WWE Money in the Bank 2012 Preview: 12 Storylines That Need to Be Addressed

We're not far away from one of the WWE's biggest pay-per-views of the year.

In just two days, the WWE invades the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Ariz., for Money in the Bank, a show that often sets the stage for the rest of the year.

What happens at Money in the Bank often plays a big role in what happens for the short-term (and often even further than that) on TV, so it's imperative that the creative team focus on on the company's biggest story lines on Sunday.

With quite a lot going on at the moment, the WWE must make sure to keep some of its biggest angles going.

Here are 12 story lines that need to be addressed at this Sunday's Money in the Bank pay-per-view.

WARNING: The following slideshow contains SPOILERS from tonight's episode of SmackDown, so stop reading if you like to be surprised.

12. The Primetime Players' Pursuit of the Tag Team Titles

Money in the Bank's pre-show YouTube match will feature WWE Tag Team Champions R-Truth and Kofi Kingston taking on Hunico and Camacho in a non-title match.

I don't get it.

At last month's No Way Out pay-per-view, the Primetime Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) won a No. 1 contender's match for the tag team titles, so shouldn't they be getting this match instead?

While I get that these YouTube matches don't really mean all that much, it would make much more sense to me for Young and O'Neil to be getting this match rather than Hunico and Camacho, who've been booked so badly lately that they've jobbed to "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

I would assume that Kingston and Truth are going to get a quick, decisive victory here, but I hope that the Primetime Players make their presence felt somehow, even if it's simply a post-match attack.

After all, we need a reminder that they are, in fact, the No. 1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship.

11. Heath Slater's Losing Ways

Heath Slater is one of my favorite characters in the WWE at the moment.

He's obviously being saddled with a jobber gimmick, but he's making the most out of it and has even performed much better in this role than he did when he was a tag team champion.

I like the way that Slater talks smack only to get destroyed by a legend from the past, and I'd love to see it continue until it gets old.

It hasn't gotten old for me yet, though, so I'd have no problem seeing it go on until Sunday's Money in the Bank PPV at the very least.

We're always going to get filler on WWE PPVs, and having Slater get squashed again is just about the best filler that we could get.

Plus, Slater's angle with these legends is reportedly set to come to a climax on the 1,000th Raw, so maybe we'll see the WWE set the stage for that at MITB.  

10. Alberto Del Rio's Aggression and Targeting of Sin Cara

As most of us know, Vince McMahon has laid down a directive for Alberto Del Rio to be more aggressive on TV.

We've seen that a couple of times so far, with ADR's ruthless attacks on both Sin Cara and Sheamus.

But I'm interested in seeing just how far this aggression carries Del Rio, and what it means for his little rivalry he seems to have started with Sin Cara, as well as his pursuit of the World Heavyweight title.

ADR destroyed Sin Cara on last week's Raw, and according to the spoilers for tonight's SmackDown, looks like he could be set to do it again.

It remains to be seen if this is leading to a Sin Cara/ADR feud or will play into the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank match (Sin Cara wins and faces ADR for the title?).

I doubt that this beef between Del Rio and Sin Cara ends up meaning much in the long run, but Del Rio's newfound aggression figures to play a huge role in his character going forward.

Whether that's a good thing (leading to a title win) or a bad thing (getting himself DQ'd, perhaps) remains to be seen. 

9. Tensai vs. Tyson Kidd?

With both Tensai and Tyson Kidd headed to Money in the Bank, the WWE seems to have kicked off a rivalry between the two.

At the heart of this feud are Kidd's quick roll-up win over Tensai on Raw and Tensai's subsequent backstage attack on Kidd.

I like that the WWE is building up beef between these two, because it adds yet another story to the WHC Contract MITB match.

I just hope that the WWE doesn't simply drop this storyline like it often tends to do.

Tensai and Kidd obviously have crossed paths enough times to have some serious issues with each other, so I look for the WWE to play up those issues on Sunday.

How that happens is up for debate, but the ideal situation would be Kidd costing Tensai the victory rather than vice versa.

8. Kane's Face/Heel Status

This is not necessarily a storyline per se, but it is something that's been bothering me: The face/heel status of Kane.

For the first half of 2012, Kane was clearly a heel, as he feuded with the WWE's top three babyfaces in John Cena, Randy Orton and CM Punk.

But recently, the WWE has booked him in matches against the obviously heel Big Show and as the tag team partner of Cena, leading me to believe that he's either now a tweener or a full-fledged face.

I think it's absurd that Kane would be teaming with Cena so soon after the "embrace the hate" storyline and even more absurd that Kane might turn face again for the 856th time.

But I'm willing to deal with it if the WWE just makes up its mind on Kane for a change.

Either keep him heel or keep him face. Don't change your mind every few months.

And please, do something with Kane at Money in the Bank that makes it clear whether he's a heel or a face. That's all I ask.

7. Ryback Finally Getting Some Competition?

It looks like Ryback may finally be getting some real competition.

He's shied away from squashing local competitors, and instead, has switched his attention to the team of Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks.

Ryback squashed Hawkins last week, and on this week's SmackDown, he'll beat Reks in a match that, according to live reports from the show, wasn't your typical Ryback squash that we've grown accustomed to.

I've preached for months now that Ryback needs some better competition, and he certainly appears to be getting that with Hawkins and Reks.

