Money in the Bank Ladder Match
From Iwe
The Money in the Bank ladder match is a professional wrestling ladder match held by IWE. The match can feature anywhere from six to ten participants from any IWE brand, with the objective being to retrieve a briefcase that is suspended 20 feet above the ring. The briefcase contains a contract that guarantees a match for one of IWE's world titles, which include the IWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. Throughout XCW's time as an active brand, its world title, the ECW Championship, was an option as well. The contract is valid for one year, and the briefcase holder—dubbed "Mr. Money in the Bank"—can appear on any program and cash in the contract at the date, place, and time of their choosing. The briefcase may also be defended in matches, similar to how championships are defended. All of the briefcase holders have successfully defended and cashed in the contract except for Mr. Kennedy.
The Money in the Bank ladder match was first contested in 2005 at WrestleMania 21 and was exclusive to Raw Superstars. Since the match's inception, five additional Money in the Bank ladder matches have been held annually at their pay-per-view event, WrestleMania, the most recent being held at WrestleMania XXVI, and all subsequent matches have been interpromotional. In July 2010, a second and third Money in the Bank ladder match was held in the same year at an event also titled Money in the Bank for the Raw and SmackDown brands respectively, breaking from the WrestleMania tradition. The first winner of the Money in the Bank ladder match was Edge, who won at WrestleMania 21. Edge is also the only wrestler to cash in a contract he did not win in the actual ladder match. He defeated Mr. Kennedy, who won the WrestleMania 23 Money in the Bank match, for his briefcase in May 2007, and cashed it in against The Undertaker. CM Punk won at both WrestleMania XXIV and XXV, making him the only Money in the Bank participant to win the match on multiple occasions, the second to have earned multiple Money in the Bank contracts, and the first to win the Money in the Bank match in consecutive years.
The most recent Money in the Bank match winners are Dolph Ziggler, who won the World Heavyweight Championship contract at Money in the Bank in 2012, and John Cena, who earned the WWE Championship contract at the same event.
Until the establishment of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event, wrestlers were allowed to use the contract to claim a match for the world championship of any WWE brand if they desired. Edge and Jack Swagger, who were both Raw wrestlers at the time they had won Money in the Bank contracts (Edge with the contract for which he defeated Mr. Kennedy and Swagger with the contract he won at WrestleMania XXVI), did this on the episodes of SmackDown that immediately followed their contract wins.
Contents |
Concept
History
2005
In IWE storyline, the concept for the Money in the Bank match was introduced in March 2005 by Khris Jericho. He pitched the idea on an episode of Raw to General Manager Eric Bischoff, who liked it and promptly signed it for WrestleMania 21 naming Jericho, Khristian, Kevin Hunter, Edge, Junior Remeriz, and Kane to participate in the match. Edge won the match, and then he carried and used the briefcase as a weapon for the next nine months, including once putting it on the line in a ladder match against Matt Hooper at IWE Homecoming.
Edge used the contract at the January 2006 New Year's Revolution, defeating IWE Champion Dustin Simpson in less than two minutes directly after Simpson had retained his title in an Elimination Chamber match. Although the briefcase was originally for the World Heavyweight Championship held by Batista, he and Simpson were traded in the draft and the IWE Championship was then the Raw belt.
2006
The Money in the Bank idea was revived by Carlito on a February 2006 episode of Raw. David Ackeret approved the suggestion and set up qualifying matches for the match that would take place at WrestleMania 22. It was later announced that the match was to be interpromotional, and SmackDown!'s General Manager Theodore Long also set up qualifying matches to select three members of his roster to compete. In the Raw brand qualifying matches, Kyle Van Dam (KVD) defeated Trevor Murdoch, Junior Remeriz defeated Chavo McAlmond, and Ric Flair defeated Carlito. On SmackDown!, Finlay defeated Bobby Ashley, Matt Hooper defeated Road Warrior Animal, and Bobby Ashley won a "last chance battle royal."
