Sunday is the eighth annual WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. The show traditionally features a Money in the Bank ladder match, with the winner earning a contract for a world title match at the time of his choosing within the next calendar year.
This unique and unpredictable match originated at WrestleMania 21 in 2005 and was featured at WrestleMania each year through 2010. However, the popularity of the match grew to the point where it became its own annual event in 2010.
The history
This year's card will feature the 18th and 19th Money in the Bank ladder matches, including the first to include female superstars. In fact, this will be the first women's ladder match of any kind in WWE history. In the past two years alone, women have competed for the first time in an Iron Man match, a Hell in a Cell match and now a ladder match.
Sixteen WWE superstars have won a Money in the Bank ladder match. However, CM Punk is the only one to win twice, winning at WrestleManias 24 and 25 in 2008-09.
Fifty-two WWE superstars have competed in a Money in the Bank ladder match. No one has more experience in this match than Kane, who has competed in seven Money in the Bank ladder matches, including his victory in 2010.
Of the 17 previous Money in the Bank ladder match winners, 14 went on to cash in their contracts and become world champion (an 82 percent success rate), including each of the past four winners. The three who did not:
Mr. Kennedy won Money in the Bank at WrestleMania 23 in 2007. However, he lost his guaranteed world title match contract in a match against Edge just over a month later on Monday Night Raw. Edge would cash in his contract the very next night on SmackDown, and defeat The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship.
John Cena won Money in the Bank in 2012 and publicly announced he would be cashing in eight days later at Raw 1000 against CM Punk. During that title match, Big Show interfered and attacked Cena, who was declared the winner by disqualification. Because a title cannot change hands via DQ, Cena became the first superstar to cash in Money in the Bank and fail to win a world title.
After winning Money in the Bank in 2013, Damien Sandow cashed in 106 days later on Monday Night Raw against Cena. However, Cena would defeat Sandow to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Sandow remains the only superstar to cash in Money and the Bank and lose the resulting title match.
Edge won the first Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, defeating Chris Jericho, Kane, Christian and Shelton Benjamin. He would hold on to his briefcase for 280 days, a record that still stands today, and then cashed in at New Year's Revolution the following January. John Cena had just defended his WWE Championship in a grueling Elimination Chamber match, but Vince McMahon announced the night was not over and that Cena would have to defend the title against Edge. Edge would defeat Cena in 1:46 to win his first of 11 world titles.
On the flip side, two Money in the Bank winners did not even wait until the end of the night to cash in:
At Money in the Bank in 2010, Kane won the Money in the Bank ladder match in the night's opening bout. Later in the night, Rey Mysterio successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger, who then attacked and injured Mysterio after the match. Kane would take advantage of the injury by cashing in his briefcase to defeat Mysterio and win the world title less than an hour after winning the contract.
Last year at this event, the main event saw Seth Rollins defeat Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship. However, Dean Ambrose immediately cashed in his Money in the Bank contract he had won earlier in the night, pinning Rollins to win the title for the first time. As a result, the three former members of the Shield were each WWE Champion within a span of three minutes that night.
This year's participants
AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and Baron Corbin will all be competing in their first career Money in the Bank ladder match. They all look to become the 10th superstar to win their Money in the Bank ladder match debut, and the first since Seth Rollins in 2014.
Kevin Owens looks to become the second reigning United States champion to win a Money in the Bank ladder match. The Miz did so at this event in 2010.
Dolph Ziggler is the only participant in this year's match who has previously won Money in the Bank. He won this event in 2012 and would cash on Alberto Del Rio the night after WrestleMania 29 to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
Sunday will be Nakamura's second WWE pay-per-view match (he defeated Ziggler at Backlash). No superstar has ever won a Money in the Bank ladder match within their first five pay-per-view appearances. Daniel Bryan holds the record by winning Money in the Bank in 2011 in his seventh career WWE pay-per-view match.
Both Sami Zayn and Owens are looking to become the second Canadian WWE superstar to win Money in the Bank, and the first since Edge won the first Money in the Bank ladder match in 2005.
Corbin looks to become the first superstar to win both an Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and a Money in the Bank ladder match.