Daniel Bryan’s neck surgery threw a huge monkey wrench in WWE’s plans for his future as well as the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. The extent of Bryan’s injury was unknown before June, which was why WWE decided to keep the title on Bryan and forgo having a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at Payback. They know that Bryan will be out longer than expected, and because of that we have seen Daniel Bryan officially stripped of the title.
Now the annual Money in the Bank match will be for the title rather than a briefcase guaranteeing a title shot whenever the holder of the case chooses. This changes everything. The MITB match has always been unpredictable because we never quite knew if WWE would give the case to an established star or if someone new to the title scene would emerge victorious.
The idea of having two ladder matches has been proposed, one for the title and one for a title shot, but no progress has been made on that front, so for now we have to assume that we will only have the one match that is currently planned out. This gives WWE the chance to pull a major swerve on everyone. This slideshow will look at some of the ways WWE could completely shock fans at this year’s Money in the Bank.
5. Triple H Puts Himself In The Match
Triple H has been very involved on WWE television in recent months, which is a big change from the diminished role he had taken to focus on his backstage duties. Having an increased presence opens the possibility that Triple H will up his title count to 14. Considering how Triple H inserted himself into the title picture at WrestleMania, it is not out of the question for him to do the same thing here to up the ante and make things more interesting. This doesn’t necessarily mean Triple H will win the title, but WWE may see value in Trips taking the belts only to lose them back to Daniel Bryan upon his return.
Regardless of how some fans feel about Triple H’s motives and ego, there is no denying that he puts butts in seats and makes things a lot more interesting by being involved. He is willing to take big risks for the sake of the show, making his inclusion in the ladder match a real possibility. He has been in ladder matches before and he has always delivered an entertaining and brutal performance.
What would make this an even bigger swerve would be Triple H announcing his participation in the match at the last second, but having the announcement take place on the final Raw before the PPV would create more interest in the event and possibly get more people to tune in, and let’s face it, WWE needs people to watch now more than ever.
4. Brock Lesnar Returns
Paul Heyman has been pretty clear about Brock Lesnar’s intentions to eventually win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and Money in the Bank may be the perfect time for that to happen. The possible storylines WWE could get out of it are abundant, but the biggest payoff would be a match between Lesnar and Bryan at SummerSlam.
Not only does Lesnar winning the title at Money in the Bank save WWE from having to make Bryan drop the title to him, but it gives them the chance to build Bryan up as the underdog just like they did at WrestleMania. Beating Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista in the same night at WrestleMania was huge, but defeating the guy who broke Undertaker’s streak may be even bigger.
Eddie Guerrero won the WWE title from Lesnar in 2004. Guerrero’s win would have been a big deal no matter who he was facing, but Lesnar being the man to put him over made it that much more special. Lesnar is a beast who not only has wrestling ability, but genuine fighting skills. His image makes him appear nearly unbeatable, and having him be the person who Bryan triumphantly wins the title from would create yet another highlight reel moment for Bryan’s eventual Hall of Fame induction.
3. Daniel Bryan Steals The Title
Just because Daniel Bryan is not able to compete at MITB in an official capacity does not necessarily mean he won’t be involved. Imagine the kind of pop Bryan would get if he appeared during the match, and then imagine how much louder it would be if he stole the title belts to get revenge for being stripped of the title.
Brie Bella quit WWE to protect Bryan’s title reign, but that was apparently all for nothing since he was stripped of the title anyway. Bryan would be understandably pissed off at the situation. His wife is without a job, he’s injured and he was forced to give up his title. This storyline is just waiting for some kind of big retribution angle. Bryan popping out of the crowd, climbing a ladder while everyone else is incapacitated and taking down the belts before retreating into the crowd would be a memorable moment for everyone watching.
WWE has done angles where people steal titles before, but never quite like this. It would allow WWE to keep the program going through Battleground and set up something much bigger for SummerSlam.
2. CM Punk Returns To Win The Title
This is the most unlikely scenario on the list since CM Punk has said he is retired in a few interviews, but he is still technically with the company. WWE is probably letting his contract expire so they do not have to make an announcement that he is officially gone; But what if this was all an angle for Punk to make a surprise return?
The longer we go without seeing Punk, the less likely a return to WWE seems. However, this means that his return to WWE would be an even bigger deal. The reaction Punk would receive from the crowd would be deafening and an actual title win upon his return would bring about a feud everyone has been yearning for.
Punk and Bryan have had matches in WWE before, even for the title, but there was never really a major feud built around the two of them. If there was a way for WWE to shock everyone and create one of the most memorable moments in the company’s history, this is it. It probably won’t happen, but there would be few fans who could argue how awesome it would be.
1. Two Different People Pull Down The Titles At The Same Time
One championship will be suspended above the ring, but it’s still two belts. WWE easily could have dropped the big gold belt and kept the newest WWE title belt as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but they haven’t. They either believe that keeping both belts ups the level of prestige or they have always planned on separating them back into two separate titles eventually.
Even if WWE still intends on keeping one top title, having two people each pull down one of the belts at the same time would create an opportunity for an original storyline with a lot of possible outcomes. Not only does it give WWE another match to re-unify the titles at Battleground, but it allows two Superstars to walk out of MITB with a major boost.
Any of these ideas would give WWE the chance to surprise viewers, which doesn’t happen that often anymore. In a world where the average fan can predict most of the outcomes, it would be nice to have a swerve that doesn’t include The Undertaker losing to Brock Lesnar.
