8 Biggest Wastes Of Money In The Bank In WWE History
Money down the drain.
Oh boy, it's Money in the Bank season! One of the last truly great innovations of modern WWE, the Money in the Bank ladder matches, and the PPV with their namesake, have become one of the most anticipated events on the company calendar. Speculation will run rampant for weeks as to who will win both the men's and women's briefcases, and publications such as ourselves will try to pump out as many articles as possible about the subject to get our own money in the bank (cha-ching).
Of course, even though Money in the Bank is a brilliant concept, not all MiTB winners are created equal. There have been some absolute stinkers who have held the briefcase, or there have been those unlucky few who were talented, but were severely misused both in their time holding the briefcase and as world champion. For every Edge, you get a Sheamus.
Whoever becomes Mr. and Ms. Money in the Bank this year, it's our solemn hope that WWE has a better idea of how to properly utilize them than they did with these unfortunate souls.
8. John Cena (2012)
The Money in the Bank briefcase is ideally given to either a) an up-and-coming superstar who uses it to graduate from the midcard to the main event, or b) a wayward veteran who uses it to reinvigorate their career. Neither of these applied to John Cena, who in 2012 was still the face of the company, still winning all the time, and really had nothing to gain from winning the RAW Money in the Bank briefcase.
But, of course, the plan was for CM Punk to keep the WWE Championship until the Royal Rumble where he would drop it to The Rock who would then drop it to Cena, leaving the RAW briefcase with no reason to exist that year. So, it was decided that Cena would win the briefcase, and like a true babyface, schedule his cash-in and announce it in advance. That would be RAW 1000, which took place eight days later. He and Punk had a predictably great match, but it was sullied by the Big Show, who ran in for a DQ and ensuing scuffle, thus costing Cena the WWE title and any future cash-in.
While the logic of all the events is sound, it does make Cena's win very pointless in a broad sense.