Building the Ultimate Money in the Bank Card: A Puzzle Game

Building the Ultimate Money in the Bank Card: A Puzzle Game

-Money in the Bank is this Sunday and I figured this would be the time to build another card. My plan is to do any current WWE PPV that has had at least 9 shows over the years. When not doing current shows, I will do some WCW ones and ones that the WWE have retired. I think I will always keep the minimum at 9 matches going forward.

-Thanks to all that commented on the previous two articles. I have enjoyed reading your comments and suggestions about how to run things with future cards. As always the rules for the game are that you must pick 1 match from each show and no wrestler can work more than 1 match. Also every title has to be defended at least once. MITB started as a stand alone show in 2010 which is well past the original brand split and thankfully past ECW, so no ECW Title for this one. We will include the following: WWE Title, World Title, Intercontinental Title, US Title, Tag Titles, and Woman’s Title. Since this is a MITB show, I’ll also add that a MITB ladder match much be included as well. The Universal Title is absent because it has never been defended at MITB, though that will change with the show on Sunday. As always please post your cards in the comments below or if you have any suggestions leave in the comments or hit me up on twitter (@RobertLeightyJr) or e-mail ([email protected]).

2010: World Heavyweight Title: Jack Swagger (c) vs. Rey Myseterio (10:43)

-This seemed like the best spot for my World Heavyweight Title Match. Swagger actually won the title earlier in the year by cashing in his MITB contract from Mania XXVI on Edge and it was used so quickly because the WWE wanted to move the match to its own PPV instead of just being a match at Mania. This match is notable for Rey getting another World Title, but his reign only lasted a few minutes as Kane became the first person to win MITB and cash in the same night. My other options were to use a Del Rio World Heavyweight Title match, or Orton/Christian, but it should be no secret what I am using for my 2011 pick.

2011: WWE Title: John Cena (c) vs. CM Punk (33:44)

-There was never going to be any other option as this is one of the greatest matches you will see in one of the best environments ever. This was a perfect match with the right guys, right crowd, right story, and right result. This is one of the few matches I will watch at least once a year and sometimes more. Again, this was an easy choice though it did cost me Cena later as his match with Owens would have helped but nothing was going to cause me to give this match up.

2012: World Title Contract: Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Christian vs Cody Rhodes vs Damian Sandow vs Santino Marella vs Sin Cara vs Tensai vs Tyson Kidd (18:29)

-This was the first MITB I thought off but likely because Dolph had one of the best cash ins ever and I let that influence me. This is a very interesting grouping for this match and I believe only Sin Cara and Dolph are on the active WWE roster.  Dolph got the win and had his famous cash in the night after Mania 29. Sadly, injuries killed his run with the World Title, but we will always have the cash in.

2013: Ryback vs Chris Jericho (11:19)

-This show was kind of a pain as I originally had Axel/Miz IC Title match but felt I could get something better for that title. The only other option would have been to pick a different MITB Ladder Match and use Del Rio vs Ziggler for the World Title spot, but that would have blown up my Mysterio/Swagger match. I opted for this match as it does get Jericho on the card and I get a spot without burning up a title match.

2014: WWE Tag Titles: The Usos vs The Wyatt Family (Harper and Rowan) (13:53)

-This was a fantastic match as these teams had some great chemistry. The tag title stipulation was always going to feature The Usos as they have dominated the tag scene during the run of MITB shows. It came down to this match or their 2017 match against New Day and for whatever reason, I just like this match more. It also helped out that if not this match then I was basically stuck with having to use Layla vs Summer Rae and I really didn’t want to do that. Rusev vs Big E was possible until I realized that Rusev was needed later to fulfill the US Title rule. This show as a whole was the one that gave me the most trouble and it took playing around with other matches before I could make one I wanted work here.

2015: WWE Diva’s Title: Nikki Bella (c) vs Paige (11:18)

-I was hoping to use a match from the current era of WWE women, but it just couldn’t work out because this show didn’t leave me with many options. Cena and Owens had an amazing match but no way I was giving up Punk/Cena. Ryback/Show for the IC Title was definitely in play, but Ryback/Jericho from earlier seemed a better fit and left me with a later match to use for the IC Title. Bella was in the middle of her run at the top of the division and Paige was part of the NXT group that helped change the way women in the WWE were viewed even if those after her were given most of the credit.

2016: WWE US Title: Rusev (c) Titus O’Neil (8:30)

-This is the only time the US Title has been defended at MITB (until the show on Sunday) and thus I was forced to pick this match. This show also had the first Cena/Styles match which was amazing, but again, Cena/Punk was always going to be on my card. With the Universal Title being defended on Sunday for the first time it will eliminate Rey/Joe for the US Title being used, so this was remain the default US Title Match for a few years at least.

2017: Breezango vs The Ascension (3:50)

-There always seem to be a match that makes no sense for belonging, but ends up being the only real option. The only other choice I had was New Day/Usos tag title match, but as stated I didn’t want to end up using Layla/Summer Rae for the 2014 show. With all the other matches being title or MITB matches I didn’t have much to work with so we went with something short. Again, not every match can be a classic or memorable.

2018: WWE Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins (c) vs Elias (17:00)

-I saved the IC Title for this match as it at least gets Rollins on the card. I thought about using the Women’s MITB Ladder Match just to say I got it on the card along with the Men’s, but this IC Title match just made more sense and helped me finish the puzzle of the rest of the card. Rollins was good as the IC Champ and Elias was given a chance to step-up here and prove he was more than just the promo guy. Now, if I do this challenge next year, this match can’t be picked as Rollins will be tied up with AJ Styles and the Universal Title so I will have to pick a different IC title match, but for now this match will complete my card.

-Again, these shows with a shorter history make this much easier, but with so many title matches to get on the show it can get kind of frustrating as you have to bypass great/memorable matches for forgettable/bad matches. Cena/Punk as I mentioned was always a must and that match alone makes up for any shortcomings with some of the other picks. The total match time clocks in at 2 hours 8 minutes and 46 seconds which would put this at just a little longer than the traditional In Your House PPV used to be.

-I still haven’t decided on a show for the next column, but I may end up going back to a WCW Show or possibly a WWE Show that is no longer being used in the PPV rotation. I always still start thinking about SummerSlam as that is going to be a lot of fun considering the show has more 30 years in the books. I guess things also depend on what WWE show is going to follow their Saudi show as if we do get a Backlash, that has enough history to build a card from as well. As always thanks for reading!