The Magnificent Seven: The 7 WWE Careers Advanced By Money in the Bank Wins

Since it’s inception, Money in the Bank has become a key booking tool advance mid-carders to the main event, or at least experiment with them in such a role. It can also be a vehicle to put an already established star into the world title picture, or facilitate a heel turn, given that cash-ins—whomever perpetrates them—tend to feel at least a little heelish in principle.

Not every Money in the Bank victory turns out to be a huge deal, and that’s particularly true in the long term. There’s Damien Sandow failing in the cash-in and seeing his WWE push prospects evaporate altogether; while his overarching trajectory has looked better, Baron Corbin’s cash-in wasn’t any more successful than Sandow’s. John Cena neither needed, nor meaningfully benefited from his Money in the Bank victory, and guys like Randy Orton, Kane, Sheamus, despite successfully converting their briefcases into world title reigns, had already been main eventers before having won Money in the Bank contracts, and holding the briefcase was thus less career defining than a footnote in their histories. Then there are guys like Rob Van Dam (who, to be fair, just missed the countdown) and Jack Swagger who got an immediate push off of their successful cash-ins, but by their own mistakes or WWE’s choices were more or less back where they started within a few months’ time.

This countdown of career progressions based on Money in the Bank wins looks at ladder match wins and cash-ins that meaningful affected a guy’s overall WWE career trajectory and legacy. As always, my personal opinion weighs heaviliy.

#7. Dolph Ziggler

When Dolph Ziggler won a Money in the Bank briefcase in 2012, it felt less like WWE getting behind a hot act than Ziggler earning something like a lifetime achievement award for being quite good for quite some time, and WWE feeling compelled to finally pull the trigger on a main event push while he was still in his prime.

Ziggler benefited from the World Heavyweight Championship scene having gone cold coming out of WrestleMania 29 to deliver one of the most electric cash-ins in history in front of rabid crowd the night after ‘Mania. Were he not to have struggled with concussion issues in the immediate aftermath, perhaps WWE really would have given him a meaningful run as world champ. Unfortunately, the injury was what it was. WWE pulled a pretty swank double turn for Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio a couple months later, but rather than a newly face Ziggler achieving redemption and going to the next level, he wound up lost in the upper mid-card shuffle as the original brand split eroded.

Now, having successfully cashed in in such exciting fashion gives Ziggler his signature career moment, and having a second world title reign on his resume shores up his spot as a guy who can reasonably be subbed into the main event picture when needed, and as an eventual Hall of Famer. All things considered, however, Ziggler wound up in more or less the same upper mid-card spot as he’d started in once the dust settled from his Money in the Bank angle and world title win.

#6. Dean Ambrose

Early in the Shield’s run, Dean Ambrose looked like a leading man. Sure, the writing was on the wall from the get-go that Roman Reigns would get pushed the hardest out of the trio in the long term, but Ambrose debuted as the most polished and distinctive talker of the group, and was the first of the three to get a singles title push when he won the US Championship.

By the time the group split up, everything had changed. Reigns was an even clearer eventual front runner when it came to main event prospects. Meanwhile, Rollins had been the one to turn heel out of the group and align himself with The Authority, thus ensuring his own top spot as a lead villain, and particularly top full-time heel while Brock Lesnar worked his original part-time champion run.

While Ambrose remained solidly pushed as an upper mid-card guy and flirted with the main event, in particular challenging Rollins after he won his first world title, The Lunatic Fringe nonetheless felt stuck without any clear path to a meaningful run on top.

While the idea of Ambrose challenging Rollins for a world title wasn’t new, Ambrose cashing in on Rollins after he’d defeated Reigns in a hard fought match at the 2016 Money in the Bank PPV felt far more exciting. This was Ambrose, finally exercising a strategic advantage over his former partner turned arch-rival, and gifted a reason to be able to beat Rollins decisively.

Money in the Bank thus elevated Ambrose from main event adjacent, to bona fide main event talent for a time. That WWE Championship reign wasn’t exactly great, and Ambrose largely returned to his previous upper mid-card status since. Nonetheless, he’s now got former world champ on his resume, and is all the more credible in challenging for world titles for the knowledge that he’s reached the top of the mountain before.

#5. Daniel Bryan

No, Daniel Bryan didn’t really get over at the highest level in WWE until two years after he won the Money in the Bank briefcase, and a year and a half after he cashed it in. In between, he was the victim of a big booking miscalculation at WrestleMania 28 where Sheamus took the World Heavyweight Championship off of him in seconds, he made chicken salad out of Team Hell No for one of the most entertaining angles of Kane’s career, and he finally got over on John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, and Triple H to arrive at the top of the wrestling world.

To even get Bryan into the main event conversation at all, however, he needed a nudge in the right direction. After the buzz of his return at SummerSlam 2010, he settled into a mid-card role with no clear escape. Winning a briefcase at Money in the Bank 2011 marked WWE’s first real vote of confidence that Bryan could be something more. According to interviews with Bryan, Vince McMahon and WWE management had some “buyer’s remorse” afterward, questioning if Bryan should have gotten the opportunity. Fortunately, he would have the chance to take the title off of Big Show and begin a heel turn that set up a foundation for the Yes Movement and all that followed.

