The Shimmy 03.30.09: Money in the Bank Preview

Happy WrestleMania week, boys and girls. I hope you have plans to enjoy the big show next weekend, but if you don’t (or even if you do) keep it here at 411mania for all the latest. Don’t forget to bookmark us for convenience. I’m fortunate enough to be travelling to Houston Friday morning so I’ll be there in attendance but I hope everyone else enjoys their own WrestleMania festivities in their own special way.

One of the most anticipated matches every year is the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Who will steal the show? Who will almost kill themselves? And of course who will get the guaranteed title shot? Well, in the spirit of the kayfabe Royal Rumble preview column, I bring to you the 2009 Money in the Bank Ladder Match preview column. Enjoy!

CM Punk

Qualified Over: John Morrison & The Miz (Triple Threat Match)

WrestleMania Experience: 23, XXIV

Ladder Match Experience: Money in the Bank Match: vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Booker T vs. Finlay (WrestleMania 23); Money in the Bank Match: vs. Chris Jericho vs. MVP vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. John Morrison vs. Carlito (WrestleMania XXIV)

Previous Championships: World Heavyweight Title, ECW Title, Intercontinental Title, ROH Title, ROH Tag Team Title (2), 2008 Mr. Money in the Bank

Analysis: CM Punk was the first man to qualify for this year’s Money in the Bank Match and he brings to best record to the table hear. Not only did he win last year’s contest but he also came dangerously close to winning it the year before as well. All of Punk’s WrestleMania matches have been Money in the Banks so he knows how to perform under the bright lights. After having used his Money in the Bank opportunity to win the World Heavyweight Title all the pressure is off of him which is certainly to his benefit. I doubt anyone would expect him to repeat his performance last year which might allow Punk to sneak up on the other competitors. After having a historic 2008 one would imagine that Punk would like to take this opportunity to kick off a historic 2009. Perhaps the biggest obstacle facing Punk in this match is his tag team partner Kofi Kingston. Despite their friendship Kofi was quick to cut off Punk during the VIP Lounge last week on ECW, might the former tag champs be preoccupied with one another at WrestleMania?

Confidence Point: 4

Kane

Qualified Over: Rey Mysterio & Mike Knox (Triple Threat Match)

WrestleMania Experience: XIV, XV, 2000, X-Seven, X8, XIX (dark match), XX, 21, 22, 23, XXIV (dark match and main card)

Ladder Match Experience: World Tag Team Title, TLC Match: © vs. Chris Jericho & Christian vs. Bubba Ray Dudley & Spike Dudley vs. Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy (Raw, 10/7/02); Money in the Bank Match: vs. Edge vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin (WrestleMania 21)

Previous Championships: WWE Title, ECW Title, Intercontinental Title (2), World Tag Team Title (8), WCW Tag Team Title, Hardcore Title

Analysis: While Punk has Money in the Bank experience, Christian has ladder match experience, and Finlay has overall experience, Kane has WrestleMania experience. He has performed on the grandest stage of them all every year since 1998 and is coming off a big win last year when he won the ECW Title in record time. Since that ECW Championship win Kane has been an emotional mess, bouncing from feud to feud aimlessly just looking to hurt people. A Money in the Bank win would give the Big Red Machine focus and allow him to follow up last year’s title win with an even bigger one if he so chose. Kane is going to be one of the two biggest men in this match, something he will clearly use to his advantage. The thing that makes Kane different than other big man Mark Henry (aside from big match experience) is that Kane is much more agile, allowing him climb the ladder with much more ease than most big men. Kane has all the tools necessary for winning this match, the question is whether or not he can remain focused throughout the match.

Confidence Point: 6

Mark Henry

Qualified Over: Santino Marella

WrestleMania Experience: XIV, 22, XXIV (dark match)

Ladder Match Experience: none

Previous Championships: ECW Title, European Title

Analysis: Mark Henry will be the biggest competitor to ever compete in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match and he will also be the strongest. That size and strength will be both a blessing and a curse. While Henry’s size advantage should allow him to dominate the smaller men in this match that added bulk will also prevent him from being able to ascend a ladder quickly. Henry’s best strategy would be to completely destroy all seven other competitors before trying to make a break for it; he certainly won’t catch anyone by surprise. The World’s Strongest Man actually does have another advantage over his opponents: Tony Atlas. We’ve seen in the past where having someone interfere on your behalf in a Ladder Match can be enough to help you secure the win (men like Tyson Tomko and Rhyno spring to mind), perhaps Atlas will be able to do that for Henry. It may come down to a referees decision whether or not Atlas will be allowed to remain at ringside during such a chaotic match.

