MITB: How many more years will it last for?

[Showtime 24/7]

MITB has been around for four years now. It is typically among the best/most entertaining matches to watch each year, a delightful spot fest that just about every fan loves. The first winner, Edge, sold the prize that came with the match well, teasing everyone about when he'd use it, bribing others with it to help him win without it, then letting us all forget about it till he used it at the perfect moment, when Cena was at his weakest after the EC match. The three champions that followed haven't quite lived up to Edge's run as Mr MITB, but they all had success, except Kennedy but only because he got injured. But, like all good things it has it downsides, like the fact that the matches are just becoming the same people over and over, especially now with 8 entrants, and the match predictablity is becoming easier to pickout who's going to win, or even easier who definitly won't win. And like most things in the WWE there is an end, there's always something bigger that comes along to take it's place.

So the question, how many more years does the MITB have left? 5, 10, 20, forever?

Well, I believe that it definitly has 5-10 years left. It is a good tool to help upper-middlecarders break through that wall to mainevent and it's definitly an exciting match to add to WM's usual exciting card. It's also a good safety to have incase any champion gets injuried, like Taker. I think that before it goes, Vince wants to do three things with it. 1) He want's someone to use it on the very same night they win it and win. How awesome would that be to cap off a WM, and that's why I'm saying Hardy will do it this year, he's the only one who will get the right reaction for it now. 2) Have someone save it till next years WM. That's what they wanted Kennedy to do, they even had that Kennedy countdown to WM, but he got injured so it still need's to be done. 3) Have someone lose when cashing it in. To take off that it's not a gauranteed win, adds more excitement to future cashin matches. I could see it going beyond ten years, maybe forever, but I think it's a mystery after ten. Most things have an end, and it is begining to just be the same guys over and over, some changes, and it's getting more predictable. I think one day WWE might comeup with a new match for MITB one day and this one will be done. But, I definitly give it 5-10 years. Beyond that, I don't know.

[tehblogger]

MITB has several limitations, which makes me think it won't last for ever.

1: Once it's over, you KNOW that, injury permitting, the winner will be a world champion some time during the next year. The way the conditions are set up mean that you've have to be an incredible retard or just very weak not to cash it in successfully.

2: Giving MITB to faces results in either lame (RVD) or nonsensical (Punk) cash-ins. The really memorable cash-ins have been Edge's two successful uses of the briefcase. WWE are realising this, I think, and so it's limited as to who the belt can actually go to...it will become heels only, I think. Quite apart from anything else, they've now seen what happens when they give it to a weak face who stays face. It doesn't work, as Punk's run with the belt should have taught them. And what's the point in giving it to Hardy/another strong face - he's been booked so strongly that he doesn't need it to win a championship.

Therefore, the MITB set-up guarantees a certain degree of predictability: which will eventually become boring. MITB works best with young heels on the mid-card who they want to push up - so this is who it will go to (I'm backing The Brian Kendrick for Mania 25).

On the other hand, the match has obvious strengths: it's usually a fantastic spot-fest, which the fans love, and there's always an air of unpredictability surrounding the guy with the brief-case. These alone should guarantee MITB a healthy future for the next 15 years before it get boring.

[Harthan]

I think MITB has plenty of life left in it. It's still a fresh concept, the match itself has, every year, been among the great ladder matches, and the winners (Kennedy excepted) have always done very well building the mystery of "When will I use it?" and it keeps together the idea of whether or not, after every big match the champ has, whether or not Mr. MITB is gonna rush down the ramp. Sometimes the title reign doesn't work out so well (Punk wasn't so hot), but nevertheless, it's a great concept. I think that the way it stands know is a good format, although bringing it down to 6 men might be better...then again, an 8 man ladder match is not something we see very often. Either way seems to work. It's been used for 4 years running so it's safe to call it a tradition now. It's a bit like the Royal Rumble, but with a smaller field and less prestige. Still, it's a guaranteed title shot, which is something. It's really a great way to get up and coming midcarders into the main event; just like CM Punk, although my bet is that he's gonna wind up moving downward towards Intercontinental level. No shame in that, Jericho's moved back and forth numerous times.

