Friday, March 29, 2024
EditorialSix Superstars Money In The Bank Was Wasted On

Six Superstars Money In The Bank Was Wasted On

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Since the very first Money In The Bank ladder match in 2005, with Edge winning the inaugural ladder match at WrestleMania 21, the briefcase has since served as a symbol of opportunity, spontaneity, and world title victory. At a moment’s notice, a superstar’s music will hit, they will run down the ramp, and more often than not, they will cash the Money In The Bank briefcase in on a vulnerable champion, thereby practically guaranteeing a new champion. Not only is the briefcase intended to give a superstar a world title reign, it is supposed to be designed as a springboard for future success in the business.

Despite that, however, there have been instances where this prestigious briefcase have absolutely been wasted. There have been 18 different Money In The Bank briefcase holders in history. There have been only two that cashed it in and fail to win the title, with one superstar winning by disqualification, and the other just losing. With all of that said, I have singled out the six superstars that I believe the Money In The Bank briefcase was wasted on in hindsight. With Baron Corbin and Carmella as the current Money In The Bank briefcase holders, let’s hope they avoid a fate similar to these six superstars.

 

6. CM Punk (2008)

Punk would come around eventually, but it was rough at first.

CM Punk in 2008 was still in relative infancy into his WWE career, finishing off his ECW run and being drafted to the RAW brand. He earned his spot into the Money In The Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 24 and defeated a talented field to hold the briefcase. On RAW, Punk had an uphill battle to fight, having to prove that he belonged with superstars such as John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho, all of whom were on the same show. The time for Punk came after Night of Champions 2008 when Edge defeated Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship in Edge-like fashion (tons of interference). Batista sought retribution and got it in a beatdown of Edge after the night. Punk owned the situation, ran down the aisle, and one GTS gave Punk the World Heavyweight Championship. Punk would receive a big pop and adulation from the crowd at the moment, but unfortunately, his title reign did not live up to the moment.

Punk was treated like a fluke champion and a non-main eventer against the likes of Batista, Kane and JBL. His match against Batista at the Great American Bash ended in a Double DQ when Kane came down and took out both men. Then, he went on to have a forgettable match against JBL at Summerslam, as he was lost in the shuffle in lieu of matches such as John Cena vs. Batista and Edge vs. The Undertaker inside Hell In A Cell. He himself became such an irrelevant character that he was written off Unforgiven 2008. He was jumped from Legacy, and Chris Jericho eventually won the World Title. Jericho would also go on to defeat Punk in a steel cage rematch for the title. After his failed World title reign, Punk occupied his time with a brief run with the Intercontinental Title as well as a brief stint with Kofi Kingston as a tag team. Fortunately for Punk, WWE didn’t give up entirely on him, as they hit the reset button on him by having him win the briefcase yet again at WrestleMania the following year. This time, Punk proved that he was here to stay.

What should have happened?

Considering that Jericho won the title the same night Punk was written off of it, and considering Punk and Jericho were the final two superstars involved in the Money In The Bank ladder match decision at WrestleMania 24, I think it would have been wiser to have just given the briefcase to Jericho. It would have made much more sense in hindsight to me.

 

5. Mr. Kennedy (2007)

Talk about disappointing…

Mr. Kennedy was set for the run of a lifetime. He claimed the Money In The Bank briefcase at WrestleMania 23, defeating a field that featured five world champions and two other prominent faces at the time. According to reports, Mr. Kennedy was due to become the WWE Champion, be the payoff for the Vince McMahon bastard son storyline and culminate in a feud with Triple H at WrestleMania the following year. That all sounded nice and dandy, but unfortunately for Mr. Kennedy, a doctor had diagnosed him with a torn triceps, and the original diagnosis would prevent him from cashing in his briefcase within the one-year timeline that he was permitted. This would result in the Ultimate Opportunist Edge challenging him in a match for custody of the briefcase. Mr. Kennedy would be blindsided by Edge before the match, and with one spear in a seven-second match, all of Mr. Kennedy’s plans came crashing down to Earth just like that.

To rub even more salt into the wound, the original diagnosis proved to be very off the mark, as his torn triceps proved to only be a bruise, and he was able to return in the summer of that year. The hits kept coming for Mr. Kennedy, though, and he would never be able to get off the ground. A wellness policy violation had him suspended from the company in August of that year, and he would be pushed further down the card. However, the nail in the coffin would be an incident with Randy Orton where Mr. Kenndy suplexed Orton on his head, or so Orton claimed. Orton then reportedly went to management and was a spokesman for Kennedy’s firing. Considering what Kennedy was reportedly set up for, Mr. Kennedy proved to be a lost cause.

What should have happened?

Well, WWE doesn’t have a crystal ball and couldn’t have foreseen Mr. Kennedy being injured and doctors botching his diagnosis as to when he could compete. But for all intents and purposes, Edge probably should have just won the match yet again instead of having Kennedy just drop it to him in a seven-second match. Edge’s cash-in on The Undertaker was a prelude to his high profile matches on Smackdown against the likes of Batista and The Undertaker as well.

 

4. John Cena (2012)

He failed to win the title, but I think Cena turned out alright. I think…

John Cena is the only person to reach Ric Flair’s sixteen world title reigns (he has more than 16, but only 16 are recognized), but don’t think that Cena never had off years. 2012 was arguably his worst year, accomplishment and performance wise. He started off the year with a horrible feud against Kane which resulted in Zack Ryder being buried as a result. He then proceeded to lose the biggest match of his life up to that point against The Rock at WrestleMania 28. He had a moment of victory against Brock Lesnar, but he then that somehow transitioned into a feud with the VP of Talent Relations and The Big Show.

But, fortune appeared to change for Cena as he won the RAW Money In The Bank Ladder match (in albeit the shortest field in MITB history). He then chased it in on one of his former rivals in CM Punk on one episode of RAW, and in doing so, Cena became the first person to win the Money In The Bank briefcase and not come away with the championship he was fighting for. The Big Show came running down to attack Cena and Punk ended up retaining his title via disqualification. Of course, this is John Cena we are talking about, so he’ll always find his way back into the main event somehow, someway. Eventually, he did, getting retribution against The Rock and winning the WWE Title next year at WrestleMania.

What should have happened?

The Money In The Bank field that Cena was in involved Jericho, Big Show, Kane, The Miz and John Cena. That isn’t exactly a talented field and a great crop to choose from. Jericho just came off a WWE Title feud with Punk, The Miz had just returned after a brief hiatus, and The Big Show/Kane aren’t feasible positions to hold the briefcase in 2012. I’d still have Cena win, but even though it was the 1,000th episode of RAW, I wouldn’t have had Cena cash it in at that time. Rather, I’d have Cena still win, but hold on to the briefcase and cash it in at WrestleMania the following year. That way, we could have had a younger star win the Rumble and not make it so predictable and Cena will still get his title match.

3. Jack Swagger (2010)

When you spend nearly a minute trying to unhook the briefcase and finally got it…

You know the old saying in WWE. It’s not the title that makes the man, it’s the man that makes the title. Well, the World Heavyweight Championship was the only thing that made Swagger appear to be a top superstar. Jack Swagger was fresh out of ECW and was headed for the prime-time, winning the largest Money In The Bank field at WrestleMania 26. What was interesting about his win, however, was that Swagger had great difficulty unhooking the briefcase, spending nearly a minute at the top of a ladder with a sea of humanity looking at him struggle before finally retrieving it. It was actually too embarrassing that WWE has edited it out. This would prove to be an omen for a lackluster run to come. Edge speared Jericho after Jericho retained his World Title against Edge at WrestleMania that year. Selling the injured ribs, Swagger came running down, struck Edge with the briefcase on the back of the head, and cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase on a vulnerable Chris Jericho. Swagger got a Gutwrench Powerbomb and won the World Heavyweight Championship, but unfortunately, his run as Mr. MITB, and as world champion didn’t live up to the billing.

This would prove to be an omen for a lackluster run to come. Edge speared Jericho after Jericho retained his World Title against Edge at WrestleMania that year. Selling the injured ribs, Swagger came running down, struck Edge with the briefcase on the back of the head, and cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase on a vulnerable Chris Jericho. Swagger got a Gutwrench Powerbomb and won the World Heavyweight Championship.

Yes, Swagger did defeat Randy Orton at Extreme Rules and also defeated Chris Jericho and Edge, but after his feud with The Big Show, he went spiraling into an embarrassing character having Chavo Guererro serve as a cheerleader in a bird costume. The Big Show punked him out at Over The Limit, and he dropped the World Heavyweight Championship to Rey Mysterio in Fatal Four way that saw him get pinned on top of it. Swagger would have some mid-card runs and would be in tag teams with the likes of Cesaro and Dolph Ziggler, but he never was once treated seriously as a main event competitor, and despite a brief renaissance in 2013 when he won the Elimination Chamber and fought in the World Title match at WrestleMania 29, he’d fall back to Earth quickly. The disappointment of his career was encapsulated with him asking for his release just recently this year.

What should have happened?

