Here Comes The Money

At time of writing, we are just 6 days away from Money in the Bank, a PPV that last year went down fairly unanimously as one of the best PPVs in WWE history, thanks in no small part due to the relentless momentum of CM Punk, his electric rivalry with John Cena, and the classic main event that they put on that night. A year on, and Money in the Bank 2012 is shaping up to be… interesting. Let’s take a look

The Card
While Raw and Smackdown have one more episode each to run before this Sunday, it’s strange to me that at the moment MitB has only four booked matches. And with Santino and Christian tied-up in the World heavyweight championship money in the bank match (Dear god that’s a mouthful) we know that the intercontinental and US title’s aren’t going to be defended. So what does that leave? I think it’s fairly likely that Kofi Kingston and R-Truth will defend the Tag Team Championships against Prime Time Playa’s in a match that… I am not excited for in any way, shape or form. Tag Team wrestling at the moment has nothing to interest me, sorry to all you tag team fans out there, but that’s the way it is. So that’s five. We could also see Sin Cara, who I’m surprised hasn’t been added to the WHC MitB, but perhaps he yet will be. Ryback might also finally get to fight three jobbers, but personally I have a feeling that that is being saved for Summerslam. Anyway, let’s just stick with the five we’ve got so far.

Tag Team Championships
Kofi and Truth (Ch) vs. Prime Time Playa’s

Like I say, I really don’t care much, PTP could win here, if they don’t then I think they’ll win at Summerslam, if they do then there’ll probably be a rematch, again at Summerslam.

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Match
Christian vs. Tensai vs. Santino vs. Damien Sandow vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Dolph Ziggler

Now this match could legitimately tear the house down. Some of the best workers in the business today are here, Christian, Rhodes, Ziggler in particular, but everyone here can hold there own in the ring (Yes, even Tensai and Santino, as much as I hate them). I have very high expectations for this and it could, it COULD be match of the night, even with the Main event to contend with, which we’ll get to later. Prediction wise, I can only see this going one of two ways. It will be Cody Rhodes or it will be Dolph Ziggler. I’m gonna stick with my original prediction and say I think Cody Rhodes will win, particularly considering that he needed a second chance to get in to the match, there’s an angle there to be worked, there’s enough controversy. If Rhodes ends up knocking Christian off the ladder to win, then I’d say there’ll be something there, maybe a match at summer slam, Rhodes’ Money in the Bank contract vs. Christian’s intercontinental championship, now how awesome would that be?

World Heavyweight Championship
Sheamus (Ch) vs. Alberto del Rio

I personally really like Sheamus, maybe it’s just because I’m Irish, but I love the guy. But Sheamus has a glaring problem. The problem is this. There is no one right now in the WHC picture who is a credible threat to Sheamus at the moment. After he beats del Rio this Sunday, and he will beat del Rio, I have no doubt, there really is no one left to feud with. Fortunately, that will change very soon, the WHC picture is going to get very interesting, very soon. Assuming Rhodes wins MitB, Sheamus will have him to worry about, in addition to the returning Wade Barret and Randy Orton. Both men, particularly Barret I feel could pose a real threat to Sheamus, and with Rhodes lurking in the background, things are going to get very interesting, perhaps even more interesting than the WWE Championship picture, depending on if/how the Punk/Bryan/AJ feud continues. Speaking of the WWE Championship…

WWE Championship Money in the Bank Match
Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Big Show vs. John Cena

As much as I hate to say it, I think John Cena is going to win. Of the four, the other three would be much more interesting with the briefcase, I feel, but John Cena is John Cena, and John Cena wins, no matter how much sense it does or doesn’t make. Big Show could win, Jericho could be a very, very dark horse and Kane probably has the least chance of a victory. I probably want Jericho to win the most, but my head says Cena, and then Cena will probably break my heart and ruin one of the best feuds in years between Punk and Bryan. And if that’s the case… we’ll just have to enjoy what little goodness we have left…

WWE Championship
CM Punk (Ch) vs. Daniel Bryan
W/ AJ as Special Guest Referee

This match gives me chills. It also fills me with a lot of anxiety. The feud is the hottest thing in WWE right now, one of the hottest feuds in years… but if WWE choose to end it here to introduce Cena in to the picture, it will end on an extremely bitter note. As much as I love and adore AJ, I think she has been a revelation and has brought this feud from a 7/10 to a 9.5, she can’t decide the fate of the WWE Championship and this rivalry. If she decides the fate of this one match, that’s fine, but this can’t be the last match, there needs to be one more. I hope more than anything that the Iron Man match rumours for Summerslam are true, I think you have an all time classic just waiting to happen right there. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves. So, the match. At this moment in time, I haven’t a clue who’s going to win. It could be Punk, it could be Bryan. Punk has yet to beat Bryan cleanly one-on-one in this feud, there was controversy at Over the Limit with Punk tapped to the Lebell lock just moments after pinning Bryan, and at No Way Out, Punk pinned Kane to retain the title, Bryan losing without being involved in the decision. I don’t think we will see a clean victory here either. In terms of predictions, I think the chances of a Punk victory are very, very slightly higher than for Bryan. AJ will do something wacky, and my prediction is that this feud will go for one final showdown at either Summerslam or the 1000th episode of RAW.

So that’s what I think of Money in the Bank. I’m looking forward to it, I think it’s going to be a good PPV, and will set events up nicely as we roll onwards to the 1000th episode of RAW, and beyond to the second biggest PPV event of the year… Summerslam.