All in all, I see MITB lasting a good long number of years. The only way I could see it not being utilized is if there was a main event ladder match on the card, but even then, why not bill an "unprecedented" (I don't know whether it really is) two ladder matches at Wrestlemania? MITB will also have plenty of contenders to utilize it; I can see Shelton Benjamin, MVP, and both the Hardys becoming champions off of it. The only gripe I have is that if it's used by a midcarder, they get billed as an "underdog" or that they "got lucky", which is annoying. Why not have a MITB winner add himself to a title match, making it a Triple Threat. Let's just envision this scenario: let's say Triple H was to fight Randy Orton for the WWE Championship, and Jeff Hardy was MITB. Just before the bell was ready to ring at whatever PPV the match was at, Jeff's music hits, and he demands entry into the match. It has all the shock value of a "battered champ" cash in, but we not only get to see a good match, we take away the underdog idea. I also think that (for a face, anyway) the battered champ cash in cheapens the title a little. For a heel like Edge it's better, because that's more in character.

MITB in the bank is a good Wrestlemania tradition, and who knows, maybe 10 or 15 years down the road it will evolve into something like the Royal Rumble, one day we might just see a Money in the Bank PPV, with the match the main event (kind of like King of the Ring PPVs back in the day).

[FTS]

I think that CM Punk may have been the worst case scenario for WWE. Vince would rather have a guy win it and then get over, as opposed to an over guy win it and then lose steam. CM Punk's title reign was a failure, and because of that he will always be a fluke champ, which will hurt him down the road.

MitB will get another chance, but if the guy who wins does as badly as Punk, Vince will pull the plug.

[Dead Kennedy]

The Money in the Bank ladder match is always a highlight of the year - an energetic, spot-filled match with almost a better prize than a championship match - an almost guaranteed championship reign! However, the way the MITB holders/cash-in moments have been used have been less than satisfactory.

Edge's was most succesful, maybe not in the days he kept his originally won championship, but how he did it and the impact it had. He kept the briefcase for a long time, keeping the fans wondering each and every moment when he was gonna cash it in. And we all know what happened at New Year's Revolution 2006. It seemed like MITB was gonna be the perfect tool for up-and-coming heels to break into the main event sphere, as it were.

Rob Van Dam basically screwed everything up for himself. He's a gifted performer, but the choices he made were just stupid. He's being trusted with the greatest prize in the wrestling industry and he takes it that lightly? Sure, we all know RVD likes his little Acapulco Gold now and again, but he should have really taken his situation seriously. Basically, he became little more than a paper champion - he had it for about...a month I think? June to July 2006 something. It was just awkward the way he got into the whole Cena/Edge feud...RVD's character has always been a tweener, but with Edge helping him beat Cena at One Night Stand, you'd think he turn into a bonafide heel. That just didn't work, the way they did it, so RVD's MITB win was largely a failure in my book. I enjoyed it, but it didn't boost his career they way it should have. First example of why giving the MITB to a face wrestler does not work.

Next up was one of the most disappointing things in 2007. Mr. Kennedy won MITB and seemed poised to enter the realm of the main eventers, where he was destined to be from his first day. BAM, the Kennedy curse struck again and we ended up with yet another Edge cash-in. The mind boggles at what could have been had Kennedy not been injured.

