Money in the Bank in 2011 was an instant classic of a pay-per-view highlighted by an unforgettable John Cena vs. CM Punk WWE Championship match in Punk’s hometown of Chicago, not to mention Daniel Bryan‘s career-making MOTB ladder match win and Christian picking up his second World Heavyweight Championship by outfoxing Randy Orton. This year the star of the show is AJ, and the mood is different from last year’s intense drama over Punk’s contract renewal and his now legendary off-the-cuff promo on Cena at the end of Raw. I think MOTB tonight still has potential for greatness. Check out our match previews and my totally uninformed guesses on how things will turn out.
Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth will probably defeat Hunico and Camacho in the pre-show YouTube match, though AW and the Prime Time Players might show up to mess with the champs. #millionsofdollars
While lacking in the star power of its Raw counterpart, Smackdown‘s World Heavyweight Championship Contract Ladder Match is a potential show stealer. Cody Rhodes, Tyson Kidd, Christian, Damien Sandow, Dolph Ziggler, and Sin Cara can combine for more than enough speed and flashiness, Tensai will toss dudes and ladders around while fending off “Albert” chants, and Santino Marella will bring huge pops when he gets a couple of inevitable near-win spots. This could go any number of directions but I’m picking Ziggler to win. The Showoff Era is nigh.
The WWE Championship Contract Ladder Match between John Cena, Big Show, Kane, and Chris Jericho interests me somewhat less, partly because Cena winning seems be the only logical way to go–what does he do next if he doesn’t win?–and Big Show is not good at climbing ladders.
Our title matches tonight are Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan featuring AJ as guest referee. AJ and Ricardo Rodriguez should help to keep us from a definitive finish for either match.
The announced card is noticeably thin, so the show should be filled out with some other segments. Someone–I’d bet both Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks–will get rybacked by Ryback, and maybe Brodus Clay might be called on to bring the funk to fill a few minutes. Divas Champion Layla might take on Beth Phoenix or Eve Torres. And The Miz, fresh off filming the next Marine flick, may have something to say about being left out of the MOTB ladder match that featured a collection of fellow former WWE champs.
We will have LIVE coverage of Money in the Bank here at Fighters.com starting before the pre-show at 7 PM, plus I’ll be making dumb jokes about everyone over on Twitter at @FightersMMA. Stick around, won’t you?
Photo courtesy of WWE
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