411’s WWE Money in the Bank 2021 Preview

Hello 411 guys, gals, enbies, and everyone else! Welcome to 411’s WWE Money in the Bank preview! I’m Jeremy Thomas, and the fans are back for a WWE PPV for the first time since WrestleMania. That’s a good thing, because it’s putting the pressure on WWE to deliver in a big way for this weekend’s PPV and gives me hope for some good things to come. The card looks pretty solid as a whole and while many of the matches are kind of obvious booking, we should get some good matches out of them and hey, at the very least it will be an improvement those of you who didn’t like the cinematic Money in the Bank, right? Anyway, let’s just jump right into it, shall we?

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Usos

Our Kickoff show match today will feature the Mysterios defending their Smackdown Tag Team Championships against the Usos after they came to Edge’s aid against The Family a couple of Smackdowns ago. It almost goes without saying that this should be a pretty strong match, given enough time. The Usos can always deliver, Rey Mysterio is Rey Mysterio and Dominik has improved pretty impressively during his time on the roster. But the story here is the expectations that will be placed on the Usos by Roman Reigns. The Family seemed to smooth things over between them recently but a loss here will give them some tension and add to the drama leading into Reigns’ Universal Championship with Edge later in the show. There’s no reason to take the titles off Rey and Dominik at this point, so the smart money is definitely on a title retention here.

WINNER: The Mysterios (STILL Smackdown Tag Team Champions)

Raw Tag Team Championship Match
AJ Styles & Omos vs. The Viking Raiders

Moving onto the other Tag Team Championship match, we have the Viking Raiders earning their first Raw Tag Team Title shot in a while and it’s nice to see them back in the mix. That said, AJ and Omos have been a serviceable unit as champions and there’s no reason to take the titles off of them at this point. Keeping them as champions allows them to roll into SummerSlam where they might stand a greater chance of losing the titles. I like Erik and Ivar a lot and I think having them look competitive against the champions has actually done them a lot of good, but I don’t see any reason to do the title change at this point. The fact that this was originally supposed to be on the Raw after Money in the Bank and only got bumped up due to Bayley’s injury makes it pretty clear there’s no intention to switch the champions yet.

WINNER: AJ Styles & Omos (STILL Raw Tag Team Champions)

Raw Women’s Championship Match
Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair

And here we come to the hardest pick of the show. Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair have been feuding since WrestleMania 37. That was only three months ago, but at this point it feels like they’ve been feuding for a lot longer. This rivalry hasn’t exactly lit things on fire, and it will be very interesting to see what reaction Ripley gets in front of a live crowd. Flair got the win at Hell in a Cell, but Ripley retained because she got herself disqualified. They can’t pull the same kind of chicanery this time around.

One would think that they book Ripley as getting the win over Charlotte to finally get over the hump of not being able to beat her in a one-on-one match — but on the other hand, we know that there’s a big return coming in one Becky Lynch. Maybe Becky’s going to Smackdown, but Smackdown just got an infusion of women’s talent in the NXT arrivals of Shotzi, Nox, and Toni Storm. If Lynch is returning to Raw, I feel like WWE will want her as a babyface and it makes sense to put her up against a heel champion. That’s Charlotte, so while I could be entirely wrong I’m going with Flair to win her 13th singles title in WWE.

WINNER: Charlotte Flair (NEW Raw Women’s Champion)

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Asuka vs. Nikki A.S.H. vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi vs.
Zelina Vega vs. Liv Morgan vs. Natalya vs. Tamina

The road to the women’s Money in the Bank match has been kind of a weird one filled with people earning spots and then being pulled (Carmella), surprise returns (Zelina), and constantly earning a shot only to be refused until the last minute (Liv). In the end, we have a perfectly fine field of competitors here, only a few of which are really viable. All due respect to Naomi, Natalya, and Tamina but they aren’t winning this; Nattie and Tamina are currently busy with their listless run as Women’s Tag Team Champions and Naomi is there just to deliver match quality. Asuka is almost certainly in the same spot as Naomi, because unless they plan to move her to Smackdown a MITB win here would just put her up against the same people she’s faced before. And Zelina not only just came back, but she’s not someone who has the in-ring credibility yet to get a briefcase.