Then we had Punk...I think pretty much everyone who isn't a mark of Punk's would agree that both his time holding the Money in the Bank case, when he was jobbing to everything and everyone, and his World Heavyweight Championship reign was a failure. Again, Punk has always been more of a tweener character. This may not be intentional, as Punk is not very good at playing the face role, in my opinion. If you want to establish a serious champion, and this is very important for "world" champions, you need to have them go through a serious title match without interference. Even though I marked out considerably, from the start, Punk's reign had no momentum and never gained any. As I remarked before, Punk was still in need of a lot of improvement at the time he held the championship. He still is. I think WWE will be hesitant to make him a champion again in the near future. I don't really know who's the most responsible, the bookers or Punk himself, but I personally can't find much that I enjoyed in his reign. Maybe it's personal bias because he took it from Edge just as I was beginning to get over my markish hatred for him? I don't know.
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Basically, the Money in the Bank matches are always good and entertaining, but the results have been less than as good as they should be. To produce the best results, the Money in the Bank case should go exclusively to heels; it should be their equivalent of the Royal Rumble, since heels seem to rarely win the Royal Rumble match. It's not exactly an incredibly "face" kind of thing to do, cashing in a championship shot after your opponent has been decimated by another guy.

Oh yeah, I still had an opinion somewhere around here - I could see MITB lasting for many more years, but that is very dependant on whether or not the MITB match/holder at WM25 will do a better job than Punk and RVD did.

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

MITB should be around until one of the following happens:

1. Brand extension ends. If they have one show again, there will be too many main event stars and then the solid midcarders, and the less-than-solid midcarders will be in tag teams or released. Back in the day, we didn't need about 20 main event guys between 3 shows. There's less of a need for more main event superstars when you only have one show, and if we get rid of that need, we have no purpose for MITB. People will naturally transition through the IC title feud or the upper midcard feud that boosts them up to the next level.

2. They decide to not do it at WrestleMania, but do it on a 3-hour Raw like they've done with King of the Ring.

3. They come up with a better concept.


Money in the Bank should be around for a while. It serves a great purpose and its always very entertaining.

[I_Heart_Princess_P]

I wouldn't say RVD's MITB win wasn't spectacular. I liked the fact that he cashed it in at One Night Stand and when he won the belt, it was a feel good moment for every ecw fan out there who wanted to see him win a world title, it was just what he did afterwards that screwed it up.

As far as this years, I will say that Punk wasn't ready for the Briefcase, but WWE had to make some kind of decison cause they was gonna put it on Jeff. I would have put it on Jericho instead.

[GNR8701]

Nothing ever happens forever, so MITB will eventually go away. I would say 15 years is probably the number that sounds best. I think a face can do it well but only if done right, I think it would be a good fued if a heel constantly bullies a face and then the face finally stands up to the bully to fight for the title. If it were taking place right now HBK would be perfect to win and hang it over Jericho's head for a while.

Why It will stick around:

1} It is Entertaining.
2} You can use multiple contenders in one match.
3} The people love it.
4} It is a storyline that breeds a storyline.
5} It is a built in ladder match for every Wrestlemania.

Why it will go away:

1} Eventually it will lose the feeling of being special.
2} Too many people will cash it in and win and de-value it. (Meaning De-valuing the possibility of a loss)
3} Not every winner will be as entertaing as Edge.
4} Not enough credible winners will participate and it will become obvious who will win.
5} Eventually someone will try to be creative and tweak it and they will tweak it the wrong way by adding a stupid rule to it.

How can you help it survive:

1} Edge can no longer win it. He will make it too hard for anyone else to be believable.
2} Have someone cash it in for a loss. And doing it twice wouldn't be a bad idea either.
3} Bring in fresh faces.
4} Put in better contenders.
5} Cut it back from 8 to 6 wrestlers, I love me some Chaos, but 8 is too chaotic and it waters down the contenders, If you go in every year with 3 possible winners, in a 6-man that is only 3 you can throw out, but in an 8-man you can throw out 5 guys on the spot.

[TheOneBigWill]

There are a lot of good posts in this thread. Now, onto topic..

