There have been 22 entries of WWE’s lucrative ladder battle.
We figured out the worst of the worst to the best of the best.
This Sunday is the ninthWWE Money in the BankPPV.
As someone who has just rewatched every single one of these matches, it doesnt work quite as well.
Or at least, it doesnt work as easily.
Unlike the Rumble, only the winner is the one who truly gets over.
Still, all the Money in the Bank matches are a fun time, even if a bit hollow.
Ad content continues below
Im factoring four things into my rankings.
First, their performance in the match itself.
Second, how their run as Mr./Ms.
Money in the Bank paid off.
Third, the actual cash-in where they give a shot to win the title.
Finally, theres the aftermath, which speaks for itself.
Lets start it off with the dirt worst and it shouldnt be too big of a surprise.
I believe he had a single televised win during those 106 days.
The Cash-In
John Cena became World Heavyweight Champion despite having a hurt arm.
The two battled it out onRawand had a really fantastic match.
The Aftermath
Sandow never really recovered from his loss to Cena.
Carmella would go on to become a double winner over the course of a couple weeks.
Unfortunately, theres good reason for there being a do-over.
For a match with only five women in it, Carmella didnt really do much at all.
He removed the case, dropped it into her hands, and she won.
Carmella didnt have any real run to speak about…
Carmella didnt even get a cash-in out of this.
The redo would take place a week later.
This is the one reason why Carmella at least out-ranks Damien Sandow.
MR. KENNEDY
WrestleMania 23 (2007)
Ken Kennedy seemed like a cant-miss prospect.
Mr. Kennedy was in an eight-man match and did little to stick out in any way.
He just failed to come out of most situations looking strong.
If that was ever the plan, fate had other ideas.
Kennedy is the glossed footnote of Money in the Bank history.
Kennedy gave in to the taunts and lost immediately.
Then it turned out that Kennedys injury wasnt nearly as bad as it originally looked.
Orton and Cena complained to management and Kennedy was off to TNA.
It was a relatively short ten-man ladder match with very little emphasis on multiple-man spots.
He just didnt really do much other than be stuck.
After that, he vanished from the match and trounced Christian in the end, rather abruptly.
Luckily, his briefcase wasnt dedicated to aspecificworld title belt.
OnSmackDown, World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho was coming off a successfulWrestleManiatitle defense against Edge.
Then again, after that match, Edge speared Jericho through a table.
He entered the ring and frantically demanded his title match.
One powerbomb later and Swagger was World Heavyweight Champion.
Swaggers reaction upon getting the pin said it all.
Instead of an enthusiastic jock narcissist, Swagger just remained still and calm.
This included Swagger, who lost all of his charm upon becoming champion.
Not only that, but he went down in WWE history as one of the all-time worst-booked champions.
He lost an awful lot and rarely ever looked competent.
His only saving grace was a clean win over Randy Orton that nobody really remembers.
He was a WWE creation through and through, making his eventual rise a done deal.
OnceSmackDowns quality died down, Corbin took a massive creative hit.
It was time to step up…maybe.
The biggest thing he took was a Zigzag off the bottom of a ladder.
If anything, Corbin looked absolutely rocking in the opening minutes.
He looked great overpowering nearly everyone in sight and only suffered a Ziggler superkick for his troubles.
All in all, Corbin did okay.
He washed his hands of the Sami Zayn feud and moved on to feuding with Shinsuke Nakamura.
At first glance, things looked to be going great for the Big, Bad Wolf.
John Cena had a match against Jinder Mahal oneSmackDownand Corbin took that opportunity to run out and attack Cena.
Corbin went after him, only to be rolled up by Jinder.
Not only did Corbin lose his cash-in, but he lost in humiliating fashion.
Things didnt get much better for Corbin.
Cena proceeded to clown him in their feud and ultimately won.
Corbin never got to look all that good in his following storylines.
Intercontinental Champion match), but the company refused to get behind him in any meaningful way.
Del Rio immediately received a kick to the temple and got knocked out before the match could happen.
Del Rio lost a 5-minute opening round match to Kofi Kingston.
Then atSummerSlam, Del Rio was on the losing team in a six-man tag match.
Punk ended up winning, though in a less-than-decisive way, and celebrated in the ring.