That brings us to Alexa Bliss, Nikki A.S.H., and Liv Morgan. I know that I’m Alexa’s biggest defender on 411 and I still enjoy her character, but I also don’t think there’s any need to give her the briefcase. I think there’s more value in her feuding with Nikki in a superhero vs. supervillain fashion for a bit, which also probably discounts Nikki as much as it might be fun to see her win. And honestly, this should be Morgan’s to win. The storyline has been built up to make Liv the fighting underdog, and WWE loves putting the briefcase on those kinds of characters. A win here elevates Morgan in a big way and it’s the smartest decision I could see them make.

WINNER: Liv Morgan

Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Riddle vs. Ricochet vs. John Morrison vs. Drew McIntyre vs.
Big E. vs. Kevin Owens vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins

On the men’s side, once again we can eliminate a lot of the competitors right off the bat. Listen, we love Ricochet and John Morrison around these parts but they’re not winning this, and Drew McIntyre just brings us back right back to a feud that doesn’t need to be revived, unless they eventually have Drew use it to face off with Roman (unlikely for the foreseeable future). Either way, McIntyre simply doesn’t need this briefcase, which is usually given to someone in the hopes they can elevate into a main event or upper midcard spot. Putting the briefcase in Nakamura’s hands would be completely out of nowhere, and Owens doesn’t seem like a likely pick either because he doesn’t need it to challenge for the title and it doesn’t really fit him.

That brings us down to just Riddle, Big E., and Rollins. While Rollins doesn’t need the briefcase to get a title shot, it would make a ton of sense to his character to have something where he can sneak in and take a title shot whenever. Riddle seems to be a guy WWE wants to put into a top program, but he’s also in one with Randy Orton and it still seems a little early to give him a title shot. That brings us to the pretty clear and obvious choice in Big E. WWE has a gold mine in E., and he has been doing very well since he broke off on his own on Smackdown. E. is the kind of performer that WWE loves to push and he has all the tools and credibility he needs to be a potential title challenger. His time is now, and WWE will be missing an opportunity if they don’t put him over here.

WINNER: Big E.

WWE Universal Championship Match
Roman Reigns vs. Edge

It’s nice that there’s some mystery in the Money in the Bank matches, because there is absolutely none in the main event championship bouts. I’ve enjoyed Edge’s latest return and he’s certainly been the biggest threat to Roman Reigns to date, something that WWE has done a very good job selling. To say Edge is a fantastic performer is as unnecessary as it is true, and he’s matched up well with the Head of the Table. Meanwhile, Reigns is still delivering top work as perhaps the most compelling character on WWE television thus far. I expect nothing less than a great match from these two, but there’s no question how this goes. Reigns has been a dominant champion and it hasn’t gotten old at all yet. He should remain so for at least a while longer, and Edge will likely get an excuse of Usoference but he’s not walking out with the Universal Championship.

WINNER: Roman Reigns (STILL WWE Universal Champion)

WWE Championship Match
Bobby Lashley vs. Kofi Kingston

Speaking of foregone conclusions…listen, I love seeing Kofi in a WWE Championship match. I believe he should be a perennial threat to take the title off people, and it’s great to see that he’s been booked really well against Lashley. They match up well and this should be a fun bout. But there is no reason to take the championship off the All Mighty at this point. Lashley is on a great run as champion, and if a certain return spoiler report is accurate than it’s even clearer who is going to be champion when we get Raw. I’m just going to sit back and enjoy this match for what it is, because there’s not going to be any mystery for me on who will come out as the victor.

WINNER: Bobby Lashley (STILL WWE World Champion)

And that’s all we have for WWE Money in the Bank! After a lackluster Hell in a Cell card that admittedly over-delivered and a WrestleMania Backlash card that was what it was, it’s nice to see a lineup for WWE that I’m moderately excited for. Hopefully it can give us and the fans in attendance an enjoyable evening, and set up some good things for SummerSlam. Thanks once again for reading, and remember that we will have live coverage of the show courtesy of the one and only Scott Slimmer right here on 411mania.com. I’m off, but in the meantime — yeah, I’m not going to find a clever closing. I’m just going to supply this GIF of AJ Lee. You’re welcome, Tony!