WWE Superstars Who Should Win This Year's Money in the Bank Matches
WWE will mark the return of fans in attendance with the always-popular Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 18.
Eight men and eight women from the main roster will compete for the chance to grab the briefcase hanging above the ring, which represents the power to challenge for either Raw or SmackDown's major championship at any point over the course of the next 12 months.
It's a power any Superstar would love to wield, as 20 out of 24 cash-ins have been successful, dating all the way back to Edge using his MITB win to earn a shot at John Cena's WWE Championship in January 2006.
Let's look at the potential options heading into the 2021 men's and women's Money in the Bank matches to determine who may be the best possible picks to climb the ladder of success this year.
Looking at the Remaining Field of Female Superstars
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Before narrowing down who should win, we need to know which options are available. At the moment, half the field for both matches is unknown.
For the women's match, it appears the Raw roster side has been determined. Asuka and Naomi defeated Eva Marie and Doudrop, while Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross took out Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler to earn those four spots.
Assuming WWE keeps things balanced, the remaining four women should come from SmackDown, but the blue brand doesn't have much wiggle room for candidates.
Obviously, SmackDown women's champion Bianca Belair can't qualify, and let's assume Bayley doesn't get another match and can participate in the women's match.
Carmella and Liv Morgan should be guarantees, and perhaps Mia Yim could extricate herself from the ill-fated Retribution and make her mark.
There's also a chance Natalya and Tamina get in and their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship continues to be ignored for a while longer.
Shy of Sonya Deville inserting herself into the match, Becky Lynch returning, someone coming up from NXT or a fifth person from Raw getting a second chance, this seems to be the full range of options.
Looking at the Remaining Field of Male Superstars
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The men's match has only three Superstars confirmed so far: Ricochet, Riddle and John Morrison. They defeated AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton, respectively, in qualifying matches on Monday's Raw.
The three who lost will have a second chance to earn a spot in the match, though. It remains to be seen if the likes of Jinder Mahal, Jeff Hardy, Sheamus and Cedric Alexander will get added to the mix.
Unlike the women's side of SmackDown, there are far more than four male Superstars who would make sense to qualify this Friday night.
Even ruling out The Mysterios and The Usos, as well as a big player like Kevin Owens (who indicated on Twitter he may be taking some time off), that still leaves an abundance of options.
Intercontinental champion Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Big E, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura are all viable candidates. There's also Alpha Academy's Chad Gable and last year's Mr. Money in the Bank, Otis.
As Roman Reigns didn't wrestle at Hell in a Cell, he seems likely to defend the Universal Championship in singles action on the MITB card.
Narrowing Down the Field: Women's Match
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While anything can happen, several names can be ruled out for different reasons.
Carmella doesn't have the momentum and already won the briefcase twice.
Liv Morgan can't sustain a solid push for more than a few weeks. It's impossible to trust WWE would follow through with her winning the women's briefcase.
Natalya and Tamina have the women's tag team titles to worry about, and Asuka won it last year and doesn't need it to earn future title opportunities.
Nikki Cross's new superhero gimmick seems like it will fizzle out before she'd cash in and WWE might drop her like it did Otis in 2020. And we can't trust Mia Yim being in the match at all, since she's yet to appear on SmackDown.
Sasha Banks should win the women's match at some point, but she may challenge Bianca Belair in the meantime.
The same goes for Becky Lynch. The crowd would erupt if she were to win and she's certainly popular enough to pull this off, but she could have just as much of an impact by simply showing up and challenging for the Raw Women's Championship she willingly vacated and never lost.
Nobody would question The Man's status as No. 1 contender, and it would save the briefcase from being tossed aside quickly.
Narrowing Down the Field: Men's Match
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As great as Ricochet is, let's not get our hopes up that he stands much of a chance. Based on his win-loss record in big matches like this, it's just not going to happen.
John Morrison is always worthy of a random push to a world title, but his goofy character as of late doesn't lend itself much to that trajectory.
Riddle and Orton need to be more concerned with the Raw Tag Team Championships than the MITB men's match. And Crews has the Intercontinental Championship, which should keep him busy.
Baron Corbin's previous Money in the Bank run in 2017 was a total failure. And if Shinsuke Nakamura is going to continue wearing the crown, he doesn't need a briefcase to go with it.
Otis couldn't make something of the title last year when he was hot and Gable's more his sidekick. Alpha Academy isn't winning it.
Dolph Ziggler's cash-in was almost a decade ago and Robert Roode hasn't been an upper-midcarder for years.
Finally, Sami Zayn can't pull off a victory like this and still harp on about conspiracy theories. He has to continue losing if that's going to carry on.
Women's 3rd-Place Pick: Sonya Deville
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If Deville somehow puts herself in this match, she absolutely has to win it. It wouldn't be worth giving her a spot only to watch her come up short. At that point, any other woman on the roster could be filler instead.
Deville as Ms. Money in the Bank would give her the power to exert influence as an authority figure. She would have the ability to set herself up for a prime spot to pick when she'd cash in, as well as to overrule any attempts that weren't going her way by saying it didn't count.
