Last week on Monday Night Raw, John Cena made an announcement of “historic” proportions that was then backed up by Interim General Manager Vickie Guerrero’s mandate from the WWE Board of Directors. That’s right, for the first time ever, Cena will be entering the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match. And, for the first time ever, the only WWE superstars who can enter this match for WWE’s top prize are ex-WWE Champions.
No up and comers.
No WWE veterans who have never worn WWE gold around their waists.
Just guys like John Cena, and Kane, and the Big Show, and Chris Jericho.
And I couldn’t be more annoyed by this turn of events … Why? Because in my opinion, the Money in the Bank ladder match should be a MIX of good veteran workers who don’t always get a chance to shine on the bigger WWE stage that is a PPV event and young and hungry superstars who haven’t yet joined the ranks of more established household names.
Instead, this year’s Raw MITB match is going to be the Super Cena Show as WWE force-feeds him back into the title picture for his rumored match with CM Punk at SummerSlam. Throw in a Big Show vs. Kane scrum and a Chris Jericho spot or two and you have one of the most formulaic, predictable and disappointing Money In The Bank matches you’ll ever see. Of course, this can still be saved with a few creative additions to the match that will make it more fun — you know, like adding Sycho Sid, Diesel or Brock Lesnar into the mix — but I am going to assume that WWE plays it safe here and makes this match as uninteresting and boring as possible to let Cena shine yet again, unfortunately.
Which leads me to this: I’d like to personally thank the Wrestling Gods for this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown. SmackDown effective saved the Money in the Bank theme from tanking this time around, giving us the aforementioned mix of wrestlers for the Big Gold Belt briefcase match, as follows:
Christian
Lord Tensai
Santino Marella
Tyson Kidd
Damien Sandow…
…and more to come.
Now that’s what I like to see in my MITB ladder match.
Ultimately, Money in the Bank will shape up to be a solid card, especially with CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan on tap as the main event WWE Championship match that will also feature AJ Lee as special guest referee.
But it would be nice WWE actually stepped out of their comfort zone and tried to “make history” with someone other than John Cena where the Raw MITB Ladder Match is concerned.
What do you think of the two Money In The Bank ladder matches? How do you think the Raw MITB ladder match can be improved with the given stipulation of an ex-Champion-only mandate? Sound off in the comments section below!
That’s all from me — CB.
