Predicting the match order at Money in the Bank 2021

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

Money in the Bank takes place tomorrow night (July 18) from the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, with the main card beginning at 7 pm ET on Peacock.

WWE has announced six different segments for the main card of this event. Here is my subjective view of how important each of these six segments rank, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Roman Reigns vs. Edge
2. Bobby Lashley vs. Kofi Kingston
3. Men’s Ladder Match
4. Women’s Ladder Match
5. Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
6. Omos & AJ Styles vs. Viking Raiders

Main event

The Money in the Bank ladder matches do sometimes close out this annual event, but WWE is paying part-timer Edge big bucks, and he’s competing against the top star in the company. That’s why the match between Reigns and Edge is the logical choice for the main event of this card. The story between Lashley and Kingston has been presented well enough to main event a pay-per-view, but it will be difficult to get that spot over Reigns and Edge on this night.

WWE had a run of two consecutive pay-per-views without a part-timer in the main event, but that should come to an end with both Money in the Bank and then SummerSlam next month. That’s not inherently a good or bad thing right now, it’s just a further observation about WWE quickly returning to business as usual now that they are back on the road.

Opening match

On a pay-per-view with two Money in the Bank ladder matches and several other title fights, it’s a pretty good bet that one of the ladder matches will open the card.

Given that there are arguably two other men’s matches on the card that are more important than their ladder match, I think opening the card with the men’s ladder match makes the most sense. The eight competitors are sure to get the crowd amped up with a thrilling fight.

If WWE instead prefers to have the women’s ladder match go very early in the night, then Lashley’s WWE championship match might also need to be booked in the first half of the card (because the men’s ladder match will have to be booked in the second half). That’s a plausible scenario, but not the one I’m selecting.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Men’s Ladder Match
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6: Roman Reigns vs. Edge

Everything else

The men’s ladder match should be followed up in Segment 2 with the least important match of the night, which is the Viking Raiders’ bout.

One of the two women’s matches needs to go after that. It’s probably too soon to go with another ladder match, so I’ll put Flair and Ripley in Segment 3.

It’s down to Lashley and the women’s ladder match for Segment 4 and Segment 5. WWE doesn’t usually book two women’s matches in a row, so I’ll put Bob in Segment 4.

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: Men’s Ladder Match (21 minutes)
Segment 2: Omos & AJ Styles vs. Viking Raiders (9)
Segment 3: Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair (14)
Segment 4: Bobby Lashley vs. Kofi Kingston (13)
Segment 5: Women’s Ladder Match (17)
Segment 6: Roman Reigns vs. Edge (22)

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