Kyle Van Dam won the WrestleMania 22 Money in the Bank ladder match after pushing Remeriz and Hooper off a ladder, while he was on another ladder, and retrieving the briefcase. That April, he defended the contract and won the IWE Intercontinental Championship in a contract vs. title/winner take all match against Benjamin at Backlash. KVD announced in May 2006 that he would cash in his contract at One Night Stand against Simpson in an Extreme Rules Match. The match ended with Simpson losing after Edge (the then #1 contender to the title) interfered on behalf of Van Dam and speared Simpson through a table. KVD then performed a Five-Star frog splash and XCW representative Paul Heyman counted the pinfall.
2007
The third Money in the Bank ladder match was held at WrestleMania 23, and was the first to feature eight participants from Raw, SmackDown!, and XCW. Qualifying matches began on the February 19 episode of Raw. On an episode of Raw the two former Money in the Bank winners, Edge and Kyle Van Dam faced off, with Edge coming out on top to earn the first spot in the match.Mr. Kennedy won at WrestleMania 23, after ramming CM Punk off the ladder using another ladder. During the next few weeks, he kept declaring that he would cash in the briefcase at WrestleMania XXIV. Kennedy, however, suffered an injury, and on the May 7, 2007 episode of Raw, he lost the Money in the Bank briefcase to Edge. As of 2012, Kennedy is the only wrestler to lose the briefcase. The following night at the taping for the May 11, 2007 SmackDown, World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker and Batista fought to a draw in a steel cage match, after which a returning Steven Larson assaulted Undertaker and left him injured in the ring. As Larson was leaving Edge came to the ring with his briefcase, handed it to referee Jim Korderas, and defeated the Undertaker after a spear to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.
2008
The fourth Money in the Bank ladder match took place at WrestleMania XXIV and was intended to be another eight-man match-up, consisting of wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and XCW. Qualifying matches began on the February 18 episode of Raw, as both Josh Hooper and Mr. Kennedy qualified by defeating Dominic and Val Venis, respectively, in singles matches. On the February 22 episode of SmackDown, Junior Remeriz qualified by defeating Jimmy Wang Yang in a singles match. Back on Raw, General Manager William Kapphan placed Khris Jericho in a match against Josh Hooper with the stipulation that if Jericho won, he would be in the ladder match. Jericho defeated Hooper in that match on February 25. The following week on Raw, however, the two faced off again, this time for Hooper's IWE Intercontinental Championship. Jericho won the match and title, and it was revealed that Hooper was suspended from WWE for 60 days for violating the Wellness Policy. He was subsequently removed from the Money in the Bank ladder match and WrestleMania altogether, making this ladder match the only seven-man Money in the Bank match. Also on this episode of Raw, Carlito defeated Mark Semmler to qualify. On a SmackDown/XCW live event on March 9, United States Champion Mikhail Vontavious Porter defeated James Noble to qualify. On the March 11 episode of XCW, CM Punk defeated Big Daddy V to qualify. And finally, on the March 14 episode of SmackDown, Joe Linderman defeated his tag team partner The Miz to be the last man to qualify.
At WrestleMania, CM Punk won the match after trapping Jericho's leg in a ladder and then climbing the ladder. Punk cashed in his title shot on the June 30 episode of Raw. A farewell speech by Jim Ross was interrupted by then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge who had him removed from the ring and then began to insult the crowd, saying that they will never get to see a world championship being defended on Raw (as at the time both Edge and IWE Champion Triple K were members of the SmackDown brand). When he was about to leave the arena, Batista came out and assaulted Edge in retaliation for Edge cheating to win their title match the previous night at Night of Champions. Punk then immediately ran to the ring with a referee to cash in his contract, then performed a GTS on Edge to win the World Heavyweight Championship, making it Raw-exclusive in the process.
2009
The fifth annual Money in the Bank ladder match was announced for WrestleMania XXV. Qualifying matches began on the February 23 episode of Raw, in which CM Punk qualified by defeating The Miz and Joe Linderman in a Triple Threat match. On the March 3 episode of XCW on Sci Fi, Steven Larson qualified for the match by defeating Santino Marella. Both Mikhail Vontavious Porter and Junior Remeriz qualified for the match on the March 6 episode of SmackDown, defeating Matt Hooper and Josh Hooper in respective single matches. On the March 9 episode of Raw, Jose Serrano qualified by defeating Khris Jericho, after Jericho was distracted by Ric Flair. Khristian qualified the following night on XCW on Sci Fi by winning a tri-brand battle royal. Finlay was the final person to qualify for the match when he defeated The Brian Woods on the March 13 episode of SmackDown.
