WWE: The Money in the Bank PPV I Wished Would Happen

Recall the WWE One Night Stand pay-per-view when Rob Van Dam cashed in his Money in the Bank title shot on John Cena. The raucous, verbally abusive crowd laid into Cena with obscenity-laden chants, throwing his T-shirt back in the ring each time he tried to toss it to a fan.

Showing an understanding for his job, thinking on his feet, Cena immediately reverted to his heel tendencies from a prior incarnation of his character and delivered a truly classic match.

Considering RVD that night successfully cashed in his MitB briefcase, it seems fitting that a PPV now bearing the name of the hallowed ladder match will be the setting for what may be Round 2 of John Cena vs. his naysayers.

Money in the Bank takes place in a few weeks in Chicago. And as we know, Chicago’s own CM Punk will be facing Cena in the main event for the WWE Championship.

A big wrestling city like Chicago, much like anywhere in Canada and New York, tends to lean toward the heels. They prefer to cheer for the bad guys, jeer the good guys and with Punk being a proud Chicagoan, the fans will be on their game come the PPV.

This leads me to my dream booking for Money in the Bank as follows. Again, this is dream booking and not at all what I expect will actually occur. A more cynical, and sadly realistic attempt to predicting the show follows. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match—Kofi Kingston vs. Sin Cara vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Barrett vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler

—Raising the value of the match, there will be just one MitB title shot on the line. Each spot will be earned by winning a match on their given brand. Representing SmackDown are Sin Cara, Sheamus, Jinder Mahal and Barrett, with Kofi, ADR, Ziggler and Mysterio coming from Raw.

Only two guys in this match have held a top title (Sheamus and Mysterio, I don’t count Ziggler’s “reign”), and Barrett and ADR have challenged but never won. This match is about elevating someone to a new level, so that makes sense.

Winner: ADR—This fits his “destiny” bit perfectly. ADR is the model Mr. MitB and could do great things with the storyline. We all know he’s going to be a champ before the end of the year and this continues that build.

Intercontinental Championship—Ezekiel Jackson vs. Cody Rhodes

—Again, this is how I would book it, not what I expect to happen. Moving the belt off Wade Barrett will hopefully be a time of transition for the belt. SmackDown is run by midcard heels right now, and having the belt on Cody makes most sense. He isn’t quite ready for the prime time in the main event with the glut of bad guy challengers, so some time with gold around his waist would do him good.

Winner: Rhodes

No DQ—Alex Riley vs. The Miz

—As much as I love the Riley push, he’s still green in the ring. His few minutes of offense in the six-man tag on Raw amounted to a few running shoulder blocks and a lot of grunting. Making it No DQ ramps up the rivalry, allows it to be more violent and permits the lesser technical wrestlers to use their surroundings to put on a compelling match. It also gives Miz the chance to win without taking the wind out of Riley’s sail. I’d like to see a new Miz lackey debut here to increase the obstacles Riley has to pass to get to Miz. Ideally, a Skip Sheffield return would be my pick. If not, Drew McIntyre looks good in a suit and can play the silent assassin for Miz.

Winner: Miz

World Heavyeight Championship—Randy Orton vs. Christian

—Referee incompetence cost Christian a pinfall defeat at Capitol Punishment since he had his foot under the rope when Orton covered him for the win. Teddy Long can’t ignore this error, and despite popular opinion, Christian receives a rematch.

While battling outside the ring, the ref comes out to try to get them back inside. In the fray, Christian lowers his shoulder and drives Orton back toward the ring post, sandwiching the ref between the champion and the ring, knocking him down. Christian rolls Orton into the ring, hits the Killswitch, but there isn’t anyone to count. Christian gets out of the ring, grabs a chair, clamps Orton’s arm and crushes it several times. The ref comes to and sees Orton’s leg in the chair, and DQ’s Christian.

Winner: Orton via DQ.  Furious he nearly won the title again, Christian is talking to himself while walking up the ramp. As he gets up there, Alberto Del Rio comes running down to the ring with the MitB in hand. He hands it to the ref who calls for the bell. ADR slaps on the cross armbreaker on Orton’s injured limb and he taps immediately.

New Champion: Alberto Del Rio

WWE Championship—John Cena vs. CM Punk

—The crowd is rabid, ragging on Cena. He comes out and does his shtick, but it's met with a chorus of boos. Punk comes out and there are immediately deafening CM Punk chants. Punk uses standard heel tactics, but each time he rakes the eyes or ducks under the ropes, the crowd cheers more. Finally, Cena has enough and goes all “Ruthless Aggression” John Cena and begins hammering away on Punk. Cena dominates the majority of the match until Punk rallies back. We get a flurry of nearfalls, finisher attempts, Punk locks in the Anaconda Vice, Cena gets out, gripping his shoulder, he lifts Punk up for the AA, but his arm gives out and Punk reverses into a GTS for the pinfall

Winner: New Champ, CM Punk. Crowd would go nuts and as Punk celebrates, Cena jumps him from behind, beating him down in the corner. He wails on him until refs come down to pull him off. He spits in the direction of the fans as he’s pulled away from the ring as the crowd boos even louder.

Fall out: With Miz and Riley now at 1-1 on PPV, they go to a rubber match blow-off at SummerSlam, where Miz wins clean, but not after a number of defeats. … Daniel Bryan becomes top contender for IC Title and feuds into SummerSlam against Cody Rhodes. … After MitB, Sheamus turns face, interrupting Christian during a promo and telling him that he needs to stop blaming other and be a real man, which leads to PPV match. … Orton demands he receive his rematch at SS against Del Rio, who officially moves back to SmackDown. … After announcing he has signed a contract extension, Punk is the top face on Raw where a furious John Cena is irate that the crowd would turn on him after everything he’s done for them.

Realistic (cynical) Prediction

U.S. Title—Ziggler vs. Kofi—Dolph wins

Miz vs. Riley—Riley wins

Big Show vs. Mark Henry—Show wins

MitB—Mysterio vs. Truth vs. Sin Cara vs. Sheamus vs. Del Rio vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett—Sheamus wins

WHC Title—Orton vs. Christian—Orton wins clean

WWE Title—Cena vs. Punk—Cena wins, gets booed out of the arena, smiles, salutes, shows up at the next city and is welcomed by adoring children in orange T-shirts while Punk takes a few months off.