Predicting the match order at WWE Money in the Bank 2016

It's one thing to predict the winners and losers at WWE's Money in the Bank 2016, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced 6 different matches for Money in the Bank 2016, excluding the pre-show matches that feature Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews, and Sheamus.

Here is my subjective view of how important each of these 6 segments rank on the Money in the Bank 2016 card, ordered from most important to least important:

1. Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins
2. John Cena vs AJ Styles
3. MITB Ladder Match
4. New Day vs Vaudevillains vs The Club vs Enzo & Cass
5. Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs Natalya and Becky Lynch
6. Rusev vs Titus O’Neil

It is important to come up with a list like this to get an idea of which matches are going to be placed in the key spots on the card or take up the most time, and which matches might end up in the cool-down spots or be given the least amount of time. This list shows that if WWE decided to throw in a cool-down match between the biggest matches of the night, my best guess is that it will be either Charlotte's match or Rusev's match.

The top two matches are the big attractions for the night; the ladder match is pretty clearly in third place but with a big gap ahead of the three bottom matches.

The tag team fatal 4-way will almost certainly get more match time than either of the bottom two matches due to the sheer number of people involved, so that secures it a higher spot than those bouts.

It’s essentially a toss-up between Charlotte and Rusev for the final spot; I’m giving the women the edge due to Charlotte’s enduring long-term push for much of the last year.

Segment Timing

In this space I normally use the match time data that I’ve accumulated over the past three years to provide some rough guidelines on how WWE arranges its most important matches of the night across each segment. However, there are only two pay-per-view events in that time span that contained exactly 6 segments, and so there just isn’t enough data to draw meaningful conclusions.

All I really have is last year’s Money in the Bank 2015 event; there were three important matches on that night, and they were placed in Segment 1 (MITB Ladder Match), Segment 4 (Cena vs Owens), and Segment 6 (Rollins vs Ambrose). There was a 5 to 6 minute match placed in Segment 5, between the two main events.

There is a chance that WWE adds a 7th segment to Money in the Bank 2016. But four matches on this card could be given quite a lot of time, so this is probably a complete card in its current form. Considering that WWE has already placed two matches on the pre-show, I think the chances are low that a 7th match is added to the main card of this event.

Money in the Bank 2016 Segment Order

The opening match of the night is usually one of the high work rate medium-level attractions of the show that will not get a dedicated video package beforehand to hype it up. There are 2 possible matches that fit the bill here.

The MITB Ladder Match opened last year’s card and seems like a great candidate to do it again this year. The only match potentially standing in its way is the tag team fatal 4-way. Considering how great Enzo, Cass, and New Day are at pumping the crowd up, it’s easy to see this one in the first segment.

I’m not really sure where to go with that choice yet, so I’ll instead move on to the second match of the night. There is a good chance that Rusev and Titus end up here. Regardless of which match I choose for the opener, WWE will likely want to follow it up with a singles match that isn’t very important. Rusev versus Titus is the only singles match on the card that isn’t important.

Skipping ahead to the end of the card, will WWE go back-to-back with Cena and Seth’s matches to end the night, or will they throw a cool-down match in between?

While I wouldn't say that Cena has zero percent chance to main event the card, it is extremely likely that WWE will close out the show with the championship match between Reigns and Rollins.

There is also a good chance that Styles and Cena will have one of the longest and most exciting matches of the night, and my best guess is that WWE will want to throw a cool-down match right after it, in hopes of keeping the crowd from being dead during Roman’s match. The women’s tag team match seems like a good pick for that spot; it wouldn’t be surprising if that match was only given 6 or 7 minutes.

With all of this in mind, here is my currently constructed card:

• Segment 1: MITB Ladder Match OR Tag Fatal 4-Way
• Segment 2: Rusev vs Titus O’Neil
• Segment 3: ?
• Segment 4: John Cena vs AJ Styles
• Segment 5: Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs Natalya and Becky Lynch
• Segment 6: Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins

With this lineup in mind, I think I have to go with the tag team fatal 4-way match in Segment 3. I just can’t see WWE immediately following the MITB Ladder Match with John Cena’s match, seeing as how the MITB Ladder Match will probably also need a cool-down match placed after it.

The main alternative lineup that I see is the one where WWE closes the show with Cena and Reigns back-to-back in Segments 5 and 6. In that case, I think the tag-team fatal 4-way would open the card, with the ladder match in Segment 3. Rusev would stay in Segment 2, and the women’s tag team match would drop down to Segment 4.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at Money in the Bank 2016, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times. The total match time on this show will probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 95 minutes.

• Segment 1: MITB Ladder Match (20 minutes)
• Segment 2: Rusev vs Titus O’Neil (7)
• Segment 3: New Day vs Vaudevillains vs The Club vs Enzo & Cass (16)
• Segment 4: John Cena vs AJ Styles (21)
• Segment 5: Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs Natalya and Becky Lynch (9)
• Segment 6: Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins (20)

That's my prediction for the match order at Money in the Bank 2016. What's yours?