WWE Money in the Bank is aprofessional wrestling event, produced annually since 2010 by the American companyWWE, the world's largestprofessional wrestling promotion. The event is named after theMoney in the Bank ladder match, a multi-personladder match in which participants compete to obtain a briefcase that contains a contract for achampionship match, which can be "cashed in" at a time and place of their choosing within the next year. The match originally only took place at WWE's flagship event,WrestleMania, from 2005 to 2010, after which, the match concept was spun off into its own event beginning in July that year with the match no longer occurring at WrestleMania. In addition to airing on traditionalpay-per-view (PPV) since the inaugural2010 event, the event has been available vialivestreaming since the2014 event. It has since become recognized as one of the company's five biggest annual events of the year, along with theRoyal Rumble,WrestleMania,SummerSlam, andSurvivor Series, referred to as the "Big Five".
From 2010 to2013, the event occupied the July slot of WWE's event calendar before moving to June from 2014 to2018. It was then held in May before returning to its original July slot in2021 and then again in June in2025, with the2026 event to be held in September. The event was introduced during WWE's firstbrand extension period, and the events in 2010 and2011 featured wrestlers from both theRaw andSmackDown brands. The first brand split then ended in August 2011. In mid-2016, the brand extension was reinstated and the2017 event was held exclusively for SmackDown. However, followingWrestleMania 34 in April 2018, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued. The2023 event was held inLondon, England, thus making it the first to take place outside of the United States, with the2024 event the first to be held inCanada. While the eponymous match was originally only for male wrestlers, the 2017 event featured the first-ever women's version and the events since have featured two matches, one each for the men and women.
The "Money in the Bank"pay-per-view (PPV) andlivestreamingevent centers around a ladder match, the prize of which is a briefcase containing a contract for a championship match. The winner can then cash in the contract at a time and place of their choosing anytime within the next year – beginning the night they win the briefcase. If the contract is not used within that year, it is voided, but this has yet to happen. Only the holder of the Money in the Bank contract can be the one to cash-in the contract.[3]
In 2010 and 2011, the annual PPV included two Money in the Bank ladder matches. To coincide with thebrand extension, one ladder match was for wrestlers from theRaw brand with a match contract for the brand'sWWE Championship, while the other ladder match was for theSmackDown brand with a match contract for itsWorld Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version).[4][5] The brand split then ended in August 2011; although the brand split ended, the Money in the Bank events continued to have two ladder matches for match contracts for the respective titles.[6][7] After the two titles were unified inDecember 2013, a championship match contract for the unifiedWWE World Heavyweight Championship became the prize of a single Money in the Bank ladder match.[8][9] Also in 2014, the event moved to the June slot and it was also the first Money in the Bank event to air on WWE'sstreaming service, theWWE Network, in addition to traditional PPV outlets.[8] The brand split returned after the2016 event,[10] with the2017 event held exclusively for SmackDown. The championship match contract in the ladder match that year was for SmackDown's WWE Championship (formerly WWE World Heavyweight Championship). The 2017 event also featured the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match with its contract being for aSmackDown Women's Championship match; each event since has featured a men's and women's match.[11][12]
The 2017 event would be the only Money in the Bank event to be brand-exclusive, as followingWrestleMania 34 in April 2018, brand-exclusive PPV and livestreaming events were discontinued, thus the events since have involved both the Raw and SmackDown brands.[13] Beginning with the2018 event, the ladder matches had eight participants evenly divided between the brands. The 2018 contracts granted the winners a championship match for their respective brand's world championship: theUniversal Championship or WWE Championship, and theRaw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship.[14][15][16] Beginning with the2019 event, the winners could choose either brand's world championship. The 2019 event also moved Money in the Bank to the May slot in WWE's event calendar.[17]
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020,that year's event saw the number of competitors in both matches decreased to six. Additionally, while the rules of the match itself remained the same, a new "Corporate Ladder" gimmick was also added to the matches, in which the participants had to travel from the ground floor ofWWE Global Headquarters to the roof in order to reach the briefcases, which were suspended above a ring on the roof. Additionally for 2020, both the men's and women's matches took place at the same time.[18] While the ladder matches werepre-recorded ascinematic matches,[19][20][21] all of the other matches took placelive from theWWE Performance Center inOrlando, Florida, withno fans in attendance.[22] Additionally, the 2020 event was the first event to directly award a championship for winning the Money in the Bank ladder match; on the following night's episode ofRaw, it was revealed that the women's ladder match had actually been for the Raw Women's Championship due to reigning championBecky Lynch going on maternity leave.[23]
In August 2020, WWE began holding Raw and SmackDown's shows in abio-secure bubble called theWWE ThunderDome. In May 2021, the company announced that they would be leaving the ThunderDome and returning to live touring, beginning with the July 16 episode ofSmackDown inHouston, Texas. The2021 Money in the Bank was in turn announced to take place atDickies Arena inFort Worth, Texas, on July 18—returning the event to its original July slot—thus it was the first WWE PPV and livestreaming event held outside of Florida sinceElimination Chamber on March 8, 2020, and the first PPV and livestreaming event held following the end of theThunderDome Era.[24][25][26][27] The 2021 event also reverted to the standard version of the titular ladder matches as well as returning to having eight competitors for both matches, evenly divided between the two brands.[28] The 2021 event was also the first Money in the Bank to livestream onPeacock in the United States, following the merger of the American version of the WWE Network under Peacock in March that year.[29]
