10 Times WWE Totally WASTED Money In The Bank
Tales of when WWE went bankrupt: featuring Otis, Jack Swagger, and others.
After two decades of sharing the spotlight with its veteran bedfellow, the WWE Money in the Bank Ladder match has trumped the Royal Rumble as the company's more golden star-making project.
It's a bold statement, admittedly, given the eternal adoration for the Rumble held by almost every wrestling fan, but a study of each stipulation's list of winners and what they achieved with their newfound status confirms it: scaling a ladder offers a greater chance of retrieving a permanent ticket to the top than chucking 29 folk over the top rope.
Since 2005, when Money in the Bank was introduced, the men's Royal Rumble has provided only two examples of a mid-carder turning world-class. Batista (2005) and Drew McIntyre (2020) provided WWE with a return on its investment. Every other winner was either already an established headliner, or failed to deliver on WWE's push.
It's not much better on the women's side either, as only one of the nine Rumble winners (Bianca Belair) was permanently better off after winning. Money in the Bank, meanwhile, has provided an almost endless slew of new main eventers.
Gushing Money in the Bank plaudits aside, WWE hasn't always gotten it right...
10. Jack Swagger (2010)
SmackDown's upper echelon was in dire straits as WrestleMania 26 loomed in 2010.
Chris Jericho and Edge had the potential for a World Title blood feud if WWE wanted it. Flung together to give both a new sense of direction in 2009, they became the Unified Tag Team Champions, but a torn Achilles tendon ruled Edge out until the new year, replaced as Jericho's plus-one by The Big Show. From there, you know the drill: a veteran heel recovers from injury and suddenly turns babyface because it's an easier story to tell.
Away from the Canadians, a significant lack of upper-card alternatives ready to challenge either Jericho or Edge meant it was imperative that one of 'SmackDown's guys' won what turned out to be the final Money in the Bank Ladder match at WrestleMania. Kane, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin, and Drew McIntyre were the blue brand's representation in the match, but casting his eye across the ring, Vince McMahon chose Raw's Jack Swagger to become Mr Money in the Bank, switch to SmackDown days later, and defeat Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship.
It failed, unsurprisingly, because McMahon ordered Swagger to drop the obnoxious amateur athlete schtick and become a towering bully. That doesn't really work when his first feud was against The Big Show.
Come WrestleMania 27, he was playing second fiddle to Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole.