Handicapping
the Money in the Bank Ladder Match
By
ekedolphin
As per usual, the card for the Money
in the Bank pay-per-view—sorry, “special event”—is shaping up to be solid from
top to bottom. I’m certain everyone will
be glued to their computer monitors on June 29.
With the field of seven participants
in the ladder match for the WWE World Heavyweight Title having been set, it
comes time to make predictions as to whom will walk away with the championship.
This year’s competitors are John
Cena, Randy Orton, current United States Champion Sheamus, Cesaro, Bray Wyatt,
Alberto Del Rio, and Roman Reigns.
Because it’s impossible to know for certain when Brock Lesnar will return,
we must surmise it. It makes the most
sense for him to return at SummerSlam on August 17, since that’s the next
pay-per-view in the “Big Five” of SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble,
WrestleMania and Money in the Bank. (I
know it’s traditionally a Big Four, but I think MITB has earned that
distinction). Survivor Series isn’t
until November, and by then it would have been a full seven months since MY
CLIENT, BROCK LESNAR, CONQUERED THE UNDERTAKER’S UNDEFEATED STREAK AT
WRESTLEMANIA.
Seven months is a little too long to
keep someone like Brock out. Therefore,
I’m proceeding under the assumption that Brock will return in August at
SummerSlam, and that he’ll be granted a title match, commiserate with his
accomplishment of ending The Streak.
Therefore, it seems logical that the
champion going into SummerSlam will be a face.
The in-between PPV, Battleground on July 20, seems a rather minor venue
for a World Title change to take place.
(I know there was a WWE Championship won at last year’s Battleground,
but that was to decide a vacancy,
after all.) Therefore, I predict that
the ladder match will be won by a face, who will retain at Battleground and
face Lesnar at SummerSlam.
This logic would seem to eliminate
four competitors from winning the ladder match—Orton, Cesaro, Del Rio, and –
sadly – Wyatt. (I, for one, would love
to see Wyatt win the WWE championship someday, just as long as someone tells
him he doesn’t have to sing that bloody song during every promo.)
This leaves the three faces as the
most legitimate contenders for the title victory—Cena, Sheamus, and
Reigns. Sheamus, though he has world
championship experience, doesn’t seem like a marquee face to me. Though Sheamus v. Lesnar would be a unique,
unexpected, vicious, and fun match, it doesn’t scream “SummerSlam” main event,
you know?
I’d love to see Roman Reigns win the
championship, but I think The Authority will find some way to screw him out of
it. Besides, Reigns is important enough
to WWE’s future that his first title win should happen at a WrestleMania or a SummerSlam.
This leaves, alas, John Cena as my
likeliest pick to win the ladder match.
Shocking, I know. Try to look
forward to the endgame—with any luck, Lesnar creams Cena at SummerSlam.
However, a lot of this depends on
how quickly Daniel Bryan can get back into action. If he can make it back by Battleground, WWE
might have a heel go over at Money in the Bank, and have him be a transitional
champion, dropping the belts to Bryan at Battleground and setting up a dream
match—Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar—at SummerSlam, as many people are
predicting.
Ultimately, the winner of the ladder
match will likely be a reflection of Bryan’s short-term availability. If Bryan vs. Lesnar is still likely, I think
Bray Wyatt then becomes the obvious choice to win the ladder match. Wyatt wouldn’t be hurt by a one-month title
reign the same way Reigns might be hurt by a two-month one. Besides, Wyatt got the best of Bryan in their
fantastic Royal Rumble match, after which The Wyatts moved on to The Shield and
ultimately to John Cena. Bryan and Wyatt
have some unfinished business, and what better way to gain retribution than by
defeating Wyatt to recapture the gold?
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