Predicting the match order at Money in the Bank 2018

It’s one thing to predict the winners and losers at Money in the Bank 2018, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced 9 different matches for the main card of Money in the Bank 2018, excluding the Kickoff match featuring Bludgeon Brothers versus Gallows & Anderson.

Here is my subjective view of how important each of these 9 segments rank on the Money in the Bank card, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax
2. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
3. Men’s Ladder Match
4. Women’s Ladder Match
5. Seth Rollins vs. Elias
6. Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal
7. Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass
8. Carmella vs. Asuka
9. Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn

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.

Main event

The most difficult cards to accurately predict are the ones with the most matches and without a clear main event, and Money in the Bank has a check mark in both of those boxes.

There are 3 matches that all have a reasonable chance to close out this event.

Ronda Rousey is the biggest star on the show and is competing for a championship, so that might be a no-brainer selection. The WWE Championship match between Styles and Nakamura has yet to headline the past three pay-per-view (PPV) events, but it feels like this time it needs to have a decisive winner, which could mean it ends the night. And then there is the Men’s Ladder Match, which has main evented this PPV in past years like 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017.

If Rousey is winning the title, then she will probably main event the card. But after the way she tapped out Nia Jax on Raw, I’m thinking the finish of her match might end up being screwy and an unsatisfying way to end the night. And even if Ronda is booked to go over squeaky clean, I think there is a high potential for the match to bomb, which means it shouldn’t be the main event.

I would love to pick the WWE Championship match as the main event, but if it ends up following both ladder matches as well as Rousey, it might not seem so spectacular to the crowd in the 4th hour of the main card.

The Men’s Ladder Match is a safe bet to captivate the audience in the 4th hour while also delivering high quality action in the ring. It did main event last year’s card over the WWE Championship match too, so it’s not like that’s a hard rule that can’t be broken.

Ah, screw it. Last year’s WWE Championship match was Randy Orton versus Jinder Mahal, which is a match that should never main event anything. This is AJ Styles versus Shinsuke friggin’ Nakamura for the WWE Championship. Those two guys in a Last Man Standing match can win that 4th hour audience over. Furthermore, I think a SmackDown star will win the Men’s Ladder Match, which means it would be ideal to keep a cash-in possibility alive for later in the night.

Therefore I’m picking the WWE Championship match for the main event.

Opening match

The opening match of the night is usually one of the mid-level attractions with good work rate that doesn’t require a dedicated video package ahead of time to hype it up.

It was an easy call last year at Money in the Bank to open the card with the Women’s Ladder Match, because only 5 matches were advertised for the main card, and so bookending the night with both ladder matches seemed logical.

That’s not necessarily the case this year. With 9 total matches on this card, it’s not nearly as set in stone that the Women’s Ladder Match should open the card.

However, I’m looking at all 9 matches and the only other good choice for the opening slot appears to be Rollins versus Elias. I’m going to stick with the women’s ladder match. WWE generally likes to keep some distance between each women’s match, and the Women’s Ladder Match should probably take place before both championship matches, in order to set up a potential cash-in tease.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Women’s Ladder Match
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8:
Segment 9: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Segment 2 and Segment 8

One of the least important matches of the night will probably follow the Women’s Ladder Match in Segment 2, and there will likely be a cool-down match in Segment 8 (sandwiched between a major match in Segment 7 and the main event in Segment 9).

Carmella’s match with Asuka won’t be great and could make some sense in Segment 8, but I think Rousey’s match should be the final women’s match of the night. Carmella also doesn’t appear to be a good fit for Segment 2, because I don’t think WWE really ever runs two consecutive women’s matches on PPV.

Lashley and Zayn could go out there and have a killer match, so it feels strange to reserve it as a cool-down match on this card. But their storyline has been terrible and it is certainly possible that Lashley just beats Zayn down in like 7 minutes. Considering how bad the story is, I don’t think there is much hope that the fans will care about the match, so I’m putting this one late in the show in Segment 8.

That leaves Bryan or Reigns for Segment 2, which also sounds bizarre. Bryan tapped out Cass super fast at Backlash, whereas most Reigns’ matches go longer than 10 minutes. So maybe another emphatic mauling of Big Cass at the hands of Bryan could make some sense in Segment 2.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Women’s Ladder Match
Segment 2: Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8: Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn
Segment 9: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Everything Else

There’s a decent chance that I’m wrong about Bryan in Segment 2. But regardless of which not-so-important match lands there, it’s a good bet that something more exciting will follow it in Segment 3. That sounds like the right spot for Rollins versus Elias.

Carmella and Asuka needs to go next in Segment 4, to keep some space between the two women’s championship matches.

Reigns and Mahal are then easy to pencil into Segment 5, because this spot feels too early for the Men’s Ladder Match.

That leaves Rousey and the Men’s Ladder Match for Segment 6 and Segment 7. Rousey’s match could be so short that it doesn’t warrant a cool-down match afterwards; a lengthy ladder match feels like a better fit for Segment 7. Furthermore, the Men’s Ladder Match will almost certainly be followed with a cool-down match, and so it’s not a good idea to place the ladder match right before Rousey.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at Money in the Bank, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times.

Segment 1: Women’s Ladder Match (18 minutes)
Segment 2: Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass (10)
Segment 3: Seth Rollins vs. Elias (12)
Segment 4: Carmella vs. Asuka (9)
Segment 5: Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal (13)
Segment 6: Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax (7)
Segment 7: Men’s Ladder Match (28)
Segment 8: Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn (8)
Segment 9: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (22)

Nine matches means this card could easily reach 4 hours in length. A total match time in the 120 to 135 minute range seems plausible, and these times add up to 127 minutes.

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