Confidence Point: 5

Shelton Benjamin

Qualified Over: Jeff Hardy

WrestleMania Experience: XIX, XX, 21, 22, XXIV

Ladder Match Experience: WWE Tag Team Title Match: w/ Charlie Haas vs. Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri (Judgment Day 2003); Money in the Bank Match: vs. Edge vs. Chris Benoit vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian (WrestleMania 21); Money in the Bank Match: vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Ric Flair vs. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay vs. Bobby Lashley (WrestleMania 22); World Tag Team Title Match: w/ Charlie Haas vs. The Hardys (One Night Stand 2007); Money in the Bank Match: vs. CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho vs. MVP vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. John Morrison vs. Carlito (WrestleMania XXIV)

Previous Championships: Intercontinental Title (3), United States Title, WWE Tag Team Title (3)

Analysis: 3

Confidence Point: Shelton Benjamin has stolen the show in his three previous Money in the Bank appearances, taking incredible risks and performing death-defying stunts. Unfortunately for him none of those risks have paid off with a MITB win. These days Shelton is less of a crowd pleaser so perhaps that will play in his favor here. Shelton still takes his share of risks but he is much more calculated about it now which is a vast upgrade from his previous recklessness. Shelton is also going to be motivated by his recent loss of the United States Championship. The Gold Standard is currently without any gold and a Money in the Bank win would help solve that problem. After being the man that everyone talked about afterwards but never the man that got the spoils of victory is Shelton Benjamin due to become Mr. Money in the Bank?

MVP

Qualified Over: Matt Hardy

WrestleMania Experience: 23, XXIV

Ladder Match Experience: Money in the Bank Match: vs. CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. John Morrison vs. Carlito (WrestleMania XXIV)

Previous Championships: United States Title (2), WWE Tag Team Title

Analysis: It’s been a roller coaster ride for MVP these past few months. After enduring a 20-week losing streak on SmackDown the Ballin’ Superstar has finally righted the ship and is back on the up and up. Not only has he found himself back in the win column more often than not but he’s even reclaimed the United States Championship from Shelton Benjamin. Could a Money in the Bank victory be the next stop on his redemption tour? Keep in mind that last year before MVP’s downward spiral began he came within a few inches of capturing the MITB briefcase only to be stopped by a returning Matt Hardy – the man he defeated to qualify for this year’s match. MVP has all the momentum he could ask for the only thing he might want to be wary about is Shelton Benjamin; we’ve seen what he can do in these matches before and now he’ll have revenge on his mind for losing the U.S. Title. If it doesn’t look like Benjamin will win the match you can rest assured that he’ll want to take MVP out of the running as well.

Confidence Point: 1

Kofi Kingston

Qualified Over: Chris Jericho

WrestleMania Experience: XXIV (dark match)

Ladder Match Experience: none

Previous Championships: Intercontinental Title, World Tag Team Title

Analysis: Kofi’s brief appearance in the ECW No. 1 Contender’s Battle Royal last year excluded, this is the Jamaican superstar’s WrestleMania debut. In most of Kofi’s inaugural ventures in the past he’s done extremely well. ECW debut: win. First match for IC Title: win. First match for World Tag Team Titles: win. Kofi certainly has the spring in his step to make it to the top of the ladder to secure the MITB briefcase. Kofi may also be driven by anger this time around as he should still be seething over being cheated out of his World Heavyweight Title opportunity last month at No Way Out by Edge. We’ve seen a bit of that anger already in the aforementioned VIP Lounge segment where he cut down his own tag team partner on the mic. We’ve talked before about CM Punk’s magic 12 months, but should Kofi be able to win the Money in the Bank contract he’d be well on his way to having a magical year of his own.

