WWE Money in the Bank ladder matches: The stories behind the stories

[Counting Lights]

Hey guys, my friend linked me to an article written by a former WWE creative member that sheds some light on various past Money in the Bank winners. Some stuff is reall interesting, some of it's flat out heartbreaking. Regardless, it's a great read.

 

Link: http://www.sportingnews.com/wwe/news/wwe-money-in-the-bank-ladder-matches-stories-2017/1en3eult6j1jc14459pujzsbpy

 

Money in the Bank ladder matches have been a staple in WWE for more than a decade, first as an annual attraction at WrestleMania and then as a yearly eponymous pay-per-view beginning in 2010.

The matches have produced plenty of high drama and death-defying high spots, and the subsequent cash-ins by the MITB contract winners have made for some memorable moments.

As a member of the WWE creative team from 2011-14, I was involved in the booking of several MITB pay-per-views and cash-ins. Here are some of the stories behind the stories that played out on the screen during that time.

Mark Henry’s pain is Daniel Bryan’s gain

I started working for WWE at the end of August 2011, six weeks after Bryan won the "SmackDown" MITB ladder match. Bryan’s victory was surprising at the time because he wasn’t getting much of a push beforehand. He wasn’t getting much of one after winning the blue briefcase, either. In fact, I was informed by some of my colleagues that Vince McMahon was having buyer’s remorse about making Bryan “SmackDown’s” Mr. Money in the Bank. The question was no longer when Bryan would cash in and win the title, it was whether he should be the first MITB winner to cash in and fail.

Since attaining the briefcase, Bryan lost "SmackDown” matches to Sin Cara, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett. Some weeks he wasn’t even on “SmackDown,” as he was relegated to performing on “Superstars” against Heath Slater, Trent Barreta and William Regal. After winning the MITB ladder match in July, Bryan lost to Barrett at the following month’s pay-per-view, SummerSlam. Then he worked the dark match on three consecutive pay-per-views against Slater, JTG and Barrett before being left off Survivor Series altogether.

I didn’t know whether Bryan would ever be world champion, but I figured it could only help his cause if he had a story line, even a minor one. I pitched putting Bryan and another nerdy, undersized underdog — AJ Lee — together as a couple. Head writer Brian Gewirtz liked the idea, and we started writing some backstage segments with Bryan and AJ into the show.

By the way, when I pulled Bryan and AJ aside at TV and told them they were about to become an on-screen couple, AJ was thrilled to be getting any opportunity, but Bryan was something less than thrilled. He said the last time he was involved in a romantic story line (with Gail Kim and The Bella Twins), it did him more harm than good. Despite his misgivings, however, Bryan was a total pro.

Just as this nice, little undercard story line was getting underway, there was a major development regarding the World Heavyweight title program between then-champion Henry and Big Show. Henry was banged up and potentially was going to need some time off, so McMahon made the call to have him drop the title at the TLC pay-per-view, where he was booked to defend against Big Show. The logical solution was simply to have Big Show defeat Henry for the title, but one of the writers suggested in a booking meeting that after Big Show wins, Henry lays him out after the match, and that brings Bryan out to cash in the MITB contract and win the title from Big Show.

McMahon looked up at the ceiling for several seconds as he often did when the wheels in his head were turning. I was surprised he was even considering it, but I was absolutely stunned when he said he liked the idea. Not only did he like it, but he already knew where he wanted to go with the story line. McMahon said that after Bryan wins the title, success will go to his head and he’ll gradually turn heel.

I spoke up and said that if Bryan started treating AJ badly and taking her for granted after becoming champion it could help generate heel heat for him. McMahon didn’t dismiss the suggestion, but he said he wasn’t sure AJ had “the chops” to pull off that type of story line. It didn’t take long, however, for McMahon to become a huge fan of Bryan and AJ’s work, as the couple’s exploits became must-see TV.

Bryan, of course, eventually turned babyface again and became one of WWE’s biggest and most beloved stars. In retrospect, one has to wonder if Bryan would have ever risen to those heights if Henry hadn’t gotten injured. Instead of Bryan’s “Yes” movement becoming a phenomenon, Bryan very well could have made history by being the first MITB winner to cash in and lose.

‘The People Will Go Banana’ for Dolph Ziggler!

When Ziggler won the 2012 MITB ladder match for a guaranteed shot at the World Heavyweight Title, there was no specific plan in place as to when he would cash in and win the title. Ziggler actually attempted to cash in the contract several times only to be thwarted before the cash-in match could become official. It started to become a running joke. Much like Bryan, the longer Ziggler carried around the briefcase, the more likely it seemed that his eventual cash-in was going to be unsuccessful.

To say McMahon had lost faith in Ziggler during this time would be a major understatement. Even though Ziggler was getting a good reaction from the fans, McMahon was highly critical of Ziggler’s instincts in the ring and his promos. Triple H wasn’t a big Ziggler fan, either. He thought Ziggler didn’t take direction well and was overly obsessed with trying to be the next Shawn Michaels.

However, Ziggler did have one important supporter: WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson, who had been a member of McMahon’s inner circle on the creative side for decades and now had emeritus status. Even before Ziggler won the MITB ladder match, Patterson constantly prodded McMahon to give Ziggler a strong push.

Patterson was never more fervent about Ziggler than he was during WrestleMania weekend in April 2013. Patterson was adamant that Ziggler should cash in the contract at WrestleMania and win the World Heavyweight Title.

"I’m telling you, the people will go banana!" Patterson, who had a penchant for dropping the “s" off plural words, exuberantly proclaimed in his thick French-Canadian accent to anyone who would listen.

