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Cook’s Money In The Bank 2017 Prognosis: Men’s Ladder Match

June 15, 2017 | Posted by Steve Cook

Last week I previewed the First-Ever Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match. It would be highly sexist of me if I didn’t do the same for the men this week, so here we are. And in case you read that column and noticed that I forgot to tell you why Natalya wouldn’t win, I can sum that up with “She’s Natalya and she never wins things”. Fair enough, right?

An impressive crop of male wrestlers will compete at Money in the Bank for a briefcase containing a contract for a shot at the WWE Championship whenever they want it. Either Jinder Mahal or Randy Orton will be WWE Champion after their match on Sunday, and they will have to deal with one of these men in their rear view mirror waiting to strike at any time. Only one man has lost their match granted by their contract, and only two have walked away without the championship they were chasing after.

So there’s a pretty good chance that one of the men in this column will be either the next WWE Champion, or the next after the next.

Baron Corbin
Age:
32
Height: 6’8
Weight: 275 lbs
Titles Held: 2016 Andre The Giant Memorial Trophy

Why He’ll Win: Vince McMahon was reportedly pretty high on Corbin awhile back, and people that Vince likes tend to do pretty well. Corbin has found success in multi-man matches while in WWE, winning the 2016 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and eliminating Braun Strowman from the 2017 Royal Rumble. His Lone Wolf status means he doesn’t have any friends, and he’ll run over anybody to win.

Why He’ll Lose: Big men don’t fare well in this match. Only one man taller than Corbin has won the MITB Ladder Match: Kane. Kane’s record also includes five losses in the match, so it’s not like he had a great track record of success. Being a big man in a multi-man match is tough because it’s not like you can fly under the radar with nobody really noticing you. The other Superstars will be looking to team up on Corbin and make sure he isn’t a factor.

Shinsuke Nakamura
Age:
37
Height: 6’2
Weight: 229 lbs
Titles Held: NXT Championship (2 times)

Why He’ll Win: What better way for Nakamura to get to the next level soon after his debut than by winning the MITB Ladder Match? Let’s be honest, he isn’t exactly a spring chicken and he’s probably not going to be in WWE for ten years. WWE has to strike while the iron’s hot, or what was the point of bringing him in? Those who aren’t won over by Nakamura’s work or entrance just yet will surely be impressed by a win in this type of match and should hop on the bandwagon afterwards.

Why He’ll Lose: Ladder matches are not commonplace in Japan, in fact as far as I can tell they’re pretty much non-existent. Nakamura has never competed in a ladder match during his nearly fifteen years in professional wrestling, so for once when Dolph Ziggler or somebody else refers to him as a “newbie”, they’re 100% accurate. Nak will have to learn at a fast rate if he wants to be successful on Sunday. Plus a lot of the drama around his cash-in attempts would be taken out if he had to do his three minute entrance every time. Either he does the entrance and the champion recovers in time, or he doesn’t do it and the fans get ripped off.

Kevin Owens
Age:
33
Height: 6’0
Weight: 266 lbs
Titles Held: Universal Championship, Intercontinental Championship (2 times), United States Championship (2 times, current), NXT Championship

Why He’ll Win: Owens has built a pretty big collection of championships ever since entering WWE, and the main one missing from his trophy case is the WWE Championship. One figures that it’s only a matter of time before he gets his hands on that one too, and winning the briefcase would be the easiest way to ensure it happens. Ladder matches are also one of his specialties, as he’s had memorable ladder wars in Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla & WWE.

Why He’ll Lose: He’s already the United States Champion & the Face of America, so his plate is pretty full right now. I swear that isn’t a fat joke. It’s pointing out that Owens has enough other things going on that he doesn’t need the MITB briefcase thrown on top of it.

AJ Styles
Age:
40
Height: 5’11
Weight: 218 lbs
Titles Held: WWE Championship

Why He’ll Win: He’s become the Face That Runs The Place. Much like Edge, Rey Mysterio, Undertaker & others before him, AJ has established himself as a SmackDown guy and is a part of the fabric of the brand. He’s competed in almost every type of match there is, including plenty of variations of the Ladder Match. Any time one of these matches is going down and he’s involved, he’s one of the favorites to win.

Why He’ll Lose: Much like Owens, Styles doesn’t need the briefcase. At one time he mocked John Cena for showing up, saying he was going to be given a title shot and getting one, but now he’s one of those guys that can do that. Or he can earn a title shot another way. The bottom line is that if WWE wants to use this match to put somebody on the next level, it’d be a waste of time giving it to Styles because he’s already there.

Sami Zayn
Age:
32
Height: 6’1
Weight: 212 lbs
Titles Held: NXT Championship

Why He’ll Win: This seems like the best way to get WWE Champion Sami Zayn.He has ladder match experience, and while most of it isn’t very good, eventually one usually gets over the hump. He could definitely slide under the radar and take his opponents by surprise. A couple months of him chasing Jinder Mahal around would generate some good excitement and people would be estatic when he finally cashed in and won the championship. Like Mahal, Zayn’s ethnicity makes him popular overseas…a title run for Sami Zayn would do wonders for WWE’s status in the Middle East.

Why He’ll Lose: We’ve seen what happens to underdog briefcase holders like Sami. They get jobbed into oblivion for a few months, forgotten about, and then they finally randomly cash in, it doesn’t get a tremendous reaction and everbody wonders why it didn’t. It’s the most likely way for Sami to get the top prize, but it wouldn’t be the most satisfying.

Dolph Ziggler
Age:
36
Height: 6’0
Weight: 218 lbs
Titles Held: World Heavyweight Championship (2 times), Intercontinental Championship (5 times), United States Championship, World Tag Team Championship, 2012 Money in the Bank Ladder Match Winner

Why He’ll Win: He’s the only person here that’s won one of these things, for starters. He’s lost four of them, but that adds up to more MITB ladder match experience than everybody else in this match combined. Ziggler knows what it takes to get the briefcase, and is in good position to take advantage of his opponents’ inexperience.

Why He’ll Lose: Dolph’s whole career has been built around not being able to win big matches. He has won some big matches here and there, but he’s lost a lot more of them than he’s won, and for some reason we always forget about Dolph’s big wins right after they happen. He’s also done the briefcase holder role before, so it’d be better to let somebody new do it.

Who’s Going to Win?

I’ve ruled Owens & Styles out because they don’t need it. Ziggler doesn’t really need it either, in fact his life story makes more sense if he doesn’t get it.

Corbin could really use a win like this to boost his profile up to the next level, and he’s the kind of guy that would sit on a briefcase for awhile, mention he has it whenever he gets some mike time, and strike at the right moment. I like that idea.

Nakamura winning would automatically place him at the top of cards, and he already has a bunch of matches with Jinder Mahal booked for July. That either means he’s definitely winning, or they’re thinking about it pretty heavily. Cards can always change.

The Zayn possibility is interesting for international growth and the traditional underdog story. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a positive Middle Eastern story in WWE? That like never happens.

In order of possibility, I’m going to go with Nakamura first, followed by Zayn, then Corbin. I may be swayed by my bias towards the Internet’s favorite wrestlers though, so expect Baron Corbin to come out on top and prepare himself for the summer push of a lifetime.

For more of Steve Cook’s thoughts on pro wrestling, along with his thoughts on the University of Louisville baseball team’s trip to the College World Series, follow him on Twitter!