Suddenly, Kevin Nash showed up out of nowhere and laid him out with a Jackknife Powerbomb.
Del Rio sidestepped the Punk/Nash/Triple H quagmire and went directly into a feud with John Cena.
Note: Cena delivered that speechdirectly after Del Rio successfully retained against Rey Mysterio.
Yet…not really.
Cena didnt waste much time on his guaranteed title shot.
Cena announced that on the following week,Raws thousandth episode, he would cash in against CM Punk.
To add to the narrative that Cena was having a rough year, he failed to capture the title.
Despite technically winning, Cena became the first cash-in to fail.
Its sort of the opposite of how the match is supposed to work.
He remained super successful, but IN SPITE of being Mr. Money in the Bank.
He then got stuck in a stupid, stupid feud with Dolph Ziggler that he mostly dominated.
They seemed to be serious about rebuilding his brand and bringing him back to the top.
Sheamus got stuck in a boring feud with Randy Orton that never really went anywhere.
Sheamus at least came out on top at the end.
At least, thats what I gather from checking Wikipedia to jog my memory.
to the awkward sound of crickets.
Thatguy was going to be champion only a couple hours later.
Survivor Seriessaw the end of a tournament to crown a new champion.
The same tournament had Sheamus lose in the first round against Cesaro.
Roman Reigns won his first world title by pinning his bro Dean Ambrose.
As an excessive amount of confetti dropped, Triple H offered his hand to him post-match.
Reigns Speared Triple H instead, only to turn around into a Brogue Kick from Sheamus.
Sheamus cashed in, hit another Brogue Kick, and left as the new corporate champion.
Braun absolutely rocked this one.
Most Money in the Bank matches are very blatantly every man or woman for themselves.
Teamwork is short-term at best.
In 2018, it was very much Braun vs. everyone.
read more: 100 Best Royal Rumble Moments
When Braun would recover, hed rain Hell on everyone.
This was Brauns playground.
Braun had an extremely one-sided feud with Kevin Owens.
Braun put his briefcase on the line atSummerSlamand absolutely squashed Owens.
Then things got iffy.
He appeared during the Brock vs. Roman main event as a threat to whoever won.
It was a complete and utter disaster.
THAT was Brauns cash-in.
Hes now more of a special attraction than a viable title contender.
Unfortunately, Jeff got busted with a wellness violation and was suspended, missingWrestleManiacompletely.
Time for plan B!
Punk did all right for himself in terms of his in-match performance.
If Punk was going to do something cool right there, we never got to see it.
Punks run was as middle-of-the-road as you might get.
He won a bunch and he lost a bunch.
Thanks to the WWE Draft, World Heavyweight Champion Edge was going to be traded toSmackDown.
He left Edge in a heap and walked away.
Punk still retained due to a DQ ending.
Alexa was such a non-factor, especially for everything outside of the last several minutes.
Before Ronda could make Nia tap, Alexa ran in and attacked the two with her briefcase.
She cashed it in, beat Nia handily, and became the champion again.
Alexa first had to deal with Nia and ended their feud once and for all atExtreme Rules.
The match was a total squash and Alexa didnt do so great in the rematch either.
It was time to finally pull the trigger on Mr. Ziggles.
Dolph Ziggler exists to take bumps and thats just what he did right here.
Outside of hitting a sweet Zigzag on Cody Rhodes, Ziggler spent the entire match getting thrown around.
Sure, he lost a feud to Cena, but he recovered from it better than most.
He also put his briefcase on the line against Chris Jerichos career and won.
AtWrestleMania, Ziggler and Big E lost against Team Hell No in an attempt to win the tag titles.
Ziggler granted the post-Maniacrowd their wish by setting up the impromptu title match.
Things were looking good with Ziggler feuding with both Del Rio and Swagger at the same time.
It looked like Ziggler had finally secured his spot as a top player.
Then Swagger accidentally gave Ziggler a major concussion.
The decision was made to have Ziggler drop the title and they did it the best way possible.
He faced Del Rio in a fantastic match that was able to pull off the rare double-turn.
Del Rio viciously kept attacking Zigglers head to the point that the crowd turned on him.
Ziggler lost and this newfound face turn should have helped his momentum.
For the first half of this rather lengthy Money in the Bank match, Bryan was barely there.
He hit his trademark dropkick, hit his trademark dive, and thats it.
