow lost to John Cena, McIntyre got screwed over by CM Punk, and Strowman had interference from the SHIELD. Austin Theory won the briefcase and is the only person to cash in on the United States title.
The last of which was Baron Corbin. In 2017, Corbin chose to cash in on WWE Champion Jinder Mahal during Friday Night SmackDown.
When Baron Corbin picked his opportunity to cash in, he was distracted by John Cena and rolled up by Jinder Mahal.
One of the reasons for doing this was that the WWE was appealing to the International audience and wanted to keep the belt on Jinder.
Another reason was that the MITB winner rubbed officials backstage the wrong way. According to Fightful, Baron Corbin had interrupted a presentation by the head of WWE’s Wellness Policy about CTEs.
Whether you were successful at cashing in or not, the MITB allowed superstars to cease the moment at any times notice.
It also changed the course of many wrestling careers as well, being given the chance to showcase their potential. Another product of the Ruthless Aggression Era, the MITB was an innovative idea that captured the audience.
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Sources:
https://www.thesmackdownhotel.com/tournaments/wwe-men-s-money-in-the-bank/
https://www.thesmackdownhotel.com/tournaments/wwe-women-s-money-in-the-bank/
