Well, a year has past since the first Money In The Bank event that we now come to the second annual event, and it's safe to say that the focus isn't on either of the ladder matches, the WWE Championship match is the match that has people talking, CM Punk is the man everyone is talking about, but let us not forget that 16 wrestlers will risk life and limb in two separate ladder matches and as we know through past Money In The Bank ladder matches, that people can be easily hurt as the action is fast and furious. To this moment, we have 6 matches announced so it's time for me to provide some predictions to them.
WWE Divas Title match: Kelly Kelly defending against Brie Bella
Unsurprisingly, the Divas match is the last focus of the Money In The Bank card, this match will probably be used as a filler to either between the two main championship matches or between the two ladder matches. I'm expecting a win for Brie Bella with help from Nikki. I don't like to say that I don't care for a match, but this one will definitely be at the bottom of my interest pile.
Mark Henry vs. Big Show
Normally when you have two men against each other like these two guys, then the matches will be below par, I'm actually looking forward tot his match but not expecting anything sensational but it's good to see that this match has been given a decent build up, snapping a cage door off and sandwiching Big Show between the snapped off door and the cage wall forcing Show to go through the cage itself, very unique. Mark Henry may not be in WWE for much longer, he has been there since 1996 making his debut at Mind Games and this is the first time that he has looked like a pure physical threat, he may get a title shot soon he is getting pushed that hard. Very unique to have an interpromotional match not at WrestleMania or Survivor Series. I see Mark Henry getting the win here, he has been more dominant in the build up plus he needs the win more, a loss for the Big Show doesn't really hurt him, whereas Henry losing would more or less send him into WWE obscurity once again.
Smackdown Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Kane vs. Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater vs. Sheamus
I'll be honest, when I first saw the line up for this match, it didn't really spring out at me that it could be really good, especially when I saw Slater and Gabriel randomly put in and Kane again in this match where he is pretty limited. On the other side of that coin, if you rule out them three competitors, there is an argument that could be made for each of the other five competitors that they can win, personally I would rule out Sin Cara as he has only been in the company for a couple of months and is still very green in a WWE ring. I would also rule out Daniel Bryan because I don't see them being very big on Bryan at this moment in time, albeit he is one of the world's best wrestlers, we all know the WWE standpoint on Wrestling. That leaves me with Cody, Wade and Sheamus, out of the three of them, Sheamus is the strongest looking at the moment, interfering with Christian and Randy Orton, Wade Barrett was at the brink of greatness last year in his rivalry with John Cena under the original Nexus storyline, he showed signs that he was a future company champion even in his first year in the WWE, the Intercontinental title reign didn't work for him and losing that was a blessing. Cody has taken his character at the moment and is taking it places, his confused, tortured, distressed state of mind that he portrays is possibly the best mic talking on Smackdown and has shown signs of greatness and possible World Championship material, you can probably relate Cody's position to where The Miz was last year, and we all know what happened there. Going on a limb and after much though, I am tipping my hat to Wade Barrett getting the briefcase on Sunday and would only ask the question of when he would cash it in.
Raw Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Evan Bourne vs. Alex Riley vs. The Miz vs. Jack Swagger vs. R-Truth
This ladder match has more star power as there are more established main eventers and ex world champions taking part, and also there's the guarantee of Kofi doing something innovative with the ladder as he has done in past matches by creating stilts and rapidly climbing it as someone else is holding it, and Evan Bourne and Rey can do some very exciting cruiserweight chain wrestling and would not be surprised to see a high spot from Evan. The only difference with this ladder match to the Smackdown one is that this one does seem a lot easier to call, technically Alberto Del Rio is the number one contender after the triple threat match the other week on Raw and is due a title shot, though since being on Raw there has been minimal, if any, interaction between Del Rio and Cena. I can't really see them going back to The Miz or Jack Swagger with this one, Swagger is really doing nothing at the moment besides having a little feud with Evan Bourne, in which Bourne was owning him each week, even if losing the match they had. I Don't see Evan winning either, Rey was a very small World Champion but he had a great appeal to the fans, whereas Evan is yet to make that connection because he isn't featured enough on WWE programming. Kofi Kingston has always been on the brink of getting that big push, he had it when feuding with Randy Orton a couple of years back, then after a miscommunication in the ring with Orton and the “Stupid” rant from Orton in ring, Kofi has never been back to that level, by winning Money In The Bank, puts Kofi past where he was before. A-Ry has really been getting pushed heavy since breaking from The Miz, making The Miz look mediocre but also getting wins on Swagger too, is a push for the WWE title too soon, I would think yes but you hear the crowd reaction to Riley, he gets a loud pop from the crowd so what's to say he couldn't be this years Wade Barrett minus Nexus. For a winner on this match, I am going to go for Alberto Del Rio, he is technically the number one contender and he will seal this at Money In The Bank.