I would generally say the Money in the Bank match has an eternal life within the company, until something else gets created similar to it. And to be honest, you can't really go any different than a 6-8 man ladder match, short of possibly the W.W.E. taking in the concept of the Triple Tier Cage and having 9 guys fight to get to the top. (I really hope that doesn't happen)

All in all, ladder matches are nice to have and see within wrestling, but you don't want to over-do them. I can't recall any other ladder matches outside of M.I.T.B. that the W.W.E. has done within the past few years, so with that said I strongly believe the company is doing the right thing with making ladder matches a great gimmick to see, and having this type of match on Wrestlemania is also a solid "always" type of match. (Like Elimination matches to Survivor Series, or the Rumble match to the self-titled p.p.v.)

The idea of knowing someone instantly becomes a Number one contender and can cash in at any time is also exciting, albeit frustrating (ala Punk) at the same time. I still say the excitement of the whole thing out-weighs the frustration though, so I firmly believe the M.I.T.B. match has no fear of being dropped anytime soon.

[Starchild]

I don't feel that this concept match is going anywhere at least for a few more years. It's easily one of the highlights of Wrestlemania now with all the big spots every year. It's also a good way to push upper midcard guys to the ME. Edge, RVD, and Punk all won their first world titles by cashing it in and I'd imagine Kennedy would have done the same had he not gotten injured. If Jeff Hardy doesn't win the RR which I don't really expect then I could definitely see him winning MITB and cashing it in that very night against maybe Triple H who he could say he finally beat for the title.

I agree that aside from cashing it in at the same night, someone is gonna have to lose while cashing in and cash it at the next Wrestlemania much like Kennedy was going to. I think had that one worked, it could have been great. There would have probably been monster build for it and really would have gotten him over as a main eventer, so I see that strategy being used before it's all said and done.

[OIL]

It's going to stay on forever. Mainly because it offers the fans something different at WrestleMania. The show dosen't need a big gimmick match to sell tickets, but having this is sort of a tradition now. The fans buy the tickets knowing this match is gonna be on here, much like a 'Taker match. It's a match where the fans can sit back, relax and know they're going to be kept on the edge of their seats throughout the match.

From a business standpoint, more so a wrestler standpoint, it's a good match to have. It gives mid-card wrestlers or people just on the brink of main event status to elevate themselves in very dramatic fashion. A fantastic spot filled match which has pushed several superstars, most recently CM Punk. Winning this match gives them that unpredictability of when they're going to cash in MITB, everyone thought this year after Hardy was suspended that Kennedy would win and cash it in that night. It didn't happen, which shows how many different possibilites this match presents to the fans, and the creative team.

[mcflyboy]

My answer depends. How long do I think it will go on for? A long time. It's become a staple and if there's one thing the WWE is known for, it's beating a dead horse and falling back on things that have worked up until now.

How long should it last for? It should be wrapped up. Not forever, but putting it on the card consistently every year makes it become repetitive. It's no longer the exciting, novel idea, and to be totally honest, outside of some differences in the performers, the match itself is pretty much the same from year to year. Putting it on hiatus for a few years and then announcing it as a triumphant return down the road would do a lot to revitalize interest in this matchup.

[impact11686]

I think mitb will be around for a long time. There is one scenario that i personally would love to see. I hope we see once someone hold the case until wm and cash it in for the main event. Build that up for weeks. Then come wm have the champion retain against the challenger only to have the personwho won mitb earlier that night cash in and win the title. Giving 2 mitb cash ins in the same night.

[Dragonslayer]

I also think this match should be around for quite awhile longer, as it really serves a lot of purposes.

1) It's almost a guaranteed great match to open (or semi-open) up Wrestlemania;

2) it gives people a chance to be at WM who would otherwise probably be left out, for not being in an important enough feud or not having a title match themselves;

3) and it can help establish (upper) mid-card guys as Main Eventers, which it basically has done in the cases of Edge and CM Punk.

