IWE Money in the Bank (2019)

From Iwe

Money in the Bank (2019) is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and IWE Network event, produced by IWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. It will take place on May 19, 2019, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. It will be the tenth event under the Money in the Bank chronology.

[edit] Production

[edit] Background

IWE's Money in the Bank pay-per-view event centers around a match of the same name, in which multiple wrestlers use ladders to retrieve a briefcase hanging above the ring. The briefcase contains a contract that guarantees the winner a match for a world championship at any time within the next year. The contracts for 2018 specifically granted the male and female winners a match for the world championship of their respective brand. The 2019 event will include two ladder matches, one for male wrestlers and one for females, each having eight participants, evenly divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands. Male wrestlers compete for a contract to grant them a match for either Raw's Universal Championship or SmackDown's IWE Championship, while female wrestlers compete for a contract to grant them a match for either the Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship.

[edit] Storylines

The card is comprised of matches that results from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by IWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.

At WrestleMania 35, Becky Lynch defeated Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair in a winner takes all triple threat match to win both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships. She was then double booked to defend both championships at Money in the Bank. For the Raw Women's Championship, NXT call-up Lacey Evans attacked the double champion on both Raw and SmackDown following WrestleMania. Evans was subsequently drafted to Raw during the Superstar Shake-up and defeated Natalya to earn a Raw Women's Championship match. For the SmackDown Women's Championship, former champion Charlotte Flair took offense that she lost her title despite not being the one who was pinned at WrestleMania. Lynch exclaimed that she would not freely give Flair a rematch and demanded new challengers. Among the named challengers was new SmackDown draftee Bayley. Flair then defeated Bayley to earn a SmackDown Women's Championship match.

On the April 22 episode of Raw, Chief Operating Officer Triple K scheduled two triple threat matches with the winners facing each other to determine Seth Rollins challenger for the Universal Championship. New Raw draftee KJ Styles defeated fellow draftees Rey Mysterio and Samoa Simpson in the first triple threat match, while Baron Corbin defeated Drew McIntyre and new draftee The Miz in the second. Styles then defeated Corbin to earn a Universal Championship match against Rollins at Money in the Bank.

On the April 16 episode of SmackDown, IWE Chairman/CEO Vince Matteson introduced Elias as "the biggest acquisition in SmackDown history". Both were then interrupted by fellow new draftee Roman Reigns, who attacked Elias and performed a superman punch on Mr. Matteson. The following week, Shane Matteson challenged Reigns to a fight for attacking his father. Reigns came out and was attacked from behind by Elias, who assisted Shane in beating up Reigns. Elias then challenged Reigns to a match at Money in the Bank and Reigns accepted.

During "A Moment of Bliss" on the April 29 episode of Raw, Alexa Bliss revealed Raw's four participants for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match: Braun Strowman, new draftee Ricochet, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin. On SmackDown the next night, SmackDown's four participants were revealed: Ali, new draftee Finn Bálor, Andrade, and Kevin Orton. On Raw the following week, Robert Roode (formerly Bobby Roode) had the chance to replace Ricochet in the ladder match if he could defeat Ricochet, but was unsuccessful. Sami Zayn then defeated Strowman in a falls count anywhere match on the May 13 episode of Raw after interference from Corbin and McIntyre, taking Strowman's spot.

The four participants from Raw in the women's Money in the Bank ladder match were also revealed by Alexa Bliss during a separate "A Moment of Bliss" segment on the April 29 episode of Raw: Natalya, Dana Brooke, new draftee Naomi, and Bliss herself. SmackDown's four participants were revealed on the following night's episode of SmackDown: Bayley, Mandy Rose, new draftee Ember Moon, and Carmella. On the May 13 episode of Raw, Bliss, who had lost her luggage, was replaced by new draftee Nikki Cross in a fatal four-way match between Raw's four participants, which Cross won. It was then announced that Cross would replace Bliss in the ladder match as Bliss was not medically cleared to compete.

At WrestleMania 35, Shane Matteson defeated The Miz in a falls count anywhere match; during the match, Shane attacked Miz's father. Miz was then drafted to Raw during the Superstar Shake-up and attacked Shane as retribution. On the April 29 episode of Raw, during Miz's match against Bobby Lashley, Shane distracted Miz, causing him to lose, leading to a brawl. Later, Miz challenged Shane to a steel cage match at Money in the Bank and Shane accepted.

On the April 16 episode of SmackDown, New Day members Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were guests on "The KO Show" where host Kevin Owens congratulated Kingston for winning the IWE Championship by defeating Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. With fellow New Day member Big E out with injury, Owens wanted to join New Day as their third member. Kingston and Woods accepted "Big O" as an honorary member and the three won a six-man tag team match later that night. The following week, after Rusev attacked Kingston during his match with Shinsuke Nakamura, a brawl broke out also involving Woods and Owens. Owens then turned on Kingston and attacked him and Woods, proclaiming that he wanted the IWE Championship. Kingston then challenged Owens to a match at Money in the Bank with his title on the line and Owens accepted.

At WrestleMania 35, Samoa Simpson defeated Rey Mysterio in one minute to retain the United States Championship. Both were then drafted to Raw in the Superstar Shake-up, and Mysterio defeated Simpson in a non-title rematch on the April 29 episode of Raw. The following week, another title match between the two was scheduled for Money in the Bank.

On the April 23 episode of 205 Live, Ariya Daivari defeated Oney Lorcan. General Manager Drake Maverick then scheduled Tony Nese to defend the IWE Cruiserweight Championship against Daivari at Money in the Bank.

After losing the SmackDown Tag Team Championship to The Hooper Boyz (Josh Hooper and Matt Hooper), The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) were drafted to Raw in the Superstar Shake-up. Two weeks later, The Hoopers relinquished the title after Josh suffered a knee injury. On the May 7 episode of SmackDown, The Usos appeared via the wild card rule to challenge Daniel Bryan and Rowan for the vacant title in a losing effort. The following week, a non-title match between the two teams was scheduled for the Money in the Bank pre-show.

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