Money In The Bank At Wrestlemania: With Hardy Out, It's Up For Grabs (literally)

[Black Widow]

A month ago, the result of the Money In The Bank match seemed all but certain. It wasn't a matter of whether Jeff Hardy would win the match, it was a question of when he would cash in his title shot (with many Hardy fans hoping he would do it that night). Now, due to his publicized suspension for violating the Wellness Policy, Hardy is out of the match, we've got seven competitors instead of eight, and the field is wide open, with all seven wrestlers seemingly having a chance to win. That's not to say they are all on the same level with it comes to their current WWE pushes, but WWE could easily make the decision to "strap a rocket" on one of these wrestlers and elevate them, at least for a little while, to main event status. In a way, Hardy's elimination from the match has made this a more interesting bout in terms of trying to determine the outcome.

United States Champion MVP has the most momentum going into the match, coming off a great feud with Matt Hardy, a solid series of matches with Batista, and some incredible performances on the mic with Ric Flair and Chris Jericho. In fact, his back and forth with Jericho on last week's Smackdown helped spark some fire for the Money In The Bank match that seemed to be sorely lacking after Hardy was pulled from it. Despite his rather quiet entrance into the match (his qualifying win over Jamie Noble wasn't even televised), he has become the favorite to win it, outpacing CM Punk in a recent poll held on PWInsider.com (results below). Now, he already has the U.S. belt, and more importantly, he has already been wrestling Smackdown's main event talent, so you could argue that he doesn't need the briefcase, and should be getting title matches on his own accord. Still, he seems like the one to bet on ... unless Matt Hardy shows up.

Ken Kennedy, the winner of last year's Money In The Bank match, fell victim to a run of bad luck, as an injury that turned out to not be as bad as first thought, resulted in a kneejerk booking decision to have him lose the precious briefcase to Edge. Edge went on to win the World Title, the "Wrestlemania Countdown Clock" was thrown away, and Kennedy saw a potential Wrestlemania main event fly away. Since then, Kennedy has seen his pattern of stop-start pushes continue, and his performances have shown a similar pattern. One week he looks like the next top heel in the company, while other times he seems to be missing that intangible "it" factor that separates main eventers from mid-carders. The last two weeks have been a perfect example. Two weeks ago, he gets the snot beat out of him by Finlay, with no retribution. This past Monday, ignoring his beatdown, he cuts a promo as if there is no doubt he is the favorite to win. You almost get the feeling Kennedy could win or lose MITB solely based on which way the wind is blowing in Orlando that day.

Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho is attempting a comeback from his comeback. After all the initial hype, "Save Us Y2J" gave us a one-and-done Randy Orton match and a lackluster JBL feud. Thankfully, Jericho has rebounded with two strong wins over Jeff Hardy, earning a Money In The Bank spot in one and the Intercontinental Title in the other. At the same time, his knockout at the hands of Big Show sent a rather clear message that Jericho is a semi-main eventer, and not the headliner fans were hoping he'd be upon his return. Still, Jericho has maintained his popularity, and WWE could give him another chance for a run at the WWE Title, or perhaps use the MITB briefcase as the catalyst for Jericho to switch brands and work towards the World Title. It would be interesting to see Jericho, the "inventor" of MITB win at his own creation, but personally I'd like to see if he can rebuild the Intercontinental Title with a strong series of matches against some younger talent that hasn't gotten enough opportunity to shine.

Last year, it looked like Carlito had decided to leave WWE behind and become a big fish in a small pond back in Puerto Rico. However, Carlito ended up staying, and had a really strong ladder match with Jeff Hardy. It looked like Carlito was going to start fulfilling his potential again ... then he became a sidekick. It's easy to get lost in the shadow of the funniest man on Raw, and that is what happened to Carlito. In 80's musical terms, Carlito was John Oates to Santino Marella's Daryl Hall. Sure, he's talented, but you're tuning in because of the other guy. In fact, until Carlito was wrestling Cody Rhodes on Raw for a Money In The Bank spot, most fans weren't even including him on their short list of MITB candidates. Carlito isn't exactly riding a wave of momentum right now, seeing as he is probably best known right now for fighting a bird in a commercial. No one is expecting Carlito to win, and perhaps a real victory for him is to put in a standout performance that has people looking at him seriously again once the match is over.

Of course, having a standout performance isn't always a ticket to the top, as Shelton Benjamin knows all too well. Two years in a row, Benjamin entered the Money In The Bank match as the Intercontinental Champion, pulled out a ton of highspots, and wowed the crowd with his performance at Wrestlemania. Where did that get him last year? Hanging out backstage wondering how Ashley was on Wrestlemania while he was contemplating what to eat in catering. Thankfully, someone realized the incredible amount of potential Shelton has, and gave him a renewed push on ECW. Sure, the "Ain't No Stoppin' Me Now" catchphrase has worn thin fast, but at least he's getting a chance to show what he can do in the ring again. While it seems unlikely that an ECW star will get the Money In The Bank win, there's no law that says Shelton has to stay on ECW. A longshot? Yes, but he'll be one of the performers that makes this match worth watching. He may not get the briefcase, but he's got a great shot at winning "Spot Of The Night".

CM Punk is coming off some clean losses to ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero, but has been picking up wins on Raw and Smackdown. Could this be a sign that WWE is planning on moving Punk off Tuesday nights and into a more prominent position in the company? Obviously, his very vocal fanbase hopes so. I guess it is part of making him an underdog, but beating Big Daddy V by countout to qualify is probably the least impressive way to get into Money In The Bank. Still, other than MVP, he seems the favorite to win in the Hardy-less MITB match. It would be interesting to see Punk get the win, then not immediately cash in the title shot. That way WWE could actually build him up to the point that more of the audience sees him as a main event player, rather than a huge cult favorite that is getting a brief run at the top (ala Rob Van Dam). If nothing else, Punk fans should just be happy that Punk isn't going to be jobbing to Chavo again.

Having a tag team champion in the Money In The Bank match screams "place holder" to many. Yes, John Morrison is a great worker, constantly looking to improve his game. Yes, he had a nice run as ECW Champion, and now is often featured on two television shows every week. However, he is in the mid-card on both shows, and other than provoking a split with The Miz (since Morrison beat him to get into MITB), there doesn't seem to be a strong argument for him to win the match. According to the results in our poll below, many of you reading this agree. Still, if someone from WWE Creative wants to pull the trigger on Morrison again, this time without Kevin Federline involved, Wrestlemania would be the place to do it.

In the end, while some wrestlers seem like logical favorites, WWE could roll the dice on any of them. That alone should make Money In The Bank worth watching this Sunday.


PWInsider.com

[JohnCenaFan28]

As much as I want Morrison to win it, I'm sure Kennedy will win it...and that's still good, so the results of this match are all good with me. This is the only match at WM24 that I'm not 100 percent sure about...

[the madscotsman]

I hope Jericho, Benjamin or Punk win. but It'll be Kennedy, since he fucked up his last push.