Sheamus' Lack of Direction Heading into Night of Champions Suggests MITB Cash-in

Although a number of major stars are suspiciously absent from the card at Night of Champions, the lack of booking for Sheamus seems strange on first glance.

After all, WWE should be doing all it can to ensure Sheamus is built up with a steady stream of momentum, given how it has entrusted him with the Money in the Bank briefcase. 

But maybe his mysterious absence isn't about a failure to build momentum, but more about building up to a major, major surprise factor at this Sunday's Night of Champions show, with Sheamus cashing in the briefcase and becoming the new WWE world heavyweight champion.

The beauty of the situation concerning Seth Rollins' match against Sting is that there's a whole host of options WWE can go with to initiate the cash-in, which would have a dramatic impact on storylines for a good few months.

For starters, there could be the option to have Sheamus cash in on Rollins, turning the champion babyface in the process. 

The fact that tensions between Rollins and Triple H are tender to say the least means that you could have Sheamus thrust in as the new face of The Authority, in a similar way to how the faction was launched with Randy Orton cashing in on Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam 2013.

Triple H could address the crowd the next night on Raw, declaring he's completely had it with Rollins' arrogance and his egotism and wants to ensure that The Authority remained on top of the company by personally showing it can dethrone the champion anytime it wants.

It would then set up not only Rollins vs. Sheamus in a mandatory rematch but also create the prospect of Rollins' taking on Triple H in a pay-per-view or two toward the latter end of the year.

There's another way The Authority can turn on Rollins and make Sheamus cash the briefcase in, too. WWE has deliberately gone out of its way to make Rollins look weak in recent weeks, and it certainly looks like the presence of Sting has gotten into his head.

Rollins looks more vulnerable than ever before, and the last two editions of Raw have closed with Sting standing tall and having the last laugh and Rollins' having taken a great big sucker punch to the face.

Does The Authority trust Rollins to get the job done? Does it think he's capable of doing what Triple H did and beating Sting when it truly matters? If not, it could throw open a WrestleMania 31-style scenario in which Sheamus is tossed into the match late on to ensure the title stays with The Authority and doesn't go to the WCW legend.

That also throws up the option of Rollins' actually winning the match and proving himself capable, meaning that Sheamus would have failed to cash in the briefcase.

But with Rollins being champion for so long, and the prospect of the part-time Sting's winning the title seeming quite slim, the lack of Sheamus on the card at Night of Champions only seems to point one way.

It won't be a night off for the Irishman, but rather the night where he cashes in the briefcase and muscles his way into the main event.