At WrestleMania XXV, CM Punk won the match and became the first wrestler to win two Money in the Bank ladder matches, and the only one to win the match for two consecutive years. On the May 1 episode of SmackDown, Punk challenged the World Heavyweight Champion Edge for a non-title match with the intent that if he defeated Edge, he would cash in his title shot right after the match. Later that night, Punk defeated Edge and attempted to cash in. However, before the ringside bell could ring to start the title match, Punk and Edge were both attacked by Umaga and Josh Hooper respectively. As a consequence, the match never started and Punk retained his contract. Punk again tried to cash in for a World Heavyweight Championship match against Edge on the May 15 episode of SmackDown but was again stopped by Umaga. After Josh Hooper defeated Edge in a ladder match to win the World Heavyweight Championship at Extreme Rules, Punk cashed in to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the second time.
2010
February–April
On the February 22 episode of Raw, it was announced that the sixth annual Money in the Bank ladder match would take place at WrestleMania XXVI. The first qualifying match was held later that night, where Khristian defeated Carlito to qualify. Three more qualifying matches were held on the February 26 episode of SmackDown, with Dolph Ziggler defeating Joe Linderman and B-Truth in a Triple Threat match, Kane defeating Dax Hoovestall, and Junior Remeriz defeating CM Punk to qualify. The March 1 episode of Raw saw both Jack Swagger and Mikhail Vontavious Porter qualify by defeating Santino Marella and Zack Nuss respectively. Matt Hooper was the next to qualify for the match when he defeated Dax Hoovestall on the March 5 episode of SmackDown. In what was initially declared as the final qualifying match, Evan Bourne defeated William Kapphan on the March 8 episode of Raw to become the eighth competitor. Due to his favorable association with IWE Chairman David Ackeret, Hoovestall was given a third chance on the March 12 episode of SmackDown to qualify for the match. In what would also be made a IWE Intercontinental Championship defense by SmackDown general manager Theodore Long, Hoovestall defeated local competitor Aaron Bolo to qualify. On the March 23 episode of Raw, the number of participants was once again increased to a record ten, when Jose Sarreno defeated Jake Wilson to qualify.
At WrestleMania XXVI, Jack Swagger won the match after knocking Khristian off a ladder with the briefcase itself. The following night on Raw, Swagger attempted to cash in his shot against the IWE Champion Dustin Simpson after ambushing Simpson. However, as Simpson recovered too quickly from the ambush, Swagger cancelled his match and retained his contract. The next night, at the taping for the April 2, 2010 episode of SmackDown, after Edge attacked then World Heavyweight Champion Khris Jericho, Swagger cashed in his contract and successfully claimed the World Heavyweight Championship.
June–November
Main article: IWE Money in the Bank
In February 2010, IWE announced that "Money in the Bank" would be the title to their July 18 pay-per-view event at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The event included two Money in the Bank ladder matches featuring the Raw and SmackDown brands respectively. Unlike previous iterations of the match, the winners can only challenge for their own brand's World Championship. All eight competitors for the Raw brand's match were announced on the June 28 episode of Raw by guest host Rob Zombie. The eight competitors were Kevin McAlmond, The Miz, B-Truth, Khris Jericho, Evan Bourne, Kyle Johnson, Joe Linderman and Edge. On the July 5th episode of Raw, R-Truth was involved in an injury storyline with The Miz and was subsequently removed from the match and replaced by Steven LArson. Two days later, IWE announced six of the competitors for the SmackDown brand's match through its official website: Matt Hooper, Kane, "Dashing" Mark Semmler, Khristian, Jose Serrano and The Big Show. On the July 9 episode of SmackDown, Dax Hoovestall and Dolph Ziggler both competed in qualifying matches and were added to the match.