Maybe Bryan gets the main event push anyway in 2013, on pure merit for his remarkable in ring talent and ability to connect with the crowd. That movement would have felt much more out of left field, however, if it weren’t for the push Money in the Bank offered him earlier on.

#4. The Miz

The Miz is, in a number of ways, the ideal Money in the Bank winner. In 2010, he was steadily getting more over as one of the biggest stars of the mid-card. There was still a credibility gap for him to cross over to main event status, though. Maybe he could have arrived as a world champion over time, but Money in the Bank offered an immediate, logical path for him to shoot ahead more quickly, and to see what he could do at the top of the card.

Sure, Miz’s main event run wasn’t exactly awe-inspiring. That nearly half-year world title reign and beating John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 27 gave him the definitive feathers in his cap, though, to boast about in promos for years to follow, and to make him a talent WWE can perpetually tease reinserting into world title contention.

#3. Seth Rollins

Unlike The Miz, Seth Rollins had the in ring talent and momentum behind him to feel like an eventual, inevitable main event talent. However, it was hard to imagine him capturing the gold as long as Brock Lesnar roamed the main event landscape. As such, Money in the Bank was the perfect vehicle to give Rollins a believable means for becoming world champion. Moreover, the briefcase set him up to deliver a historically electric moment when he not only cashed in on Lesnar, but cashed in on Lesnar and Roman Reigns during the main event of WrestleMania 31.

As such, Money in the Bank allowed Rollins to not only reach the top of the WWE mountain, but create a moment that will live on in the history of the company, and set up a half-year title reign that cemented Rollins as a top guy. While he would see his stock falter, particularly over the last year when his work in the tag team and mid-card ranks threatened to make him “just another guy,” Rollins remains one of the most recognizable wrestlers of his generation, and we likely haven’t seen his last world title reign just yet. Money in the Bank went a long way toward setting him up for a career like this.

#2. CM Punk

CM Punk is a good bit like Daniel Bryan in the context of this countdown. Like Bryan, Money in the Bank would elevate him to his first opportunity with a world title (heck, it would even do so twice, given Punk cashed in the briefcase in back to back years). Like Bryan, Punk would get far more explosively over, and earn Hall of Fame-headliner-level credentials based on not his Money in the Bank wins, but a different surge in notoriety years later—in the Straight Edge Superstar’s Pipebomb Promo and follow up victory over John Cena.

I argue that Punk belongs on the list, and even as high as the number two spot, because of the ways in which Money in the Bank twice changed Punk’s standing in the company. He wasa mid-carder who was as likely to be released as he was to be promoted to the main event in 2008, but winning the contract at WrestleMania 24 proved WWE saw something in him, and his cash-in on Edge that summer was a fun departure from WWE’s normal programming.

A year passed, and Punk returned to a similar, if slightly elevated upper mid-card spot, before winning Money in the Bank again. This time, it facilitated a heel turn that truly afforded Punk an opportunity to show what he could do, given that he was quite arguably always a better heel than a face.

Sure, Punk dipped back down. His angles leading the Straight Edge Society and New Nexus gave him the spotlight, but didn’t exactly elevate him. Having two world title reigns to his name, however, and having proven himself, particularly on the mic as a heel set up WWE to give him one last main event push when he had one foot out the door in 2011. Thusly, Money in the Bank set up Punk to get himself more over than I expect WWE brass ever thought he would, and to spend his last two and a half years with the company as a legitimate top guy.

#1. Edge

Edge retired as a guy who totally and completely belonged in the main event scene. Not only was his last match a world title contest at WrestleMania, but he’d actually been involved in WrestleMania world title matches each of the last four years of his career.

There was a time, however, when it didn’t necessarily look like main event status was going to happen for Edge. Sure, he was a talented guy who’d enjoyed reasonable pushes up to the upper mid card. But a world champion? With Batista, John Cena, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, and Triple H wandering the WWE landscape?

It took a while for everything to click, but rebranding as The Rated R Superstar, plus the heat that came from his real life situation and on screen pairing with Lita as a his femme tatale sidekick set him up to feel fresh and potentially important. Money in the Bank pushed him over the top.

WWE may not have trusted Edge with a world title win in that era under traditional circumstances. Cashing in on Cena after an Elimination Chamber match, however, afforded Edge a totally legitimate reason to be able to pin the champ, and an opportunity to experiment with just how over he could get. The experiment worked.

Edge has explained on his podcast with Christian that he suggested to Vince McMahon the idea of cashing in when the champ was weakened. Apparently, the idea hadn’t occurred to McMahon previously, and even under those circumstances, Edge didn’t actually expect to win. Whether it was simply a good idea, or McMahon appreciated Edge’s creativity and gumption in bringing it up, it all worked out, so Edge came to define what Money in the Bank might be, and stand out as its greatest beneficiary to date. (And all of that doesn’t even consider that he became the first man to successfully wield the briefcase twice, garnering another of his world title reigns when he took the Worl Heavyweight Championship off of The Undertaker via cash-in.)

Who would you add to the list? Rob Van Dam and Alberto Del Rio were my top runners up. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.