10 Times WWE Totally WASTED Money In The Bank

7. Damien Sandow (2013)

WWE has many futile traditions that make sense only to the suits in the creative meeting, the most naive being their penchant for quietly building Money in the Bank winners by booking them on a losing streak ahead of their eventual cash-in. Dull, archaic idea aside, it still works; Naomi lost a No Holds Barred affair to Jade Cargill at Evolution 2025 before she cashed in on Iyo Sky at the end of the night.

In 2013, however, it failed.

Damien Sandow pocketed himself a World Heavyweight Championship match, but with Alberto Del Rio, who was also a heel, holding the prize, Sandow held off because, God forbid, WWE books two heels against each other. Instead, Damien was chased by Cody Rhodes. They ran back and forth, Cody polluted the river with the original SmackDown-branded blue case when he threw it off a bridge, and Sandow lost the one-sided scuffle, but it didn't matter. He was going to become the World Heavyweight Champion.

Except he didn't, because by the time he cashed in, John Cena was now the titleholder. A wounded John Cena, it must be stated: he had returned from a torn bicep the night before Sandow pounced. Even with one arm, though, Cena still managed to evaporate another mid-carder before they could break the glass ceiling.