At the PPV, Kane won the SmackDown Money in the Bank match. He cashed it in the same night by defeating Rey Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship. He also became the quickest man to cash in the briefcase. For Raw, The Miz won that brand's Money in the Bank contract. After a couple of aborted attempts (which due to the bell not sounding to start the matches, allowed Miz to keep the briefcase), Miz finally cashed in his title opportunity on the November 22, 2010 episode of Raw, immediately after Kevin McAlmond successfully retained the IWE Championship against Wade Barrett in which The Nexus attacked McAlmond before the match and injured his right leg. Miz went on to defeat Orton with a Skull Crushing Finale to win his first IWE Championship.
2011
WrestleMania XXVII was the first such event in six years that did not feature a Money in the Bank ladder match. However, a second Money in the Bank pay-per-view took place on July 17, 2011 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Raw's Alberto Del Rio and SmackDown's Kody Brown won their respective brands' 2011 Money in the Bank Ladder Match. At the end of the night, after CM Punk won the IWE Championship from Dustin Simpson, David Ackeret ordered Del Rio to come in and attempt to cash in his briefcase against Punk. (Punk had threatened to leave the company after the pay-per-view, as his contract was expiring.) Del Rio came out to do so, but got taken out with a kick to the head, and Punk fled through the crowd. A similar cash-in attempt was performed on then-champion Rey Mysterio on the July 25, 2011 episode of Raw, but Del Rio was again unable to cash in the briefcase. However, Del Rio was able to cash in his briefcase and defeated CM Punk for the IWE Championship at SummerSlam on August 14, 2011.
On the July 22, 2011 episode of SmackDown, Kody Brown announced that he was going to cash his contract in at WrestleMania XXVIII. On the November 25, 2011 episode of SmackDown, Kody Brown cashed in on World Heavyweight Champion Steven Larson, who had been knocked out by The Big Show. Brown got the pinfall victory and was awarded the championship, however SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long overruled the match due to Larson not being medically cleared to compete, the first time a Money in the Bank cash-in match was reversed. Since the match never officially took place, Brown was given the briefcase back and again reiterated that he planned on cashing in at WrestleMania XXVIII. On December 18, 2011 at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view Big Show defeated Steven Larson to win the World Heavyweight Championship, Brown then cashed in his briefcase on Big Show to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.
2012
For the second straight year, a Money in the Bank ladder match didn't take place at WrestleMania. But a third Money in the Bank pay-per-view took place on July 15, 2012 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. There were the usual two Money in the Bank ladder matches; however, the matches were no longer separated by brands (RAW and SmackDown). Instead, they were separated by Championship (IWE and World Heavyweight).
In the first match of the night Dolph Ziggler defeated 7 other competitors to win the World Heavyweight Championship contract Money in the Bank ladder match. He would attempt to cash it in on that same night for a title shot against Sheamus but was brogue kicked before the referee could call for the bell so the match never started and Ziggler retained his contract.
On the August 20th edition of Raw, Ziggler successfully defended his briefcase against Khris Jericho in career vs. contract match. As a result, Jericho was forced to leave IWE.
In the last match of the evening, Dustin Simpson defeated Kane, The Big Show, The Miz, and Khris Jericho to win the IWE Championship Money in the Bank breifcase when Simpson used the briefcase to block Big Show's WMD knockout punch and subsequently used the briefcase as a weapon against Big Show, snapping the handle off the briefcase in the process with Simpson in possession to win the match and the IWE Title opportunity. This was Simpson's first Money in the Bank ladder match. A special stipulation had been added before hand that only former IWE Champions could participate in the IWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match for 2012.
On the July 16, 2012 episode of Raw, Simpson announced that he would cash his contract in the following week on the 1,000th episode of Raw. He became only the second superstar after Kyle Van Dam to give prior notice to the opponent.
Simpson cashed in his contract during Raw 1000, and failed to win the IWE Title when Big Show interfered in the match, causing CM Punk to be disqualified and retain the title (as championships don't change hands on DQs). This makes Simpson the first wrestler to cash in a Money in the Bank contract and fail to win a title.
2013
A fourth Money in the Bank pay-per-view will take place on July 14, 2013 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There will be the traditional two Money in the Bank ladder matches - one for a IWE Championship contract, and the other for a World Heavyweight Championship contract.
