Let’s break down the women’s Money in the Bank match

Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match

Tonight (June 16), the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois hosts the second annual (though third total) Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Last year, Carmella won the briefcase. Just after WrestleMania, she finally used the briefcase and successfully cashed it in on Charlotte Flair to win the SmackDown women’s title.

Despite being a dual branded match this year, with four women from Raw and four from SmackDown, it sounds like the winner can only cash in on the championship on her brand. This is different than what it used to be with one briefcase for two brands when the winner could cash in on the top title of their choosing. Hopefully, they change their minds on that. There’s no reason for them to handicap themselves creatively like that.

Let’s break down the field of this year’s ladder match. We’ll quickly catch up on what the participants have been recently doing coming into this match, why they may not win, and why they will.

8) Natalya

Nattie has been cast in the roll of “Ronda Rousey’s friend” lately, and she was part of the build to Ronda’s title match against current Champion Nia Jax. The Queen of Harts has been nursing a knee injury sustained in a match with Nia a couple weeks back (which angered Rousey, fueling their issues). Natalya won a fatal 4-way between the Raw members of Money in the Bank match on Monday when she submitted Alexa Bliss.

Why She Won’t Win: With her kayfabe knee injury to work around with and the fact she was the winner on Monday, things don’t look good for Nattie to win this thing. And as the WWE veteran in this match, she’s probably the least likely person here to win a title in the next 365 days.

Why She Will Win: Because anyone feasibly can win the match. And it would be a nice accolade for her to have.

7) Lana

Lana has reunited with her husband, Rusev, and his friend Aiden English. Months back, it looked like the Ravishing Russian was going to attempt to convince her husband to dump English. But just weeks ago, she teamed up with the Artiste.

Also, it looks like her accent is gone. But I’m going to wait to make sure it’s gone again next week before definitely knowing she’s transitioned to her American accent.

Why She Won’t Win: She’s still the most green member of this match and would make the least believable champion until she gets some more wins under her belt.

Why She Will Win: She doesn’t necessarily have to be a believable champion to win the case. And she doesn’t actually have to win the championship. Plus, the idea of Mr. and Mrs. Money in the Bank would be an intriguing one if Rusev were able to grab the case in the men’s ladder match.

6) Naomi

At WrestleMania, Naomi won the Women’s Battle Royal and then rode it the top! Just kidding, that ended up being an empty accolade, just like the Andre Battle Royal on the same show.

Naomi hasn’t been featured much in the SmackDown women’s scene since that win. In fact, her biggest role was alongside her husband Jimmy Uso when the Usos were feuding with the Bludgeon Brothers in the SmackDown tag title scene. (Yes, there’s a SmackDown tag title scene. You’ll have to just take my word on it.)

Why She Won’t Win: She really doesn’t seem to have anything going on right now.

Why She Will Win: This briefcase was made for people with nothing going on right now. She can carry it around until they decide a plan for her.

5) Alexa Bliss

Alexa Bliss lost the Raw Women’s championship against Nia Jax at WrestleMania and failed to win it back at Backlash. Now she has a chance to find a means to win it right back. (Though she’ll probably wait because winning it right back would either mean fighting Nia again or Ronda Rousey.)

Why She Won’t Win: Alexa just had a long championship reign so another may not be in her immediate future.

Why She Will Win: Bliss is always booked strongly and is more often holding gold than not. Plus, she’d be delightfully obnoxious with the case. The briefcase is more of a heel gimmick, and she’s the only heel in the match.

4) Ember Moon

The former NXT Women’s champion debuted on the Raw after WrestleMania. She picked up a win, partnering with Nia Jax to defeat Mickie James and Alexa Bliss.

Why She Won’t Win: She’s rather new to the main roster and this match could just be used to help showoff how athletic she is without actually winning the briefcase.

Why She Will Win: Ember is talented and could have big things coming her way. It’s surely not impossible for her to win a title pretty early in her run on the main roster. In fact past champions like Paige, Charlotte, Alexa Bliss, and Bayley won the title within their first year on the main roster. Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch were just slightly over a year on the main roster when they did.

3) Becky Lynch

Becky has been on a bit of a losing skid in general. However, she picked up a big win against her good friend Charlotte a couple weeks back. And she is very determined to get back on top.

Why She Won’t Win: It means she’ll have to win a PPV match, which she hasn’t done since February 2017.

Why She Will Win: Her determination coming out of the Women’s Summit on Tuesday was intense. And if anyone needs something to catapult them back to the top, it’s the Lass Kicker.

2) Charlotte Flair

Charlotte had a six month run as champion, where she even defeated the then undefeated Asuka at WrestleMania.

However, after an attack by the IIconics, Carmella cashed in her briefcase on Charlotte and won the title.

Why She Won’t Win: I don’t have a very compelling argument outside the fact she just held the title and they may want to go in another direction.

Why She Will Win: It’s Charlotte. She wins more than she loses. And they can fudge the rules if they want to let this be the catalyst for an eventual feud with Rousey.

1) Sasha Banks

Sasha has had some long term issues with her best friend Bayley, but those seem to be on the back burner... for now.

Why She Won’t Win: Honestly, every woman on Raw is at a disadvantage because if they put the belt on Ronda, it’s probably not coming off her any time soon. Also, it’s possible whatever crazy spot Sasha performs during this match will have her recovering outside the ring while someone else climbs the ladder to grab the briefcase.

Why She Will Win: Sasha, who just supposedly re-upped her deal in WWE, will always figure into the plans in some way. And when they eventually want to pull the trigger on Bayley vs. Sasha, Banks using the briefcase to screw her friend is a great tool to do so.

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Well, there you have it...

SWERVE!!!!

There’s another number one!

James Ellsworth

WWE Network

Why He Won’t Win: He’s not in the match.

Why He Will Win: He wasn’t in the match last time and that didn’t stop him.

Money in the Bank airs tonight at 7 EST on the WWE Network. Keep it here at CagesideSeats.com for all you Money in the Bank coverage.