Patterson made one final, impassioned plea to McMahon at the WrestleMania production meeting, but McMahon shot it down. There would be no WrestleMania moment for Ziggler. However, McMahon began the "Raw" production meeting the next day by announcing that Ziggler would cash in the contract on Alberto Del Rio on that night’s “Raw” to become World Heavyweight Champion.

After making the announcement to a roomful of surprised writers and producers, McMahon said he wanted to be clear that "we are not pushing Dolph.” McMahon explained that he was going through with the cash-in and title switch because he wanted a big, surprise moment for the night after WrestleMania.

When Ziggler won the title that night, the people did indeed “go banana.” In fact, it remains one of the most exciting and memorable cash-ins ever. It would’ve been fitting if the frenzied fans had started a “Thank you, Pat!” chant.

MORE: Biggest MITB briefcase-winning failures

Damien Sandow cashes in, flames out

There was much internal debate over who should win the 2013 MITB ladder match for a guaranteed shot at the World Heavyweight Title. Nearly all of the competitors — Sandow, Barrett, Rhodes, Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, Fandango and Jack Swagger — had some support among the writers and producers.

My choice was Barrett. I thought he had future world champion written all over him ever since he made his main roster debut in 2010 as the leader of The Nexus. A solid worker and terrific talker with good size, Barrett had somehow gotten lost in the shuffle, but giving him the briefcase would put him right back in the title picture where he belonged.

As the MITB pay-per-view grew closer, McMahon narrowed down the potential winners of the match to Barrett and Sandow. I pushed for Barrett, but Sandow had his share of backers, including a producer who strongly advocated for him. I just didn’t see it. It was nothing personal against Sandow, who was a nice guy, played his character well and was decent in the ring, but not everyone is cut out to be world champion. “The Intellectual Savior of the Masses” was an entertaining mid-card act but I didn’t think that character could headline pay-per-view world title matches.

Ultimately, McMahon made the call to go with Sandow. I firmly believed it was the wrong decision, and I privately told some of my colleagues that Sandow was destined to be the first MITB winner to cash in the contract and lose. (John Cena unsuccessfully cashed in the year before but he had announced his cash-in ahead of time and went on to win the match — but not the title — by disqualification due to outside interference).

After winning the MITB ladder match, Sandow began losing a lot more matches than he was winning. McMahon explained at the time that the losses wouldn’t hurt Sandow because he still had the briefcase. However, one of McMahon’s favorite sayings is “perception becomes reality.” The perception was that Sandow wasn’t world champion material, and McMahon eventually saw him that way as well.

When discussing Sandow at a booking meeting a few months after the MITB pay-per-view, McMahon said, "I think we went with the wrong guy.” So, on an episode of “Raw” that October, Sandow attacked then-champion Cena and cashed in the contract, only to have a weakened Cena rally to win the match.

I’d love to be able to say "I told you so," but Barrett may very well have suffered a similar fate if he had won the MITB ladder match instead of Sandow, because McMahon eventually soured on him as well.

Sheamus gets punk’d

When the creative team met with McMahon to discuss who should win the 2014 MITB ladder match, Bray Wyatt was the popular pick, but McMahon wanted to hear more suggestions. Some other names were mentioned, but McMahon wasn’t completely sold on any of them being the way to go.

"What about Sheamus?” I said. My reasoning was that no one expected Sheamus to win it so it would make the sometimes-predictable booking less so. Plus, we were in the process of doing a slow-burn heel turn for Sheamus, and being the briefcase holder could help facilitate that.

McMahon, who had been trying to get Sheamus over as a major player for several years, said, "Sheamus, it is."

Sheamus was someone I considered a friend (although that’s not why I suggested he win), and the first time I saw him at TV after that meeting, I told him in private that he was going to be winning the MITB ladder match.

It was something I shouldn’t have done.

One of the cardinal sins a WWE writer can commit is to inform talent of major booking plans before McMahon wants them to know. The main reason, of course, is that plans always are subject to change (“Show me the stone,” was another of McMahon’s favorite sayings). So why get the talent’s hopes up for something that may not come to fruition?

Sure enough, unforeseen circumstances necessitated a change in plans. Bryan, who was WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the time, was forced to relinquish the title due to injury, so the MITB ladder match Sheamus already was announced for would now be for the vacant title. And instead of Sheamus winning, it would be Cena, who would then go on to drop the title to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam (the plan had been for Lesnar to defeat Bryan for the title at SummerSlam).

To make matters worse for Sheamus, who desperately wanted to turn heel to freshen up his character, it became official around that time that CM Punk — who had walked out on WWE in January but was still under contract — wasn’t coming back. Punk’s departure left a void near the top of the babyface side of the roster, so Sheamus’ turn was put on hold.

When informed of these developments, Sheamus was one unhappy fella.

It all worked out for him, though. He finally turned heel in March 2015, won the MITB ladder match a few months later and cashed in his contract at Survivor Series to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

[Faster Than Light]

Ziggler ... was overly obsessed with trying to be the next Shawn Michaels.

 

got that right

[Muur]

Read it a while ago, still a good read. Poor Sheamus.

 

Also Ziggler I guess but at least he got a world title out of it.

[Guest]

Awesome read, shame the stories didn't go more back or more recent but can't expect this guy to be apart of creative forever lol.

[Mango kid]

Haha so punk screw shamus

[Muur]

Sheamus got one eventually tbf

[MikeM]

 

Ziggler ... was overly obsessed with trying to be the next Shawn Michaels.

got that right

 

 

I see he's learned too. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be the "next HBK", but there's a difference between that and being a blatant rip off.

 

At this point, they might as well make his gimmick a Shawn Michaels wannabe. Go the whole 9 yards, give him the gear and the music, a Sherri like manager - the works. He'd either be hilarious comedy, or a really hate-able heel for not being original.