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Money in the Bank 2020: Power Ranking Men's and Women's Ladder Match Contenders
May 6, 2020
As WWE continues to navigate shows amid the coronavirus pandemic, Sunday's Money in the Bank pay-per-view offers an innovation on the traditional ladder-match formula.
WWE is incorporating its headquarters at Titan Towers into the event, by having competitors in the men's and women's main event climb the corporate ladder with the winners guaranteeing themselves a shot at the championship within the next 12 months.
A total of 12 superstars—six men and six women—will lock horns with the winner being the first one to get to the roof of Titan Towers and grabbing the briefcase. What happens on the way to getting to the top of the building is anyone's guess, but that has the potential to make this one of the most unique matches in WWE history.
Here are the two wrestlers who should leave Stamford, Connecticut, with their hands raised Sunday night.
Women's Ladder Match Power Rankings
1. Shayna Baszler
2. Asuka
3.Lacey Evans
4. Nia Jax
5. Carmella
6. Dana Brooke
Going over the list of women in the ladder match, Carmella, Dana Brooke and Nia Jax seem like filler given how little they have had to do on television in recent weeks and their general positioning on the WWE totem pole.
Lacey Evans was someone WWE had high hopes for when she first made her main roster debut last year. She initially struggled due to inexperience but has since settled into a solid role.
The Sassy Southern Belle is coming out of a program with Bayley as part of the five-way elimination match for the SmackDown women's title at WrestleMania. Having her go right back into a feud with Bayley feels too soon for her, though it wouldn't be a surprise to see her win a championship soon.
If there's any sense of logic to the booking for this match, Asuka and Shayna Baszler are the two overwhelming favorites.
Baszler really needs to be redeemed after losing to Becky Lynch at WrestleMania. She was being pushed too far by eliminating all five challengers at the Elimination Chamber to earn a title shot against The Man, but having her lose clean on the biggest show of the year slowed her down.
Asuka was Lynch's opponent earlier this year before Baszler came into the picture. She lost title matches at the Royal Rumble and the Feb. 3 episode of Raw but took a step back from singles action to back the Kabuki Warriors.
Now that Asuka and Kairi Sane are no longer women's tag team champions, she can go back to building up her singles credentials.
Baszler is probably going to get the rub because she's still new and fresh, and will have to win the title at some point to become a main event player. Asuka is the sentimental favorite who would be a worthy champion if that's how WWE wants to go.
Given the choice between the two, look for Baszler to come out on top in this match.
Prediction: Baszler wins Women's Money in the Bank
Men's Ladder Match
1. Aleister Black
2. AJ Styles
3. Daniel Bryan
4. King Corbin
5. Otis
6. Rey Mysterio
There are strong cases to be made for virtually everyone in the men's match. The only one who would seem like a long shot is Rey Mysterio because since returning to WWE, he's largely been booked as an over-the-hill star clinging to his former glory.
The late addition of AJ Styles, who qualified by winning a gauntlet match Monday on Raw, throws a potential monkey wrench into things. The Phenomenal One is coming off a memorable loss against The Undertaker at WrestleMania and could be in line for a win to move back into the title picture for the first time in a year.
Styles' storylines are also in flux because his fellow O.C. members, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, were released from WWE last month.
King Corbin has an argument as the favorite to win because WWE loves to generate heat, especially by putting him over. One case against him winning is the lack of crowds right now due to the pandemic makes it impossible to generate negative reactions from fans in arenas.
WWE tends to fall out of love with couples as soon as it puts them together. For instance, Lana and Bobby Lashley have been teasing a divorce for weeks after getting married in December.
This could clear a path for Otis to win because Mandy Rose lost her qualifier for the women's match to Carmella last week on SmackDown. If WWE wants to cause problems with the couple already, having Mandy act jealous of Otis' success would be an easy way to start sowing the seeds of discontent.
Given how popular the pairing of Otis and Rose has been, though, and as well as it has worked, trying to break it up now would be a mistake.
Daniel Bryan has been out of the title picture since the Royal Rumble, so this could be an opportunity to get him back in the mix. It doesn't feel like his time right now because WWE seems to be setting him up for a program with Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro based on the angle from Friday's SmackDown.
Aleister Black seems to be the star with a lot of support from the higher-ups right now. He defeated Styles at Elimination Chamber, though that match was mostly set up to build Styles vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania.
Since the Elimination Chamber, Black has won six straight singles matches on Raw, including a disqualification victory over Seth Rollins.
If WWE wants to build a new star for the main event, Black is the best person to go over based on how things have been booked for the last two months.
Prediction: Aleister Black wins Men's Money in the Bank