The2022 event was announced during the2021 SummerSlam, which was held at theAllegiant Stadium in theLas Vegas suburb ofParadise, Nevada. Money in the Bank was initially announced to be held at the same venue on July 2, 2022, which would have marked the first time for a Money in the Bank event to be held in aNational Football League stadium.[30][31] However, on May 26, 2022, it was announced that the event had been moved to the nearbyMGM Grand Garden Arena, although still on the same date, thus marking the first Money in the Bank to be held on a Saturday.[32] While Money in the Bank had originally been established as one of WWE's monthly PPVs held between their "Big Four" shows (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania,SummerSlam, andSurvivor Series), in August 2021, WWE President andChief Revenue Officer Nick Khan referred to Money in the Bank as one of the company's "five annual tentpoles",[33] subsequently elevating the event's status as one of WWE's five biggest events of the year, referred to as the "Big Five".[34] The 2022 event also reduced the number of participants in the women's match to seven with an uneven division of wrestlers between the two brands—it featured four wrestlers from Raw and three from SmackDown; the men's match was originally announced with just seven, but during the event, it was expanded to eight participants, evenly divided between the two brands. Also beginning with the 2022 event, the winner can use the contract on any championship.[35][36]
On January 5, 2023, WWE announced that the2023 event would be held on Saturday, July 1 atThe O2 Arena inLondon, England, marking the first Money in the Bank event held outside of the United States. This was also WWE's first major event held in London sinceInsurrextion in May 2002 and England in general sinceInsurrextion in June 2003.[34] The 2023 women's ladder match had six participants divided evenly between the two brands,[37] but the men's had seven, with three from Raw, three from SmackDown, and one non-exclusive wrestler participating.[38] The2024 event was the first Money in the Bank to be held inCanada, with it scheduled for Saturday, July 6 at theScotiabank Arena inToronto, Ontario. Both the men's and women's matches had six participants each, evenly divided between the two brands.[39] The2025 event, which moved the event back to June, scheduled for June 7 at theIntuit Dome inInglewood, California,[40] will be the first Money in the Bank event to livestream onNetflix in most countries outside the United States following the WWE Network's merger under the service in those areas in January 2025. A select few territories still maintain the separate WWE Network due to pre-existing contracts but will transfer to Netflix once those contracts expire.[41]
WrestleMania 42 was originally to be held inNew Orleans, Louisiana in April 2026, but in May 2025, it was revealed that New Orleans would no longer be hosting the event. This came as part of a larger agreement with New Orleans, in which the city would host a future WrestleMania as well as the2026 Money in the Bank.[42] The date for Money in the Bank was originally announced for Saturday, August 29, 2026,[43] but was delayed to Sunday, September 6. This marks the first Money in the Bank to be held in September, thus the latest scheduled in a calendar year.[44]
Money in the Bank is the only WWE event with a regular theme song. This is in stark contrast to WWE's other PPV and livestreaming events, which use songs sponsored by mainstream recording artists, which was the case with the first event using "Money" byI Fight Dragons.[45] From 2011 to 2018, "Money in the Bank" by former in-house WWE composerJim Johnston was used as the event's theme song.[46] Before the advent of the event, Johnston's song was used as the entrance music forDonald Trump for his numerous guest appearances on WWE television.[47] Starting in 2019, the theme song for the event was "Gotta Get That" (renamed to "Cash In" in 2023),[48] written by WWE's current in-house composerdef rebel.[49] The only exception to this has been the 2024 event, with its theme song being "Tap" byNAV featuringMeek Mill, the first time since 2010 where the song was by a recording artist.[50]
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
Notes
^abcIn December 2013, theWWE Championship andWorld Heavyweight Championship wereunified, retiring the World Heavyweight Championship while the WWE Championship became known as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The 2014, 2015, and 2016 events featured only one Money in the Bank ladder match with its contract being for a match for the unified title (which reverted to being called the WWE Championship after the 2016 event when thebrand split was reintroduced).
^James Ellsworth retrieved the briefcase forCarmella. On the following episode ofSmackDown Live, Carmella was forced to relinquish the briefcase and a rematch was scheduled for the June 27 episode with Ellsworth banned from ringside, where Carmella definitively won the match.
^abThe match was originally announced with its original rules in that the winner would receive a women's championship match contract, however, on the May 11, 2020 episode ofRaw,Raw Women's ChampionBecky Lynch announced she was going on maternity leave and that the ladder match had actually been for the Raw Women's Championship instead of a championship match contract.
^Both the men's and women's matches took place at the same time, although the women's match concluded first.
^abcWWE.com Staff (January 5, 2023)."Money in the Bank headed to The O2 in London on Saturday, July 1".WWE.Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. RetrievedJanuary 5, 2023.The O2 is one of the world's premier venues and the perfect home for Money In The Bank. We are excited to bring one of our 'Big 5' events to the UK and look forward to welcoming the WWE Universe to London on July 1.
