13 Ups And 23 Downs For WWE In 2020

4. Men’s MITB Becomes A Joke

Remember when the winner of the Money in the Bank ladder match was basically a made-man-in-waiting for WWE? The winner of the briefcase in the early days was an up-and-coming superstar who was just one step shy of the main event, and that guaranteed title shot was seen as an elevation.

Edge, Rob Van Dam, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins all had memorable moments with the briefcase and upped their game and standing as a result.

Lately, the men’s MITB briefcase has become something of an albatross. Three of the last four winners have failed in their cash-in attempts, including Baron Corbin and Braun Strowman. (Brock Lesnar’s MITB win in 2019 also was damning, as he entered the match at the last minute to capture the briefcase.)

But what happened this year has to be a dagger to the heart of the gimmick. Otis, a career tag team midcarder, won the MITB match unceremoniously when the briefcase literally fell into his hands. Still, the potential was there to elevate the hulking superstar as a serious player. Instead, the carried on as a midcard semi-comedy act, then lost the briefcase to Miz.

It seemed like WWE was trying to redeem the MITB briefcase by transitioning to a former world champion, but Miz was portrayed equally as a joke, looking incompetent on Raw, and finally failing at his cash-in during a TLC match at the PPV.

At this point, WWE either needs to consider scrapping the concept or getting back to basics with it, because it’s become a complete joke.