2010 was a year that featured not one, not two, but three Money In The Bank ladder matches. Kane won the Smackdown ladder match at the Money In The Bank PPV in 2010 anyway, so I would have Kane win the ladder match at WrestleMania 26. Then, I would have Christian, who would defeat Alberto Del Rio for the World Title at Extreme Rules the following year, win the Smackdown exclusive MITB ladder match. Christian was extremely popular at the time and many were pulling for him to win MITB at WrestleMania 25 and 26. So that way, Christian could cash in just like his best friend Edge, and Kane would have still been World Champ by the end of the year.

 

2. Sheamus (2015)

Should someone tell him he’d only have the title for a couple of weeks?

If there’s one thing I wanted to call Sheamus’ run as Mr. Money In The Bank, I’d call it purely filler. Sheamus had returned after a hiatus from WWE the night after WrestleMania 31 and turned heel. He wasn’t doing anything special at the time feuding with guys like Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton. However, he won the Money In The Bank briefcase and would go on to cash it in at Survivor Series later that year. Unfortunately for Sheamus, after only two title defenses, he found himself losing to the man he cashed it on, Roman Reigns on the final episode of RAW in 2015. Sheamus was the leader of a new faction entitled The League of Nations, a failed group of foreign miscreants looking to screw Reigns and any other top faces to do Vince McMahon’s bidding.

Sheamus has since on the tag team title, needing only the Intercontinental Championship to join a short list of superstars to have won every major title. I wasn’t a fan of Sheamus winning, because he eventually just became another lackey of The Authority, and he didn’t last long enough to make anyone take him seriously, because we both knew eventually Roman was going to win it back because Rumble season was right around the corner, so why even bother giving it to him if you were just planning to have him hold it for a little over a month?

What should have happened?

This is sort of hard to do because we also have to consider Rollins eventually getting injured. This may sound sort of crazy, but what I would have happened is Roman Reigns win the Money In The Bank briefcase. Then, at Survivor Series, we’d have Dean Ambrose and Sheamus as the final two competitors in the tournament that took place for the title. Roman Reigns could then cash it in on Dean, and perhaps we could have a blow-off between them at WrestleMania 32 between former Shield members, seeing as how their only one on one bout was basically a rushed 9-minute match of finishers.

 

1. Damien Sandow (2013)

This was a giant face palm from the start.

This still gets me frustrated to this day. Damien Sandow had a Sean O’Haire like feel to him. An eloquent trash talker and a young up and coming heel that a fresh look and character to him. Sandow was doing practically nothing when he first debuted in 2012, but things seemed to get better for him when he won the Money In The Bank briefcase in 2013 by turning on his former tag team partner, Cody Rhodes. Sandow seemed to be on the path to greatness, as he should have because he deserved it. Unfortunately, he would go to have arguably the worst run as Mr. Money In The Bank.

He lost pretty much every major match he had if he had any major matches. He lost to Cody Rhodes at Summerslam, wasn’t important enough to be on the card for Night of Champions and didn’t make Hell In A Cell either. When wasn’t losing on PPV, or when he wasn’t even on PPV, he was losing routinely on RAW and Smackdown consistently taking pinfall after pinfall. Losing frequently isn’t uncommon for any Mr. Money In The Bank because the design is to make the world title win more enjoyable and more shocking. Unfortunately for Damien Sandow, his loss would be none of those, but rather embarrassing. Afte John Cena won the World Title from Alberto Del Rio at Hell In A Cell 2013 after recovering from swelling in his elbow, Damien Sandow came out to assault Cena and cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase.

In one of the most frustrating moments I had ever seen on WWE television, Damien Sandow lost clean in the middle of the ring after cashing in his briefcase, and to top it off, Cena was heavily selling one arm throughout the entire match, which means he only needed one arm to get the job done. It’s funny because as soon as he announced he was cashing in, we went to commercial break, and that should have told you right, then and there that WWE was not going to pull the trigger on Sandow. It made me question why WWE even bothered giving him the briefcase if they were just going to have him lose to a one handed Cena. Sandow was never treated like a serious threat to anyone and was always perceived to be a joke, and the way he lost his briefcase punctuated that point.

As Miz’s double stunt, he would have a brief reprieve from embarrassment as he won the tag team championship, but he would go on to have failure after failure, whether it was not winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal or just keeping on television routinely. This was about as huge of a waste as a briefcase holder can get, as he not only failed to win the title, there was no payoff.

What should have happened?

Again, like I said, if this was the plan for Sandow as Mr. Money In The Bank, I wouldn’t have even bothered giving him the briefcase. However, I’d still have him win and, wait for it, I’d have him WIN. I would have him cash it in on Alberto Del Rio or Christian at Summerslam and have him hold it for a couple of months, and then, since WWE is insistent on giving Cena world title victories, he could take it off of him at Hell In A Cell.

 

So, who was your most disappointing Mr. Money In The Bank? Agree with the list? Disagree? Let me know! Until next time.

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