Confidence Point: 7

Christian

Qualified Over: Chavo Guerrero, R-Truth, Carlito, Primo, The Great Khali, Vladimir Kozlov, Tommy Dreamer, William Regal, Shad Gaspard, JTG, Dolph Ziggler, Goldust, Ricky Ortiz, Kung Fu Naki, Jimmy Wang Yang, and Charlie Haas (Battle Royal)

WrestleMania Experience: 2000, X-Seven, X8, XX, 21

Ladder Match Experience: T.I.T. Finals: w/ Edge vs. The Hardys (No Mercy 1999); World Tag Team Title, Triangle Match: w/ Edge vs. Dudley Boyz© vs. The Hardys (WrestleMania 2000); World Tag Team Title, TLC Match: w/ Edge© vs. The Hardys vs. Dudley Boyz (SummerSlam 2000); World Tag Team Title Match: w/ Edge vs. The Hardys© (Raw, 9/25/00); World Tag Team Title, TLC II Match: w/ Edge vs. Dudley Boyz© vs. The Hardys (WrestleMania X-Seven); World Tag Team Title, TLC III Match: w/ Edge vs. Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit© vs. Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardys (SmackDown, 5/24/01); Intercontinental Title Match: © vs. Edge (No Mercy 2001); World Tag Team Title, TLC Match: w/ Chris Jericho vs. Kane© vs. Bubba Ray Dudley & Spike Dudley vs. Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy; Intercontinental Title Match: © vs. Rob Van Dam (Raw, 9/29/03); Intercontinental Title Match [vacant]: vs. Chris Jericho (Unforgiven 2004); Money in the Bank Match: vs. Edge vs. Chris Benoit vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin (WrestleMania 21); NWA World Heavyweight Title, Full Metal Mayhem Match: © vs. Abyss (Sacrifice 2006); Ladder War: vs. Samoa Joe (Impact, 10/12/06); w/ AJ Styles vs. Sting & Abyss (Impact, 8/2/07); Fight for Your Right Finals: vs. Kaz (Sacrifice 2007)

Previous Championships: NWA World Heavyweight Title (2), Intercontinental Title (3), World Tag Team Title (9), European Title, Hardcore Title, Light Heavyweight Title

Analysis: You can see by that very large chunk of writing what exactly Christian has over everybody else in this match: ladder match experience. By my count Christian has been in 15 ladder matches, significantly more than anyone else in this match. In fact during his run in TNA he became the ladder match guy for that promotion. While he probably does not have that distinction in WWE thanks to guys like Edge and Jeff Hardy, his history with ladders still can’t be denied. One would think that Christian returned to WWE to make an impact and while his short-lived feud with Jack Swagger over the ECW Title was nice it was hardly the impact you’d imagine he wanted to make. Winning Money in the Bank would definitely make that impact though. Even though Christian has paid lip service to ECW in the past the real money is on one of the other two programs and a run at one of those two championships is what every wrestler dreams up. The Instant Classic should be no different.

Confidence Point: 2

Finlay

Qualified Over: The Brian Kendrick

WrestleMania Experience: 22, 23, 24

Ladder Match Experience: Money in the Bank Match: vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Ric Flair vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Matt Hardy (WrestleMania 22); Money in the Bank Match: vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. CM Punk vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Booker T (WrestleMania 23)

Previous Championships: United States Title, WCW Television Title

Analysis: Finlay is entering his third Money in the Bank Ladder Match and for all we know it could be his last. Retirement has to be creeping into the mind of the Irishman and after all these years he has still yet to win a World Title. Finaly certainly has the physicality and the ring presence to get the job done but being the oldest competitor in this match might have its drawbacks; Finlay just isn’t as fast or as limber as most of the other wrestlers he’s facing. Finlay also has his son Hornswoggle to worry about. We saw back at WrestleMania 23 that Hornswoggle’s involvement in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match didn’t end up so well for the little guy, as Mr. Kennedy delivered the Green Bay Plunge to him off of a ladder. In recent months we have seen Hornswoggle’s interference both help Finlay to win matches as well as backfire. In a match as chaotic as the MITB Ladder Match you’d have to think that Finlay would not want his son to get involved…and also for his son not to listen. This might be Finlay’s last chance at a World Title, the question is whether or not he can overcome the challenges of age and parenthood in order to win.

Confidence Point: 8

The Shimmy Likes it Raw!

What’s on tap for the last Raw before WrestleMania?

John Cena vs. Big Show; We’ve seen the other parts of the WrestleMania Triple Threat face off so it makes sense that we see this one as well. This also serves as a WrestleMania Rewind match as these two faced off for the United States Title five years ago at the big dance.

Chris Jericho vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler; This is the second year in a row that Lawler has been involved in a storyline at WrestleMania time but not a WrestleMania match. Might the King find a way to get into the WrestleMania Handicap Match? And what will Ric Flair have to say about last week’s brutal beatdown?

Well that does it for this week’s column. No column next week as I’ll be in Houston for the big show, but I look forward to sharing my stories with you in two weeks. Until then, don’t die. Clark…out.