Durable and with heart, but nothing in his fists.
Since Bryan was supposedly a champion in the making, wins were meaningless to him.
At least, thats what the humanoids in the writers room figured.
Bryan carried his briefcase to many matches and lost most of them.
Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes pinned him on a regular basis.
Michael Cole continued to rain on the insults.
Bryan wasnt looking so good, but at least he had thatWrestleManiapayoff sitting far in the distance.
AtTLC, Henry and Big Show fought in a Chairs Match.
Big Show won, only for Henry to lay him out afterwards.
Bryan rushed to the ring and handed the briefcase to the ref, demanding the match.
Bryan celebrated his championship win as both Big Show and Michael Cole remained speechless.
Big Show dug his own grave.
All this time he pushed Bryan not to wait forWrestleManiaand Bryan listened.
This altered storyline worked out great for Bryans career.
He grew into a pompous ass, constantly high over his own success.
From this persona was born the YES!
It was that support that helped him become the star ofWrestleMania XXX.
In this case, it was Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel screwing over Daniel Bryan and then CM Punk.
Ortons win was almost a footnote.
It was a pretty big deal and everyone was pumped.
Randy Orton walked out, case in hand, and surveyed the scene.
Yes, Bryan just had his match, but he still looked raring to go.
Was cashing in a wise choice?
Was Orton above this behavior as a face?
Triple H made the decision for him by turning on Bryan and planting him with a Pedigree.
Then again, he also lost cleanly to Kofi Kingston in a non-title match.
Orton was WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but he didnt seem like the most fearsome competitor.
Regardless, the loss came atWrestleManiain a triple threat and he wasnt even the one to take the fall.
Carmella had more to do this time, but it wasnt much to endear her despite being very entertaining.
This ended badly as all four opponents surrounded the ladder and knocked her off.
She never looked all that fantastic during that time, but thats to be expected.
The womens division onSmackDowncrumbled in terms of creative and nothing seemed to matter anymore for the female roster.
Carmella was almost forgotten about, especially after James Ellsworth was fired.
She was just kinda there.
Carmella arrived, handed over her briefcase to a confused referee, and had an easy win.
Carmella lost her championship without getting pinned in a triple threat atSummerSlam.
Although she hasnt been part of the title scene since, shes still been doing all right for herself.
He had multiple tag title runs and had the United States Championship over his shoulder.
At the time, he looked like he could be the breath of fresh air WWE needed.
He simplyhadto be the next Mr. Money in the Bank.
Mizs in-ring adventure was really what Edges should have been.
Regardless, Miz did all right for himself by holding onto his United States Championship long enough.
Barrett took on Orton for the title theRawafterSurvivor Series.
Miz chose that opening to demand his title match against the fatigued Orton.
Although Orton was still formidable, he went down to the Skull-Crushing Finale.
Your whole fucking life!
At least he also had a really good title defense against former partner John Morrison mixed in there.
He was doing fine, but thenWrestleManiacame and Cena was his opponent.
Them losing wasnt the problem.
Miz plateaued and could never be a believable main eventer again.
As it turned out, Vince intended to bring back ECW as a third TV show/brand.
It just needed a little extra promotion to get the ball rolling.
Maybe a big title change that could get more eyes on the extended product… RVD still had to fight off Shelton Benjamin and Matt Hardy before being considered the rightful winner.
Being an honorable face, RVD made no attempts to sneak attack anyone.
Instead, he just carried it with him, coining the term Mr. Money in the Bank.
He put the briefcase on the line against Shelton Benjamins Intercontinental Championship and came out on top.
handicap match against the Spirit Squad).
It wasnt the clean title change many hoped for, but it got the job done.
RVD and Sabu got pulled over and were caught with drugs.
This killed their prospects dead.
RVD lost his status, which never again reached that height, andECWlost its star.
But hey, at least they still had Kurt Angle!
…Or, uh…at least they still had Chris Benokay, moving on.
He was quietly taken out of the title picture and ended up back at square one.
We already knew Punks intentions.
Since Edge soon after became World Heavyweight Champion, Punk was totally fine with deja vu.
The main reason he didnt go all-in was that Umaga kept showing up to ruin his fun.
Every time hed go after the hurt champ, the Samoan Bulldozer would attack Punk.
