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In 2010, WWE decided to name a pay-per-view event after one of its annual showpiece matches. The Money in the Bank ladder match was a WrestleMania tradition since 2005, and soon received a pay-per-view of the same name in 2010. WWE Money in the Bank has been an annual staple on the WWE calendar ever since.
With the guarantee of at least one or two good matches on the card, the Money in the Bank PPV has been consistently enjoyed for years now. Sometimes, the non-ladder matches also provide some high-quality wrestling and the pay-per-view has become a bigger deal. Big enough to be considered as the fifth biggest pay-per-view event on the WWE calendar.
Every year, Money in the Bank is rated among the top shows produced by WWE. Here are all eight events ranked from worst to best, on the basis of quality. The perfect mix of crazy high-spots, brilliant storytelling and excellent wrestling provides the key to the best events on this list.
#8 Money in the Bank 2017
WHEN: June 18, 2017
WHERE: Scottrade Center, St. Louis
LADDER MATCHES: The show opened and closed with the two Money in the Bank ladder matches. The first ever Women's Money in the Bank ladder match was spoiled by a horrendous booking decision when James Ellsworth climbed the ladder and unhooked the briefcase for Carmella. This was a cheap finish to what was supposed to be a monumental match.
The main event did not give us a satisfying end either, as Baron Corbin grabbed the briefcase. He would lose his cash-in match to Jinder Mahal just before Summerslam, rendering the men's ladder match pointless.
The best moment of the match was when AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura had an intense stare-down and teased a future match at a later date. This year at Money in the Bank, they will be facing each other in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship.
REST OF THE CARD: Jinder Mahal retained his WWE Championship against Randy Orton in front of his father, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, and other WWE legends including Ric Flair and Sgt. Slaughter, in what was a fairly average title match.
The New Day and The Usos started their classic feud with a good but unsatisfying match, as The Usos intentionally got counted out.
Naomi beat Lana to retain her SmackDown Live Women's Championship in a match which wasn't very good, while we saw the debut of Mike and Maria Kanellis and "The Power of Love".
The only brand-exclusive Money in the Bank pay-per-view was a letdown because there were literally no crowd-satisfying finishes throughout the show.
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS SHOW: Unsatisfying
#7 Money in the Bank 2014
WHEN: June 29, 2014
WHERE: TD Garden, Boston
LADDER MATCHES: Daniel Bryan's injury changed WWE's plans which caused a booking of two ladder matches. One for the briefcase, and one for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
John Cena won the title, in what was a missed opportunity to create an instant new star. Someone like Cesaro, Bray Wyatt or Roman Reigns could have benefited from this victory. However, considering Cena was just a filler until Brock Lesnar eventually won the gold at Summerslam, it was probably for the better.
The briefcase match was excellent. One filled with multiple high-spots from the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam and Kofi Kingston. It did have one major story going throughout the match though. Seth Rollins had betrayed his Shield brethren to join the Authority, and he got one up on Dean Ambrose on this show, as he captured the golden briefcase. He would go on to cash this golden briefcase in, for a golden moment, at WrestleMania 31.
REST OF THE CARD: The Usos beat Luke Harper and Erick Rowan in a fun match for the tag team titles, and Rusev crushed Big E to end their one-sided feud.
Besides those two matches, everything else on this show was nothing more than fillers. Matches like Layla vs Summer Rae and Adam Rose vs Damien Sandow should not have happened. Except for Seth Rollins' victory, everything else on this show was inconsequential, or quite obvious fillers.
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS SHOW: Fillers
#6 Money in the Bank 2010
WHEN: July 18, 2010
WHERE: Sprint Center, Kansas City
LADDER MATCHES: This was a hugely experimental night for WWE, as they tried having two Money in the Bank ladder matches on the same show. To be fair, it worked. Both ladder matches complemented each other well, and it didn't feel like overkill.
This was the night where The Miz got hold of the Raw briefcase in a match which included a very diverse field of names. There were ladder match veterans in Edge and Chris Jericho, fresh new stars in The Miz and Evan Bourne, and a perfect mix of both, in Randy Orton.
Smackdown's Money in the Bank ladder match opened the show in the right way, as Kane won the blue briefcase. He cashed it in on the same night, the first of only two times this has ever happened. The spot of the night happened when Kofi Kingston landed a Boom Drop on Drew McIntyre from a ladder, through the announce table.