I would also say it is not really necessary to always have a heel win it. There are ways to create a storyline around it where even a face win would be fitting. Picture for example this scenario:

You have a heel champ, one who tries to weasel out of every challenge as easily as possible - which is the case with most heel champs anyway -; and you have a potential #1 contender this heel is - for some reason - afraid of. Say, you have Jericho as champ now, and he wants to avoid battling HBK, Taker or Batista for the title, since he thinks he might quite possibly lose that match. So you can build up a feud for the title over several PPVs over a #1 contender's spot, but the heel champ keeps screwing the face challenger out of the contender spot, so he doesn't have to face him (like have the heel champ run in at the Rumble even if he is not in it to eliminate the face just as he is close to winning the RR himself). Then, in the end, have the face win the MITB. And then, you wouldn't even need the "heelish" action of someone taking on the champ after he has already been through a heated match. If someone like Taker or Batista won the MITB, with their gimmicks of enduring very much and being extremely tough, they could just be that fired up to FINALLY get their Championship match and thus call the heel champ out right there and then, or maybe after only one other match on the card, and then actually beat the heel champ... Or he could get himself involved in the originally planned Title match for the night as someone else already suggested, making it a Triple Threat. In either case, the face could go out as extremely tough, claiming he won BOTH the MITB AND the World Title match right there and then at WM.

Of course it is a lot easier to pull the MITB off with a heel winner, and cashing in whenever the champ is weakest... but that, as people have pointed out, would grow a bit stale in the years to come.

I personally hope the match does stick around though. The Royal Rumble is still a lot more prestigious to win (maybe because of the "Wrestlemania Headliner Position that comes with it), and so quite often it is won by already established stars (see recently Cena, Taker, Batista), and used less to put Midcard guys into the top position (although that has also happened - see Benoit and Mysterio); but I believe the MITB is indeed better suited for that - as it also can make it possible for the "underdog" challenger to actually walk out with the title if they pull it off the right way.

So yeah, the MITB is a great idea, but there are still many ways to explore with this concept, as thus far, WWE has basically always had it play out the same way. There is still a lot of potential there, both for the participants in the matches to make the match itself great and profit from that, and for the storylines that can be spun out after the match.

[K Bro 30]

Personally, I think it will go on for at least 10 more years, but I do think they need to do different things with it.

1. Go back to 6 participants, and how do I want that done? Have 5 qualifying matches (yea, only give ECW one, or rotate it yearly, but ECW is clearly the minor of the 3), and then the 5 losers of the qualifying match open up Wrestlemania in a 5 man battle royal to determine the final participant.

2. Switch it up, get some different guys involved.

3. If a face wins it, don't do it like Punk or RVD. Rather, take a situation like the Monday after Unforgiven, Jericho was there, and no one directly did the dirty work that night, and have someone cash it in then for the main event. Make them cash it in when the heel does not want to fight, but deserves to get the crap kicked out of him.

4. Do not use it on the same night, it would ruin the main event, as well as the prestige of the title and Wrestlemania.

Those are my general feelings. I personally also think that Mr MITB needs to lose at one point, like have someone win MITB and let them get some main event spotlight and experience, and then lose the title in a 5-star match, to help get them over.

[Macca The WidowMaker]

They'll keep it going, even when they've murdered the concept. The only thing about it is that they get one of the new guys a chance to get over.

[Tim Tam]

I think it will last maybe 5-10 years longer.
Sure, it offers the fans something new and fresh, except the matches are sometimes quite similar IMO. And how many more different spots can tey come up with? They need new ones each year. It won't stand the test of time.
They need to go back to 6 people though, as 8 people is just a clusterfuck, but 6 people was more enjoyable, and they need to have a battle royal with all the midcarders to give them all a chance to get in. I also think that this match should only be for midcarders/lower MEs a chance to get a push into the main event and get into a legitimate race for the title.

[Prodigy]

i hope it lasts a long time its an amazing match that i look foward to every wrestle mania. keep puttin benjaman and one of the hardys in it and tht will make the match amazing. if i had to choose id say itll go on for 5 more years and then stop because it will get a little redundent. they need to have someone lose the title match that they win because itll become obvious that whoever wins will win the title. id say 5 years and to make it better they need to have some of the winners lose and some win their title match