Anyone but Drew McIntyre

The match

The men’s Money in the Bank ladder match is finally here! Eight wrestlers will try to climb a ladder and grab a briefcase at Money in the Bank 2021 tonight (July 18) from Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The briefcase holds a contract that will grant the lucky man a title shot anytime he wants one. Raw is represented in this match by John Morrison, Riddle, Ricochet, and Drew McIntyre. SmackDown is represented by Big E, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Seth Rollins.

Let’s break down the field

In theory, this match should be won by a superstar who could plausibly become WWE champion or Universal champion within the next year. That means John Morrison and Ricochet have the smallest probability of success in the ladder match. These two guys have spent the last year losing way more than winning, and they are nowhere close to sniffing main event level championship gold.

Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura are better positioned than those two guys, but they are still pretty big underdogs in this match. Owens already spent months failing to win the Universal title from Roman Reigns. It would make a great story for KO to steal the title from the Tribal Chief after all of those instances where Jey Uso saved Roman’s ass in their feud. But it was well established at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021 that WWE is not putting that title on Owens. As for Nakamura, he’s doing quite well with his fancy new crown and king status, but I’m going to need to see some wins over wrestlers besides sad Baron Corbin before I buy that Shinsuke can be a top champion in the next year.

That leaves four major players in this match. First up is Seth Rollins. Seth has arguably the most famous Money in the Bank cash-in of all time, when he crashed the main event of WrestleMania 31 in 2015 to take the WWE championship away from Roman Reigns. And what do you know, Roman Reigns is right there waiting to be cashed on again in 2021.

Then there is Big E, who has multiple logical options for using the Money in the Bank contract. If Bobby Lashley really does destroy Kofi Kingston at this event, how sweet would it be for Big E to cash in on Bob right after that? Big E is also one of the few babyfaces on SmackDown that has not challenged Roman Reigns for the Universal title. If WWE plans to pursue that match at some point, the Money in the Bank contract could be right in the middle of that story. The main thing holding Big E back is that he’s never been pushed anywhere near the main event level before as a singles wrestler, so this would be a pretty big leap.

Matt Riddle has tried his best to be bros with Randy Orton, but Randy has gone missing the last three weeks after failing to qualify for this ladder match. Everyone is waiting for the Viper to strike. The question is, will he come back to screw Riddle over, or will he try to help his RK-Bro teammate secure the Money in the Bank contract? Orton’s presence in this story makes Riddle a serious threat to win the contract.

Finally, there’s Drew McIntyre. I like Drew, and I think he’d be one of the better choices to win this match. But I have my finger on the pulse of the community right here at Cageside Seats, and there are definite vibes of “anyone but Drew” circulating this match for a lot of wrestling fans. It’s understandable why so many fans are exhausted of Drew and his rambling promos, and just need a break from his never-ending presence in the WWE championship story going back to Royal Rumble 2020.

The biggest factor working against McIntyre is that biker Jinder Mahal will probably try to screw him over in the ladder match. But Jinder should think outside the box and realize that it’s in his own best interests to actually help Drew win the contract. Jinder can learn from the strategy of Miz, who suckered a gullible babyface (Otis) into putting the briefcase on the line in a match. Drew is the sort of babyface who can’t back down from a challenge, so Jinder can easily lull him into a similar situation. That’s the clearest path Jinder has to becoming the worst WWE champion again in 2021.

Find out who wins by tuning into Money in the Bank and keeping it right here at Cageside Seats!