World Heavyweight Championship Match: Randy Orton defends against Christian with the stipulation that if Randy Orton is disqualified or the official makes a “Bad Call” then the World Heavyweight Championship is awarded to Christian
This should be the final match that these two men have and by looking at it on paper, the chips hare firmly stacked in the favour as Christian, he doesn't have to beat Orton to win the World's title, but if that's how the ending of this match went down, then if your Christian, and you know WWE had booked it that way, would you not be asking yourself “Do they not have faith in me to beat the face of Smackdown cleanly?” A loss to Christian isn't going damage Orton, in fact he's having his best work for some time now with Christian, so why not lose while doing your best?? This match should be an improvement on their Capitol Punishment match but I do fear that Christian is going to win this match but not cleanly, Christian will be the new World Heavyweight Champion, but the question is how he regains the title, cleanly or will the title be handed to him? I know how I'd want to win a World Championship.
WWE Championship Match: John Cena vs. CM Punk with the stipulation that if John Cena loses, he is fired from WWE and CM Punk leaves WWE with the WWE Title
The match that the world has been talking about ever since Punk cut the world famous promo on Raw two weeks ago, it just goes to show that within WWE, there is no one better on the mic than CM Punk, also is there anyone better in the ring than CM Punk at this time?? The result of this match leaves a lot of questions to be asked, if Punk is beaten by Cena then we lose Punk, but for how long?? Is his leaving WWE for an indefinite time or is it just a few months to rest and relax for a few months, however if CM Punk wins the WWE Title, then John Cena is fired, or so we believe as we remember how that went down in the Nexus storyline, but the reports from the U.S.A. Is that Cena has a few injuries and the time off is well needed for him, and deserved too for the amount of time he has been on the road, the same is said for Punk too. Also Punk would be gone from WWE too as I previously said, so what would happen for a WWE Champion, would a new belt be made and a tournament going into Summerslam held? Would the Raw Money In The Bank winner automatically become WWE Champ? Would the U.S. Title be the main title for the forceable future making Dolph Ziggler the main man on Raw?? The possibilities are endless here with this as it gives WWE a chance to push new stars on Raw and the guys who have been craving the big break a chance to have main event matches and PPV matches too. A great scenario was mentioned on the Future Endeavors podcast a couple of weeks ago in which Alberto Del Rio wins Money In The Bank, CM Punk wins the WWE title, then the cameras would cut to the backstage area and the superstars are begging Del Rio to cash in the briefcase now, so the WWE title would stay in the company, Del Rio would be prepared to do it but just as he goes to the ring, he turns back and gets into his car, winking at the superstars and driving off, the WWE title would leave WWE and WWE would have created an ultimate heel, one so selfish he put himself before the company. The crowd reaction of this match is going to be amazing, CM Punk's home field advantage so to say and Chicago is a rough crowd so I would not envy Cena going into that arena on Sunday. In a wrestling sense, Punk has been the first man in quite some time who can pose a legitimate threat to the WWE Title as he is a better wrestler than Cena and if it was a contest on pure wrestling ability then this wouldn't be a contest at all. In the sense of the angle, I can see CM Punk winning the WWE Title and leaving WWE thus getting John Cena fired, though for how long that both of them would be out of WWE for would have to be seen.
Well, they are my thoughts and predictions for this year's most anticipated event of the year, I look forward to seeing where this goes on Sunday, please give any feedback or comments on the column, all feedback is good. Thank You.