REST OF THE CARD: The main event of the show was a steel cage match for the WWE Championship between Sheamus and John Cena. Heavy interference from the Nexus led to Sheamus escaping the cage and retaining his title.
Rey Mysterio successfully defended his World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger, before Kane cashed in on him. Since most viable Superstars were in the ladder matches, there wasn't really anything else interesting on this card. This was an experiment at a concept that we have grown accustomed to today.
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS SHOW: Experimental
#5 Money in the Bank 2012
WHEN: July 15, 2012
WHERE: US Airways Center, Phoenix
LADDER MATCHES: Oh, the contrast between the two ladder matches. The main event was for the Raw Money in the Bank briefcase, in a ladder match which only former WWE Champions were eligible to compete in.
John Cena beat The Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, and The Miz because the hook of the briefcase broke as Cena was using it to hit Show. What an underwhelming person to win the briefcase at that time, and what an underwhelming way for it to happen.
On the other hand, the show opened on a very positive note. There may have been some odd names like Santino Marella and Tensai in the SmackDown ladder match, but it delivered big time.
Ladder match experts, Christian and Dolph Ziggler led the way for the bulk of the match. The briefcase was captured by Ziggler, who enjoyed a fantastic run as Mr. Money in the Bank over the next few months. This would have been a hell of a career-making moment, had the aftermath to his cash-in turned out differently.
REST OF THE CARD: The rest of the show was headlined by an outstanding No Disqualification Match between WWE Champion CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, with AJ Lee as special guest referee.
This was one of Punk's best title defenses during his incredible 434-day reign as WWE Champion. Elsewhere, Sheamus retained his World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio in a pretty average match.
Other things were fillers, but effective. Ryback won a 2-on-1 handicap match against Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks, as he continued his march to becoming the most over star in the company later in 2012. This show was inconsistent as it had some great matches, some average ones, and some bizarre booking decisions throughout the night.
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS EVENT: Inconsistent
#4 Money in the Bank 2015
WHEN: June 14, 2015
WHERE: Nationwide Arena, Colombus
LADDER MATCHES: Just like the previous year, there was one ladder match for the briefcase, and one ladder match for the WWE Championship. And just like the previous year, Seth Rollins managed to fend off Dean Ambrose. The WWE title literally fell out of Ambrose's grasps at the end of their 35-minute war with Rollins.
In the show opener, we got what seemed to be the most predictable Money in the Bank ladder match in WWE history. Roman Reigns seemed like the only logical victor, but he didn't win. An interference from Bray Wyatt cost The Big Dog this match, as Sheamus of all people took advantage of the situation. The match, like the main event, was a solid one. But, it was marred by an unspectacular winner, who had an unspectacular cash-in, after which he held the title for only three weeks.
REST OF THE CARD: The best match on the card was a rematch between United States Champion, John Cena and NXT Champion, Kevin Owens. It was a great match in which Cena picked up the victory to avenge his shocking defeat to Owens two weeks earlier, at Elimination Chamber. Owens got his heat back by viciously attacking the Cenation leader after the match.
Elsewhere, the Prime Time Players became WWE Tag Team Champions by defeating The New Day. Ryback vs The Big Show, and Paige vs Nikki Bella were both title matches that didn't feel like title matches. The theme throughout this show was that we received some solid action at best, but the results were mainly unspectacular.
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS EVENT: Solid (but unspectacular)
#3 Money in the Bank 2013
WHEN: July 14, 2013
WHERE: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
LADDER MATCHES: The two ladder matches in this event were exactly the opposite of each other and were very good, setting up some very exciting things for the summer of 2013. The SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match opened the show, with all the competitors in the match being heels, who had never won a world title at that point.
Cody Rhodes was transitioning into a face throughout the course of this match, as he fought valiantly to get to the briefcase. But he was thwarted by his tag team partner, Damien Sandow. Unfortunately, Sandow did not cash-in successfully and his career practically fell off a cliff after this victory.
The Raw ladder match was the main event, and rightly so. It featured six babyfaces, who were all former world champions. This was the most star-studded Money in the Bank ladder match of all time.
The key moments involved Rob Van Dam's return to WWE, and Paul Heyman betraying CM Punk. In the end, Randy Orton grabbed the briefcase to set up the main storyline for the remainder of the year. Orton would turn heel at Summerslam, and cash in his briefcase on the then new WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan.
