With Money In The Bank fast approaching, we’re going to take a look at some of the best matches in the show’s history. Money In The Bank became a huge deal when it first started, which then transitioned into its own PPV/PLE, and the event has been taking place since 2010’s inception. Money In The Bank has now become one of the biggest PPV/PLEs of the year, with many putting it alongside Summerslam and Survivor Series, among others, as a major show. With this, there have been so many great matches in the show’s history, and it’s difficult to pick between them but we’ve had a go. In this list we’re not including the actual titular ladder matches as this list would be almost impossible. Let’s take a look back at the top 5 best matches in Money In The Bank history.
Honourable mentions:
Randy Orton v Christian (World Heavyweight Championship, 2011)
CM Punk v Daniel Bryan (WWE Championship, 2012)
AJ Styles v John Cena (2016)
5 Seth Rollins v AJ Styles (Universal Championship, 2019)
This was a true in ring dream match meeting. Arguably the two best in ring workers in WWE, it would be impossible for them to have a bad match. The Universal Championship was on the line here and two superstars delivered an in ring clinic. Plenty of technical moves and reversals, as well as exciting big moves and false finishes, including an amazing Styles Clash. The two had natural chemistry, the way they transitioned with each other was seamless and they put on an exciting and technically brilliant match.
Match Highlight: Styles’ amazing counter to the Curb Stomp, transitioning perfectly into the Styles Clash for a near fall.
4 Roman Reigns v Edge (Universal Championship, 2021)
This was the first WWE PPV/PLE after the Covid pandemic with a full crowd and they were buzzing to see this match. Edge was a great babyface with fire and passion and Roman was in full flow with his Tribal Chief character, playing the heel superbly. Both guys gave everything in this match, going back and forth, with high drama and excitement kicking in towards the end of the match. Shenanigans ensued, with interference and a ref bump, however if anything it added to the excitement of the match as the crowd were popping big for everything that was happening. A couple of great near falls for Edge too made you believe that just for a second, he was going to win. Overall a great main event and an even better one for the first full crowd in over a year.
Match Highlight: The two barricade breaks in quick succession, first Roman puts himself through after a missed Spear. Then Edge Spears Roman through the other one.
3 Kevin Owens v John Cena (2015)
This was a brilliant bell to bell wrestling match. Both men just traded big move after big move for over 20 minutes, both scoring super close near falls and keeping the crowd invested throughout, which left them raucous all match. This was the phase in Cena’s career where he was US Champion and having some of the best matches of his career on a weekly basis. Also, Owens was NXT Champion and this was his first foray into the main roster which meant he was very over with the hardcore fans, especially having beaten Cena clean at the last PPV/PLE in another fantastic match. The two hit each other with some excellent offence including new and exciting moves from both and great storytelling made for a scintillating match. Side note – they never left the ring.
Match Highlight: Owens doing Cena’s 5 moves of doom got a pop.
2 The Usos v Street Profits (Undisputed Tag Team Championships, 2022)
This match is the definition of tag team wrestling. This really was an unbelievable tag team match between two of the best tag teams of this era. The Usos had only just unified the Tag Team Titles so the outcome was probably a bit obvious but that still didn’t detract from an amazing match. They had amazing chemistry together and with the tag team sequences and use of great tag team psychology, the two teams had one of the best tag team matches in recent memory. Some of the spots, double team moves and near falls were eye watering which kept a very hot crowd invested throughout. If you love tag team wrestling, go and watch it.
Match Highlight: Montez’s insane running leap over the entire ringpost onto both Usos on the floor, a truly breathtaking spot.
1 John Cena v CM Punk ( WWE Championship, 2011)
Can anyone be surprised that this is number 1? This is one of the best matches in WWE history, let alone Money In The Bank history. A true classic that will always be remembered. One of those reasons is the molten hot Chicago crowd and the amazing storyline going into it. Fans were left in mystery really as to what was actually going to happen, being genuinely unsure if this was going to be his last night in the company. This along with the infamous Pipebomb promo Punk cut a few week prior, WWE had the most attention they’d had in a long time. There were a lot of permutations just from this one match, which in some ways, changed the years to come. As mentioned the crowd were absolutely electric, one of the most hostile partisan crowds WWE have ever had, cheering everything heel Punk did and booing babyface Cena out of the building. The crowd, story and drama put the match over the top, however the match in a vacuum was still excellent with both guys going back and forth and hitting each other with every move they had for some gripping false finishes. The finishing sequence and post match was highly memorable too with Punk seemingly walking out of the company with the WWE Title and blowing Vince McMahon a kiss goodbye.
Match Highlight: The succession of counters which involved an AA counter from Punk, then a brilliant GTS counter from Cena where, as Punk was about to deliver the knee, Cena grabbed it and immediately turned it into an STF.
Author: Alex Bakothanasis
Photo Credit: WWE