What may stop her from doing that, though—outside of likely just not even being in the match at all—is that it interferes with her current storyline of being the one who pulls the strings in support of Charlotte Flair.
It's most likely WWE will keep that going a little while longer, and it would be too convoluted to concoct a means for her to put herself in the match as a result.
Men's 3rd-Place Pick: Cesaro or Seth Rollins
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It's tough to pick who gets the bronze medal between Cesaro and Seth Rollins as there are cases for and against both.
First, it's unknown if either will even be competing in qualifying matches. Naturally, if the plan is to have a rubber match between the two to settle their feud, they'll be busy elsewhere.
The argument for Cesaro is that he's a babyface, meaning he'd work well against Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns. He's also someone the fans would love to see reach that next level, and this could be the tool to get him his first world title.
Against him, though, is that if he did win it, he might waste it on an immediate challenge to Reigns.
With Rollins, the benefit is that he's a slimy character who could hold it for months and cash it in on a heel or a babyface. He's proved it before when he stole the title in the main event of WrestleMania 31.
That also means he could turn face and start a feud with his former Shield brethren for the Universal Championship down the line, which would certainly sell as a main event of a pay-per-view in the pipeline.
Women's Runner-Up: Alexa Bliss
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Bliss previously won the women's MITB match in 2018, and it wouldn't be unprecedented to see her win it again.
Clearly, the WWE hierarchy love The Goddess taking over Bray Wyatt's otherworldly character and will figure out something for a priority Superstar to do eventually. That means she might have the best chance to win the briefcase.
Her ambiguity of attacking both heels and faces as well as her unpredictability in her current "supernatural" role would also make for an interesting Ms. Money in the Bank.
Plus, WWE Creative could customize the briefcase to fit her character and have some fun with that.
Men's Runner-Up: Drew McIntyre
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The major issue with giving the briefcase to Drew McIntyre is that he should immediately hand it over and challenge Bobby Lashley to a WWE Championship match.
After having just lost at Hell in a Cell in a match that specifically had the stipulation that he wouldn't get another title opportunity against The All Mighty, many fans might feel this was a cheap excuse to do another rematch.
But the writers have the ability to not go in that direction, too.
McIntyre could win the briefcase and address that he could do that, but instead he's going to learn from his mistakes and not rush into it. It took him 17 years to become champion, so he can wait a few months.
Holding this would keep him relevant. It would also give him something to defend if others want to step up to try to take it from him. Then, if WWE ever needs someone to swoop in and win the title due to an injury, he's as reliable as you can get.
Also, winning the Money in the Bank allows cross-branded action. McIntyre could always call his shot for a match against Reigns instead.
Lastly, if WWE feels he's grown stale in his current character, the option is there to turn heel with a cash-in and have a run on top as the biggest villain.
Best Choice for Ms. Money in the Bank: Naomi
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#NaomiDeservesBetter has trended on Twitter many times over the years. Any time she loses a match, her passionate fanbase speaks up—loudly.
There is no negative to giving an accolade like this to someone who is popular. Making the fans happy is what WWE claims its entire mission is about, after all. Plus, it's not as though she isn't talented enough to justify the honor, either.
She's more than proved herself worthy of top spots in the past with her title reigns and her WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal victory in 2018. The MITB contract would be something else to add to her Hall of Fame resume.
But while she's great as the underdog who can win the title through sheer will, determination and skill, there's room to tell an even better story.
So far, she's remained an outsider to Reigns. While her husband, Jimmy Uso, struggles with his place alongside Jey and his cousin, Naomi has stayed out of these affairs entirely.
She's still part of the family business, though, and winning the briefcase could open the discussion that Reigns calls for her to take the title on behalf of the family.
A heel turn for Naomi could be a great means for Belair to drop the title without looking weak and it would be the most interesting way to check off all the boxes of the Money in the Bank gimmick: a heel turn, an exciting cash-in, great character work and storyline potential, protecting the champion and giving the belt to someone the fans revere.
Best Choice for Mr. Money in the Bank: Big E
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Big E isn't the obvious pick to become the next Mr. Money in the Bank, but he may be the most functional option.
Assuming Brock Lesnar is not WWE's planned opponent for Lashley at SummerSlam, there are no reasonable challengers who would feel like a big enough deal to fight The All Mighty. Everyone on Raw has either already feuded with him or wouldn't stand a chance to take the title, so nobody would buy into their story.
However, since Lashley is currently feuding with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, Big E can be worked in as the powerhouse of The New Day fighting on behalf of his friends.
This is easy booking. Lashley beats Kingston earlier in the night and Big E wins the briefcase. The following night on Raw, when the champion is celebrating his victory, The Powerhouse of Positivity can interrupt the party and call his shot for SummerSlam.
While this option does throw the briefcase away early, it could be the way Big E shifts to the other roster and catapults himself into a title shot without manufacturing another No. 1 contender's match and having him against Reigns.
Fans would buy into the possibility Big E winning and pop massively for him to become champion.
Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
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