REST OF THE CARD: This was the event which succeeded the infamous Mark Henry retirement speech, where he had everybody fooled. He faced John Cena for the WWE Championship in a match which could not follow the hot angle in the build-up.
Dolph Ziggler had a fine World Heavyweight Championship match with Alberto Del Rio, which ended in a disqualification when AJ Lee interfered, trying to help Ziggler. AJ, who had defeated Kaitlyn earlier, cost Ziggler his rematch for the title he had earned by cashing in the briefcase he retrieved the previous year.
Elsewhere, Ryback sent Chris Jericho packing on tour with Fozzy as he attempted to recover from his losses for the WWE Championship over the past nine months. This show was fun, with some hot angles being blown off and new ones being started. The summer of 2013 was a really exciting time for WWE.
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS EVENT: Exciting
#2 Money in the Bank 2016
WHEN: June 19, 2016
WHERE: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
MAIN EVENT: This event, along with the next one, did not have a ladder match as the focal point of the show. Seth Rollins had returned from a knee injury that would force him to relinquish his WWE Championship, and he wanted to claim the title he never lost.
He faced Roman Reigns in a classic match which started off slow but picked up speed towards the end. Astonishingly, Rollins won clean and regained his title. But his celebration was cut short when Dean Ambrose cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the WWE Championship from his arch-nemesis, gaining sweet revenge on him in the process.
This was a fantastic moment, as all three members of The Shield were WWE champion in the space of five minutes. Roman's suspension put a slight dampener on the moment, but it is still memorable in our eyes.
REST OF THE CARD: Dean Ambrose had won the Money in the Bank ladder match about an hour before he cashed it in. The 2016 version of the spot-filled contest had one of the best builds to a Money in the Bank ladder match ever, with great tag team action, funny promos, and a blood feud in the form of Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens.
The show opened with a carnage-filled fatal-four-way match for the Tag Team titles as The New Day faced Enzo and Cass, The Vaudevillians, and The Club.
Gallows and Anderson had a bigger role to play on the show as well when they helped AJ Styles defeat John Cena in a first-time ever dream match. The match lived up to its expectations but was marred by the dirty finish.
There were several other one-on-one matches including a United States Championship match between Rusev and Father of the Year, Titus O'Neil. This show was stacked with marquee matches that we wanted to see and that made this show feel huge. The fact that it was in 'Big Fight City' made it even better.
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS EVENT: Stacked
#1 Money in the Bank 2011
WHEN: July 17, 2011
WHERE: Allstate Arena, Rosemont
MAIN EVENT: As stacked as the 2016 event was, this was the biggest match in WWE Money in the Bank history. CM Punk challenged John Cena for WWE Championship, with his WWE contract expiring that night.
He had cut a shocking pipebomb promo on Raw, which built up the excitement for this match immensely. Mr.McMahon got involved and threatened to fire John Cena if he didn't win at Money in the Bank. The match was a beauty. The entire Chicago crowd was 100% behind CM Punk and 100% anti-Cena.
This is the last WWE main roster match to receive 5 stars from The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer. Despite the aftermath being a mess, everything that transpired on this night between CM Punk, John Cena and Mr.McMahon was perfect. The shot of Punk leaving through the crowd with his newly won WWE Championship symbolized the grandness of that moment.
REST OF THE CARD: That phenomenal main event was well supported by a pair of good-to-great ladder matches and a very good world title match. Randy Orton and Christian had another fun bout for the World Heavyweight Championship, a match in which Christian won the title by disqualification as per a pre-match stipulation.
Alberto Del Rio won the Raw briefcase in a match that felt messy but had the right amount of high-spots with the likes of Rey Mysterio, in his only Money in the Bank ladder match, and Evan Bourne.
The SmackDown ladder match was one of the greatest Money in the Bank ladder matches of all-time. After a blockbuster of carnage, Daniel Bryan kicked Wade Barrett's head off and retrieved the briefcase in what was the first step in making him a bonafide Superstar.
Elsewhere, Mark Henry opened up the Hall Of Pain and made The Big Show the first inductee, as he took The Giant out. There was high drama throughout the show and pretty much everything was booked to perfection, especially the main event. That's why Money in the Bank 2011 is considered one of the greatest pay-per-views of all time.
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS EVENT: Perfect
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