Last week history was made one more time as WWE came off of a phenomenal Wrestlemania week. As they rounded out the end of the week, we saw them make headlines again with Jack Swagger cashing in his Money in the Bank faster than anyone in the history of the match. Because of this surprising development, I wanted to talk about the success and failure of the men who have won and cashed in Money in the Bank in the past.
We begin with the innovator of the Money in the Bank cash-in, Edge. Edge seemed destined to be just on the outside of the main event for his entire career. He was shoved down the throats of a large portion of the audience as he turned heel and he never quite seemed to connect as a babyface. He won the briefcase at Wrestlemania 21, but held on to it for a long time. The connection for the audience actually seemed to stem from a real life situation between Edge and Matt Hardy. As these two fought, Edge developed the “Rated R Superstar” persona that has carried him through to today. As that feud came to a close, Edge finally seemed poised to breakthrough to the main event.
At New Years Revolution 2006 Edge pioneered a new type of championship win, the Money in the Bank cash-in. In a matter of seconds, Edge had defeated John Cena and was a champion. Of course this was the beginning of one of the defining rivalries of this era of WWE programming. Edge went on to win eight world championships after this. This win helped him to gain the moniker of the Ultimate Opportunist. He is one of the defining wrestlers of this time and also one of the best. He has been in three Wrestlemania main events and is one of the most respected superstars today.
A mere three months after Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank we were all pleased to find out that this match would be an annual Wrestlemania tradition. The second Money in the Bank winner would be Rob Van Dam. Fans everywhere were excited about this. RVD seemed to have been held back for a long time in WWE and injuries did not help the problem either. This would seem to be rectified with him winning Money in the Bank and that coinciding with the relaunch of ECW. We all know how well the attempt to replicate the original ECW went, but RVD’s subsequent title reign? It also flopped. Rob Van Dam was pulled over and arrested for being in procession of an illegal substance while he was both WWE and ECW champion.
The rest of RVD’s WWE career seemed to be a punishment for humiliating the company while he was their champion. Now Rob is in TNA, which is a far worse punishment than any that WWE would actually impose on their talent. However he did get away from that nasty drug policy that WWE seems to love enforcing. Good work Rob.
The next MITB winner faces a similar current situation to that of RVD. He is Mr. Kennedy. This guy was red hot when he won the briefcase at Wrestlemania 23. This guy was pegged as the future and as the next Steve Austin. However an unfortunate injury ruined this man’s career. He is easily the least successful winner of MITB, since he is the only one to not get the opportunity to cash in his briefcase. After he lost this contract he would return to WWE for many failed runs which would be interrupted by suspensions and injuries. Now he is in TNA where he will most likely be losing two minutes matches to a mayonnaise-covered Orlando Jordan in about a months time.
Of course Edge would end up cashing in the briefcase after winning it from Kennedy and go on to a great year-long feud with The Undertaker. To me, that is a winning situation for Edge.
The winner of the Wrestlemania 24 Money in the Bank should have been Jeff Hardy. He was the obvious choice for the big push to the world championship scene. However, Jeff Hardy can’t seem to keep off of the drugs (much like the winner at Wrestlemania 22). Instead they had a guaranteed drug free win in CM Punk. His world title win was one of the more shocking Raw moments from the recent decade. An amazing segment and a really great episode of Raw. What followed was an interesting rivalry with JBL that included a great promo involving those two men and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
Punk would go on to lose the title at the end of the summer in a match that he was not even involved in because of a backstage beat down from what would become Legacy. Punk seemed to be instantly pushed down the card and he was declared a failure as champion. All of that would change at Wrestlemania 25.
CM Punk would once again climb the ladder to greatness and gasp immortality in the form of a briefcase (I was attempting to sound like Matt Striker). He went on to cash in and in the process become one of the greatest heels of the modern era. His character gradually changed from face to heel. Punk showed everything that the is capable of in this feud and managed to get Jeff Hardy even more over than he was (and he continued to do so until Hardy showed up in TNA on January 4). This began Punk’s excellent run as the “Straight Edge Messiah” and the “Second-city Saint.” Now with his own society in tow, Punk is edging ever closer to another world title reign. He is a wrestler who could move into that position at any moment and have it be a legitimate win.
As far as success goes, it is hard to argue with Edge as the most successful Money in the Bank winner with Punk as a close second. They have performed above and beyond the call of duty with the briefcase and without it. The true mark of success in this situation is to not need the ladder and the briefcase to get over as a world champion. RVD and Kennedy have been the failures in this respect. They have also ended up in an inferior company.
Which column will Jack Swagger end up in? Will he be another great who used MITB and a launching pad to great success? Or will he flounder and be pushed down the card until he become Kurt Angle Jr who came to TNA looking for competition? I believe that this win will do wonderful things for Swagger’s career. He has fought hard for this opportunity and hopefully we will see his work rewarded.
As always, do not hesitate to let me know what you think! If you don’t like me TNA bashing, please let me have it! I enjoy a good argument. Also, who do you think will be the next MITB superstar to rise to the main event?
