5. Edge Cashes In The Money In The Bank Contract (New Year's Revolution 2006)
Up until recently, the most shocking result in modern WWE history had been when Edge cashed in the very first Money in the Bank contract to become champion. Edge won the right to a title match at any point in the next year at WrestleMania 21. Money in the Bank was a new concept carried by a budding new main-eventer desperate to find his niche at the top of the card. The gimmick was universally praised, but no one really knew what to expect from the cash-in. Most fans assumed that Edge would, all of the sudden, pick a PPV and tell the titleholder, Get ready for me to bank on my title shot. By January 2006, a lot of people were thinking that the Royal Rumble would be the destination. At the conclusion of the New Years Revolution PPV in early January, John Cena defended the WWE title against five other stars in the Elimination Chamber. As the fans had grown accustomed (and would continue to do so ad nauseum for a decade), Cena retained and My Time is Now blared through the loud speakers as live attendees filed out of the arena and pay-per-viewers started getting ready for the nights next or last activity. Yet, Mr. McMahon came out and announced that Edge would be cashing in right then and there. The fact that Money in the Bank is nearly ten years old and has had its own PPV for four years suggests that the shocker was a success.
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
