It seems like barely a day has passed since Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns scurried into the Elimination Chamber crowd with their greatest foe’s championship belt, but fans are now just days away from the next PPV of a packed WWE schedule.
Money In The Bank is perhaps chief among the WWE’s “minor” Pay Per Views in terms of guaranteed excitement. The titular match delivers in terms of both action (multiple men risking life and limb to snatch a title shot hanging from the ceiling) and storyline drama, and the promotion have done a good job in varying the booking of briefcase storylines since its inception in 2005. Non-ladder matches have also traditionally delivered at this PPV, most notably the classic Cena vs Punk epic in 2011.
However, 2015’s edition could lag behind its predecessors due to one major factor: the winner of the briefcase looks a foregone conclusion. The WWE have made no secret of their desire to elevate Roman Reigns, and even though their shock decision to keep him away from the championship at WrestleMania was a wise one, it seems only a matter of time before he is given a debut run with the belt.
It remains to be seen whether such an obvious conclusion hinders the match too much – or if the WWE will shock everybody and slap the briefcase on an unexpected victor – but the rest of the card looks similarly predictable.
Here are eight things that look likely to happen at Money In The Bank 2015.
8. Roman Reigns Will Win The Briefcase
Just because a particular course of action is obvious, it isn’t necessarily the wrong thing to do. The WWE have done a fairly terrible job of building a number of viable candidates to win the Money in the Bank briefcase, but would be foolish to deviate from their plan for the sake of shocking everybody. They’ve made their bed, and lying in it is probably the safest choice for now.
A Roman Reigns victory wouldn’t exactly be popular, but is preferable to the convoluted booking that would justify a Neville, Kingston or Kane title shot. Even slightly more justifiable winners such as Ziggler and Orton would seem to be intruding upon an already cluttered main event scene (especially with Brock Lesnar returning in a couple of weeks).
7. Ryback Will Keep The Intercontinental Championship
There’s no way Ryback will lose his new Intercontinental Championship this Sunday, especially after the big babyface rub he was given by Daniel Bryan upon capturing the gold at Elimination Chamber. A feud with Big Show seems explicitly designed to put him over as a brave fighting champion, capable of taking down even the biggest, meanest of challengers.
A curious decision, however, was to have Ryback hit his finisher on Big Show earlier this week. Although undoubtedly a very impressive feat, the idea of giving away such a spectacular visual on free television seems an incredibly unwise one, and throws the actual finish of their match at Money In The Bank into doubt. Regardless, Ryback will still walk out as champion.
6. The New Day Will Retain (But Need To Ramp Up The Evilness)
The New Day are enjoying a solid Tag Team Championship reign at the moment, a run which still has a lot of momentum before it peters out. The idea of them losing the belts at Money In The Bank is surely out of the question, especially to a team as relatively slow and clunking as the Prime Time Players.
In order to take their unlikely push to the next level, Langston, Woods and Kingston need to become even greater heels – something along the lines of CM Punk’s cult-like Straight Edge Society. Although they’ve met some success as wacky, overly-optimistic preachers, the trio should be given promo time and really go to town with the gimmick. A post-match interview at Money In The Bank would be a great start.
5. Nobody Will Enjoy Nikki Bella Vs Paige
It’s been suggested that Nikki Bella’s considerable backstage clout (a relationship with John Cena certainly has its perks) has been responsible for her lengthy Divas Championship reign, but even her biggest detractors would surely concede that she has been one of the most improved female superstars of the past year or so. Paige, meanwhile, continues to be one of the most intriguing personalities in the division, especially in the vacuum left by AJ Lee’s departure.
Their upcoming singles match should therefore be one of the most eagerly anticipated Divas Championship bouts in recent history – yet it will again suffer from minimal build and an inevitably short timeslot. While nobody is arguing that this match has the potential to be a five-star classic, and many hours of television time should be devoted to its build up, the WWE have once again shown minimal consideration for a part of their show they’ve been so eager to push from a marketing perspective.
4. Kevin Owens Will Not Win Clean Again
Cena isn’t quite the unstoppable force he has been for much of his WWE career, but he still has a nasty habit of proving nigh-on unbeatable in the long run. Nobody seems able to win a decisive series of matches against him, either falling in a rematch or at least taking a beating from the biggest star of a generation (even Lesnar suffered a DQ loss to Cena shortly after decimating him for the WWE Championship last year).
If there was ever a time for Cena to truly meet his match, this Sunday is surely it. Kevin Owens is everything John is not – he’s mean-spirited, out of shape, and possesses a glittering indie background. His clean victory at Elimination Chamber was earth-shattering, but there is a very real fear that Cena could “get his win back” at Money In The Bank, something that would stop the former ROH Champion’s momentum dead.
Cena can’t be superman forever. At some point he’ll have to start losing feuds and elevating new stars, a trend which should start no later than this weekend.
3. The Authority Will Stick Their Noses In
Money In The Bank should, in theory, be a wild, chaotic night of action, with the focus entirely on the men in the ring. Its central theme revolves around a wrestler winning total control over their own title shot, and the matches tend to be wild and thrilling. Sure, allow authority figures to have a hand in the build-up to the PPV, but Sunday night should be for the wrestlers themselves.
However, what are the chances of Triple H and Stephanie actually taking a back seat at Money In The Bank? The Authority have made their presence heavily felt throughout the reign of Seth Rollins, their chosen champion, and have actually been a central part of the main event scene for two whole years now.
The lack of an Authority influence at Money In The Bank would help everyone on the card, freeing up space for maybe an entire match in place of their traditional rambling promo. Sadly, the chances of Mr and Mrs Helmsley staying away from the spotlight look very slim.
2. The Main Event Will Deliver On Its Potential
Sunday’s main event has the potential to be one of the greatest singles ladder matches ever, up there with Michaels vs Ramon, Triple H vs The Rock, Hardy vs RVD and Jericho vs Benoit. Both men are fantastic workers with a style that lends itself naturally to the hard-hitting chaos of a ladder stipulation. Ambrose is a fearlessly wild brawler with little regard for his own safety, while Rollins is one of the most agile performers on the current WWE roster.
If given the right booking and time, this main event could be a show-defining classic. It has the potential to save a lacklustre undercard, or elevate a good show into truly unforgettable territory.
Unfortunately, as good as the match will surely be from a wrestling perspective, there is one factor which will prevent it from being a true classic…
1. Seth Rollins Will Not Win Clean
Make no mistake about it, Seth Rollins plays a great cowardly heel. He becomes a little more hatable each time he squirms out of a match with the WWE Championship, but could suffer from a huge knock to his credibility if things continue as they are for much longer.
Elimination Chamber saw Ambrose score a clean pinfall over the champ, only to suffer a Dusty finish which kept the belt on Rollins. In a move seemingly designed to placate Ambrose’s fans, he and Roman Reigns escaped into the crowd with Rollins’ title, an essentially empty storyline in the grand scheme of things. It does, however, make Seth look an incredibly weak champ in the process.
Rollins needs to beat Ambrose clean on Sunday, preferably in a great main event match. Unfortunately it’s hard to see such a turn of events unfolding, especially as the WWE seem hell bent on making him nothing more than an incredibly lucky, cowardly champion. It seems likely that Money In The Bank will simply be another narrow escape in a series of similar unsatisfactory episodes.
