WWE Money in the Bank: Handicapping the Field, Part One

In just 13 days, WWE's latest themed pay-per-view, Money in the Bank, will come to the WWE Universe live from Kansas City.

As the name indicates, the night will be co-headlined by a pair of Money in the Bank ladder matches, one from each brand.

But who will win?

It's a question that will surely garner much speculation in the next two weeks, but I'm going to get a jump start on the IWC and do a little handicapping for the big matches.

Over the next two weeks, I'll be grouping each match's combatants in one of four groups: The Favorites, The Dark Horses, The Wildcards, and The Fillers.

While Smackdown's field has to be rounded out (I've got Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler tabbed to round out the match) Smackdown's fillers are already slated for the bout. One of Raw's fillers, though, may be a surprise.

Raw's "Fillers"—R-Truth and Chris Jericho

Being in the WWE doghouse really isn't a top place to be. Just ask Chris Jericho.

Now that his time is being split between WWE and his hosting duties on ABC's new game show, Downfall , Jericho is taking some heat from WWE management.

With that being said, is it really logical to have WWE give Jericho a MITB victory and the title shot that goes along with it? It's highly unlikely, to say the least.

R-Truth is a superstar that really succeeds in WWE's push for family-friendly gimmicks. Unfortunately for Ron Killings, success with the fans doesn't always translate to a world title push.

His recent U.S. Title run was nice, but it was never going to last long. The Miz is the king of that title picture, and will be until he leaves for the main-event level...which doesn't seem to be too far away.

If this were MITB 2011, we may be talking about R-Truth as a favorite. But this is 2010, and in the present, Truth is just a filler.

Smackdown's "Fillers"—Big Show and "Dashing" Cody Rhodes

Big Show works very well as a face, and I'm glad to see him hamming it up with his rivals. But the guy is 500 pounds—he isn't winning a ladder match any time soon.

I had to debate long and hard about Rhodes. I was never sold on his ability to make it as a successful singles superstar, but the debut of his "Dashing" gimmick has me believing.

A gimmick isn't the only thing that makes you a major player, though. Since debuting his new gimmick, Rhodes hasn't been pushed to the level at which a MITB winner would be.

Not yet, at least.

Rhodes is one of WWE's bright young stars, but as is the case with R-Truth, 2010 just isn't shaping up to be Rhodes' year to win a MITB contract.

Watch for Rhodes to be a dark horse at WrestleMania XXVII's MITB contest, though.