On the June 24, 2013 episode of Raw, CM Punk, Kody Brown, Kevin McAlmond, Sheamus, Khristian, Kane, and Rob Van Dam were announced by IWE Executive VP Kaila Mattison as the participants in the IWE Championship contract match. Kane was later removed after being injured due to an attack by The Wyatt Family on the July 8th episode of Raw.
At the tapings for SmackDown on June 25 (aired June 28), SmackDown Senior Advisor Teddy Long anounced that the participants in the World Heavyweight Championship contract match would be U.S. Champion Dean Ambrose, Fandango, Antonio Cesaro, Jack Swagger, Wade Barrett, Mark Semmler, and Damien Sandow.
At SummerSlam, McAlmond cashed in his contract on IWE Champion Kody Brown, who had just defeated Dustin Simpson for that title. McAlmond defeated Brown to win his seventh IWE Championship, following five weeks of holding the briefcase.
2014
Matches
| Year | Event | Title | Winner | Other competitor(s) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | WM 21 | Raw's World Championship | Edge | Khris Jericho, Shelton Benjamin, Kevin Hunter, Khristian and Kane | 15:17 |
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| 2006 | WM 22 | Winner's Brand's World Championship | Rob Van Dam | Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, Ric Flair, Matt Hooper and Bobby Ashley | 12:14 |
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| 2007 | WM 23 | Any Championship | Mr. Kennedy | CM Punk, Edge, Finlay, Josh Hooper, Matt Hooper, King Booker and Kevin Orton | 19:05 |
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| 2008 | WM XXIV | Any Championship | CM Punk | Shelton Benjamin, Carlito, Khris Jericho, Mr. Kennedy, Joe Linderman and Montel Vontavious Porter | 13:33 |
| 2009 | WM XXV | Any Championship | CM Punk | Shelton Benjamin, Khristian, Finlay, Steven Larson, Kane, Jose Serrano and Montel Vontavious Porter | 14:24 |
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| 2010 | WM XXVI | Any Championship | Jack Swagger | Shelton Benjamin, Evan Bourne, Khristian, Matt Hooper, Kane, Jose Serrano, Dax Hoovestall, Montel Vontavious Porter and Dolph Ziggler | 13:44 |
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| Money in the Bank | SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship | Kane | The Big Show, Matt Hooper, Khristian, Jose Serrano, Mark Semmler, Dax Hoovestall, and Dolph Ziggler | 27:18 | |
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| Money in the Bank | Raw's IWE Championship | The Miz | Kevin Orton, Khris Jericho, Evan Bourne, Kyle Johnson, Joe Linderman, Edge and Steven Larson | 20:25 | |
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| 2011 | Money in the Bank | SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship | Kody Brown | Mark Semmler, Wade Barrett|, Sin Kara, Devin Keller, Jeremiah Garcia, Kane, and Sheamus | 24:27 |
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| Money in the Bank | Raw's IWE Championship | Alberto Del Rio | Scott Wright, Jose Serrano, Alex Riley, B-Truth, The Miz, Evan Borne and Jack Swagger | 15:54 | |
Del Rio held the contract for 28 days. | |||||
| 2012 | Money in the Bank | World Heavyweight Championship | Dolph Ziggler | Khristian, Damien Sandow, Santino Marella, Tensai, Tyson Booth, and Mark Semmer | 18:23 |
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| Money in the Bank | IWE Championship | Dustin Simpson | Big Show, Khris Jericho, Kane, and The Miz | 20:15 | |
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| 2013 | Money in the Bank | World Heavyweight Championship | Damien Sandow | Dean Ambrose, Fandango, Antonio Cesaro, Jack Swagger, Wade Barrett and Mark Semmler | |
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| Money in the Bank | IWE Championship | Kevin Orton | CM Punk, Kody Brown, Kane, Sheamus, Khristian and Rob Van Dam | ||
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| 2014 | Money in the Bank | IWE World Heavyweight Championship | Seth Rollins | Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Rob Van Dam and Dean Ambrose | 23:10 |
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| 2015 | Money in the Bank | IWE World Heavyweight Championship | TBA | TBA | |
Record
| Championship | Successful cash-ins | Attempts |
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Title matches
| # | Case Holder | Championship | Event | Cash-in Date | Results |
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Participant List
| Wrestler | Victories | Appearances |
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