He tangled with Umaga and laid their feud to rest atExtreme Rulesin a Samoan Strap Match.
He would no longer be blocked from championship gold.
In the main event of that show, Jeff Hardy beat Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Punk then ran out and made the challenge.
Punk became champion and the crowd wasnt so happy.
That was against the rules?
This was exactly what Punk needed to find himself.
They couldnt just build up a match of Edge vs. whichever champ and have Edge cheat to win.
They needed something special.
Something that would make everyone identify him as a scheming, villainous mastermind.
As for why Edge isnt on top of this list?
The very first Money in the Bank is a great match.
Its also an extremely important Edge match.
Its just not a very good Edge match.
Despite winning, Edge found himself being the most forgettable wrestler there.
He started off doing the regular cannon fodder bumps (ie.
catching a handful of dives alongside his opponents).
Considering it was the first time they were doing that, it just rubbed me the wrong way.
Edge had a lot going on as the first Money in the Bank holder.
For two, he took part in multiple feuds and constantly got to look victorious.
He got to keep a strong TV presence while being immune to having to lose matches.
John Cena defended his WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber and barely came out of it the victor.
It was the original and in many minds its the best.
This started out a little shaky but paid off in the end.
Edge was the new champ and ratings kicked in because this was new and exciting.
Unfortunately, they were really intent on doing Cena vs.
Triple H forWrestleMania, so Edge lost the title within a couple weeks.
Its not even close.
Becoming champion was still going to be tricky.
It wasnt just for the fact that Dean Ambrose was attacking him at every waking moment.
The champions during this time were John Cena and later Brock Lesnar.
Even in a weakened state, pinning either guy was not going to be easy.
AtWrestleMania, Rollins lost a singles match to Randy Orton after taking the sweetest RKO.
Also during that show, Dean Ambrose was hospitalized after taking some extensive damage in a Ladder Match.
That meant nobody would be able to thwart Rollins if he decided to ask for his title shot.
The main event was Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
It was telegraphed that Reigns was going to win and the crowd hated it.
His screams then became a look of horrified realization once Rollins music started playing.
Rollins bolted out and had it turned into a triple threat.
Rollins endedWrestleManiaas the new champion, using the gimmick to the fullest.
On paper, he was very successful.
In reality, he was the weeniest champion around.
It wasnt that he was willing to show ass as a heel.
That kind of behavior is expected.
Its more that he was a champion who was horrified at the mere idea of ever having to wrestle.
Like he forgot what his job was.
Stephanie, cant you talk some sense into him?!
Money in the Bank still made him a big deal.
The Undertaker was found beaten into a vegetative state and Kane declared that he wouldprosecuteandpersecutethose responsible.
Kane confronted all the top names on theSmackDownroster but found no answers.
Kane had two things going for him in this match.
One, he was one of the two physical favorites alongside Big Show.
Two, it was a very long match, clocking in at over 26 minutes.
Kane got to hang out backstage for a spell.
Jack Swaggers attempt to regain the World Heavyweight Champion went up in smoke after Rey Mysterio pinned him.
He attacked Swagger and chased him backstage while delivering blow after blow.
Mysterio took a second to enjoy his retained championship belt.
Then the pyro went off and Kane returned, briefcase in hand.
He cashed in his title on the same show he won it against the same man he just rescued.
Kane easily manhandled Mysterio and became the new World Heavyweight Champion.
It didnt matter because Kane spent several months defeating his brother again and again.
Things werent perfect as Kanes next challenger was Edge.
Call it a gold watch title reign or bemoan the fact that a younger wrestler didnt climb the ladder.
That is, until…
1.
Ambrose was the odd man out.
Ambrose certainly put in his time and effort.
Very little offense but a lot of showing that he could endure a lot of pain and keep going.
Ambrose didnt sit on his hands for very long.
With briefcase in hand, Ambrose kept his eyes peeled.
Seth Rollins cleanly defeated Roman Reigns as part one of Romans punishment for failing WWEs wellness test.
He cashed in the briefcase, hit Dirty Deeds, and won the title.
While thats heelish behavior, it worked as long game comeuppance for Rollins.
It also meant that in one night, all three members of the Shield were WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Otherwise, Ambrose did extremely well for himself.
Even then, before stepping down from the title picture, Ambrose got a clean win over John Cena.