The question now is: Will it continue?

If Ryback is going to get a match at Sunday's Money in the Bank PPV, I'm hoping that it's either a continuation of his storyline with Hawkins or Reks or another step up the competition ladder.

Having Ryback face more well-known wrestlers every week is going to do big things for him, as will having an actual storyline for a change.

6. The Beef Between Cody Rhodes and Christian

One of the biggest stories heading into the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder match is what's been going on between Cody Rhodes and Christian.

Sure, the feud between the two hasn't been perfect. But it's been a decent one that's gone on since Over the Limit.

Rhodes and Christian have developed the biggest rivalry in their MITB Ladder match, which makes me think that it will play a huge role in the outcome of the match.

You have to think that Rhodes and Christian (along with Dolph Ziggler) are the favorites here, so I'd fully expect the tension between the two to result in some great storytelling during the match, with the bout possibly coming down to just these two.

Well, at least that's what I hope to see.

The WWE has built up this rivalry reasonably well, and if something major (even if it's just a spot or two) doesn't go down between Rhodes and Christian on Sunday, I'd be pretty disappointed.

5. John Laurinaitis' Absence

In storyline terms, John Laurinaitis is done as a TV character and may never be back.

But I just can't help but think that we haven't seen the last of Johnny Ace.

The WWE invested so much time in building him up as a top heel authority figure over the last year or so that I find it hard to believe that he'd be removed from TV just like that.

While I'm not exactly pining for Laurinaitis to get back on TV, I do find it weird that he's been completely forgotten about only a month after his on-screen departure.

And call me crazy, but I don't think Laurinaitis' absence is a permanent one.

How and when he will come back is anyone's guess, but I do think he will be back and will once again have a prominent role on TV.

So, perhaps we'll see Laurinaitis' fate addressed as soon as this Sunday at Money in the Bank.

4. Zack Ryder's Position as SmackDown's Interim GM

After reading the spoilers for tonight's SmackDown, I was pretty disappointed.

Why? Because Zack Ryder apparently didn't take advantage of his position as the show's interim general manager whatsoever.

If we're just thinking logically here, wouldn't it have made sense for Ryder to give himself a World title shot, a spot in the WHC Contract MITB match or at least a chance to make it there?

Of course, it would have. But instead, the WWE didn't do anything major with Ryder for tonight's SmackDown.

That's really stupid, but I haven't totally lost hope.

With Money in the Bank approaching, my thought is that Ryder may have put himself in the Money in the Bank match (but just held off on the announcement) or that he may have at least given himself a match at the PPV.

It's probably dumb of me to expect to see Ryder at MITB, but the optimistic side of me thinks that we will. Somehow. Some way.

3. Triple H's Rivalry with Brock Lesnar

I've lost virtually all interest in the rivalry between Triple H and Brock Lesnar.

It's just been incredibly hard to get emotionally invested in a feud that's been based around lawsuits (how stupid is that?) and hardly ever features any appearances from its centerpiece (Lesnar).

While I get that the WWE is backed into a corner with the limited number of appearances on Lesnar's contract, the creative team really has to start turning up the intensity of this feud.

Now, I'm not asking for Triple H to come out and cut another promo like he did at No Way Out. But addressing this feud in some way would be a step in the right direction.

We're rapidly approaching SummerSlam, and we need that PPV's major matches to be special.

But my fear is that if we go any longer without any real advancement in the Triple H/Lesnar storyline, we're going to lose even more interest in it.

Here's to hoping that that changes at Money in the Bank.

2. Vickie Guerrero's Apparent Interest in Tensai

On Monday's Raw, we saw something very interesting from Vickie Guerrero: She appeared to express some interest in Tensai.

I think I can see where this is going, and I really like it.

My ideal situation here would be for Vickie to part ways with Dolph Ziggler and become Tensai's new mouthpiece.

It would do a lot of good things: Finally allow Ziggler to go solo, freshen Vickie up a bit, give Tensai someone who can help him rebound from his terrible debut and slump, etc.

This may not be exactly how this situation plays out, but common sense says that it should go something like this.

And it should start this Sunday at Money in the Bank, too.

With both Ziggler and Tensai competing in the WHC Contract MITB match, Vickie can make her affection for Tensai even clearer by turning on Ziggler or something along those lines.

Regardless of what goes down at MITB, though, I think we can bank on some progression in this newly developing story between Ziggler, Vickie and Tensai.

1. AJ's Craziness and Her 'Relationships' with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan

Obviously, the WWE's biggest storyline at the moment is what's been going on with AJ and her involvement with the two men in the WWE Championship picture.

AJ has done a phenomenal job in her role as the "crazy chick." She's definitely been a little insane as she's done maniacal things to get attention and put herself in the spotlight.

At this point, no one knows just how far AJ's craziness goes and what her intentions are.

Is she really in love with CM Punk? Is she actually working with Daniel Bryan behind the scenes? Is she doing this all for her own selfish purposes?

We don't know, and that's precisely what makes this storyline so interesting.

AJ has left the possibilities for this angle wide open, and being that she's the special guest referee of the Money in the Bank WWE title match between Punk and Bryan, she's also created a cloud of mystery in the WWE title scene.

AJ's actions and her "relationships" with Punk and Bryan have been the center of attention for weeks upon weeks now.

At Money in the Bank, they will be once again. 

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.