Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialWWE Money in the Bank 2017 PPV Card Predictions for Match Lineup

WWE Money in the Bank 2017 PPV Card Predictions for Match Lineup

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TRENDING

An opinion of mine you’ll be hearing for weeks on end is how I think it is ridiculous that the Money in the Bank gimmick is SmackDown-only, despite it being a featured match on the SummerSlam card, but since I’m not the one calling the shots, that’s the situation we’re in.

Per usual, I like to try to give my extended projections for what matches I think we’ll be getting on the card before anything has really been announced, as I also like to see what everyone else here is thinking in regards to what direction WWE will go. Once things are built up a bit more, it’s easier to see what the card will shape up to be, but when we’re going in blind, there are all sorts of possibilities.

Tonight on SmackDown, we’ll see the fallout from Backlash 2017 with the new WWE champion Jinder Mahal, but before matches start getting announced, let’s gaze into our crystal balls to try to guess what the lineup will be for June 18th!

CONFIRMED MATCHES

Money in the Bank Ladder Match

This is the only match that we know for sure will end up happening on the card, but the specifications behind it are completely unknown at the moment.

Considering how this is a single-brand event now, there isn’t enough room on the card to have 10 people in the ladder match while still giving us enough other matches that are of decent quality. Still, we do have a handful of names that can be in the running for this match.

Rusev is the first I’d throw into the hat, but I think Baron Corbin and Sami Zayn are two other definites. Tye Dillinger is a dark horse that I think they might give a spot to, and there’s certainly a possibility we see John Cena come back to work this.

The rest of the candidates completely depends on WWE’s preference for the other matches on the card. I’ll go into this in more detail below, but there are three matches filled with people who could either participate here or do their own thing: Kevin Owens and AJ Styles, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper, and Dolph Ziggler and Shinsuke Nakamura.

I would assume Ziggler and Nakamura won’t be in the ladder match, as I don’t think the win will go to Nakamura and to have him in there and lose would be rather odd. Then again, that might be exactly how WWE wants to play this, as he would lose a match on the main roster without being pinned, avoiding any stigma to follow that alternative booking.

Then, there’s the United States Championship feud, which could either play out as being part of the ladder match or a separate title being defended. It seems strange if Styles and Owens wouldn’t be in the running to win the briefcase, so I’m expecting them to forego the title defense and be included in this match.

However, if WWE is looking to just throw some people in there for the sake of bulking it out, Rowan and Harper aren’t going to make a splash in their own feud and could be well-served as the big men in this match for spots that could use their strength.

This is extremely tough to call right now, which is part of what makes it fun to try to guess in advance.

PRESUMABLE MATCHES

WWE Championship Match: Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton

There’s absolutely no way WWE rushes moving either of these men into another feud. This has garnered far too much attention to do anything other than a rematch between the two, so while this isn’t officially announced, I would classify it as a guarantee, 100%.

Part of me thinks there’s a chance Mahal doesn’t walk into this with the championship, as they may have Orton win the title on SmackDown. I hope that’s not the case, as they just had a hot potato title switch with the United States Championship, and doing the same to Jinder will just undo any good karma that happened with putting the belt on him to begin with.

I do, however, think this is where Mahal’s title reign ends. The long game isn’t in him as champion, so unless there are plans for AJ Styles to dethrone Mahal instead of Orton, I think The Viper climbs back to the top of the mountain by the end of this event.

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match

It would be a mistake to have another six-woman tag team match rather than for the title to be defended, so I expect to see Naomi put the championship on the line against either Charlotte Flair or one of the members of The Welcoming Committee.

If the rumors are true from what has been spread around dirt sheets the past few days, Carmella is receiving a lot of praise and may be in line for a push. With that in mind, the easy call to make would be to guess that Naomi will face Carmella after the latter is declared the No. 1 contender somehow over the next few weeks.

I don’t think the title would change in that scenario, though, unless it’s a means to do a transitional run before Charlotte wins it from Carmella or either Natalya or Tamina turns on their teammate.

Alternatively, I could see Tamina getting the title shot, opening up another match which will be in the section below.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

The New Day are set to be making their returns, and it’s hard for me not to just assume they’ll be getting a title shot against The Usos, but that’s the easiest call to make.

Breezango could still be in the running, though, which makes this difficult. I don’t think a Triple Threat match will take place with those teams, so the next best bet would be a Fatal 4-Way, which would only happen if WWE felt the need not to ignore one of those babyface teams.

If we do have four teams against each other, we need one more duo to fill in that last slot. The Ascension are still jokes, American Alpha and The Colons are kind of feuding (in the sense that WWE puts zero focus on it), so I wouldn’t be shocked at all if The Singh Brothers were that fourth team, possibly to transition them into a feud with Breezango while The New Day become the targets for The Usos.

United States Championship Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs. AJ Styles /or/ Dolph Ziggler vs. Shinsuke Nakamura /or/ Erick Rowan vs. Luke Harper

As mentioned in the ‘confirmed’ section, there isn’t room for every upper-midcard and main event guy to be in the ladder match. At least one of those feuds is going to need to sit this out and do their own thing separately, but we don’t know which people WWE is currently prioritizing in that way.

I’m leaning towards Styles and Owens being in the ladder match with Nakamura and Ziggler having a solo encounter just to keep their feud unrelated to the title situation. The future of Nakamura in my mind is the United States Championship as the next person Owens feuds with, as opposed to the WWE Championship scene. Rowan and Harper will either be inconsequential members of the ladder match or they’ll be in another buffer zone situation where their feud will continue, but it will eat up a bathroom break.

POTENTIAL OTHER MATCHES

American Alpha vs. The Colons

If WWE is looking for other matches to spread the card out, this tag team feud needs to be at least in the running. Without having any attention put on them since they started working together, it has given the audience nothing to motivate the crowd to pay interest to.

American Alpha is too good to be left out in the cold as long as they’ve been and while The Colons have struggled more than they’ve succeeded, any hopes of a resurgence will die if they are continually pushed aside and considered not worthy enough to invest any time in.

Mojo Rawley vs. Aiden English

I don’t think we’ll see Dillinger vs. English again as a repeat of what happened at Backlash, but I do think if Aiden English is on the card, he’ll be in the pre-show and wrestling someone who doesn’t necessarily need to be factored in elsewhere.

With that in mind, Mojo Rawley pops into my brain as the next person who could be set up to feud with English. It would give Rawley an easy victory so he can get back on track after doing nothing since winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and it wouldn’t get in the way of the ladder match.

A secondary women’s match

If it’s true that they have the title on the line, the division could very well have another match with some of the other women thrown into the mix. My gut reaction is to say that Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair would face Natalya and Tamina, but that would be entirely dependent upon who faces Naomi. If it isn’t Carmella, then she’d be in Tamina’s slot instead, as I don’t think it will be Natalya who gets the title shot. She’s far too intertwined with the Charlotte-specific hatred to separate those two.

Of course, there’s also Lana, who is supposed to be making her debut sometime soon. It’s vague enough that she may not appear for another 8 months based off the Emmalina nonsense, or it could be tonight’s edition of SmackDown. I doubt she’ll be factored into the title hunt, but if there’s a Fatal 4-Way or something, then Lana might have a match at Money in the Bank against someone she can defeat just to get her out there.

What matches do YOU think we’ll be getting for Money in the Bank 2017? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

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