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For only the third time, the Money in the Bank PPV will feature a women’s ladder match with a briefcase on the line.
Thus far, the women’s briefcase has a strong track record. Carmella used the original iteration to set up the biggest push of her career—spending spring into summer 2018 as the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Last year, Alexa Bliss’ Money in the Bank victory paid immediate dividends. She used her title opportunity to the crash the party in Nia Jax’s title defense against Ronda Rousey later that night, and stole the Raw Women’s Championship.
So what happens in 2019? There’s a solid field of talent, with both Bliss and Carmella in the mix threatening to take the briefcase again.
There’s also Ember Moon, Naomi, and to a lesser extent Dana Brooke to introduce a lot of potential for high spots, Mandy Rose who has progressed nicely in her time on the main roster, Bayley as a rock solid hand in the ring, and Natalya to both play the veteran and the base for more acrobatic talents work from.
The women’s Money in the Bank concept is still too new for there to be much likelihood of Bliss or Carmella becoming a two-time winner.
The idea of Bliss winning and cashing in on the same night again to screw over Becky Lynch after two defenses would, at least be consistent to her character and reassert her status as a top heel, but we have to guess WWE is interested in branching out further than that.
While Bayley, Naomi, and Natalya could each be reasonable picks in their own way, they’ve also all had their spins as champions in the last two years and don’t feel all that well positioned to return to that spot this soon.
Though Dana Brooke got a small push standing up to Ronda Rousey in the build to WrestleMania 35, she neither feels like someone who deserves this push relative to her peers, nor does she have much in the way of buzz around her.
If WWE follows a relatively traditional path with Money in the Bank this year, Mandy Rose would be the obvious pick to take it as a heel on the rise.
However, after heels used the briefcase to steal women’s championships the last two times Money in the Bank was in play, and given that it would take some building to get Rose over a respectable champion, she doesn’t feel like the smart pick.
That leaves Ember Moon. WWE has under utilized her to the extreme for her first year on the main roster. Her only real highlight has been lasting 52 minutes in the Royal Rumble, and she hasn’t even had a meaningful singles feud in that time. Now Moon is on the blue brand, though.
With Ronda Rousey nowhere in sight and Becky Lynch taking up primary residence on Raw, there is at last room for the former NXT Women’s Champion to break out and move toward the top of her roster.
WWE hasn’t yet explored Charlotte Flair vs. Ember Moon in any meaningful way, and that could be a particularly interesting rivalry to explore in the months ahead, potentially with Moon using her briefcase to come after the Queen and her title.
