Money in the Bank 2024 Match/World Title: Winners and Losers

After this weekend’s WWE Money In the Bank, I came away from the event feeling a bit cheated and lackluster. It had nothing to do with the crowd, nor the wrestlers’ performances as both were pretty spot on. And I was caught up in the emotion of John Cena’s retirement announcement of 2025 being his final year.

It was the Men’s Money in the Bank and the World Heavyweight Title Match and how the two matches just screwed everything up. And while I understand that I am not in the know nor am I an expert, I can see when sometimes too much excess is bad.

This Saturday for the first time in a long time, Paul Levesque became more likes Tony Khan in that he was more about the swerves and run in than the story. And because of that, here is how two matches got screwed up and a lot of people have been hindered going forward for the rest of the year.

LOSER 1: JEY USO. At the beginning of the year, Jey Uso felt primes to be the next breakout star in the likes of Sami Zayn and Gunther to get some championship gold. In 2023, he had finally broken away from the Bloodline and his matches with Roman Reigns showcased his star potential.

Add in the catchphrase “Yeet” and it was easy to see WWE giving him the Money in The Bank briefcase and turning it into the Yeet-case.

It would allow him to go after any title on RAW or Smackdown, hunt Gunther or even the Bloodline, something that kept him relevant while they sought him out. But instead, the final image was Jey getting knocked off the ladder from another ladder javelin style by Drew.

It’s becoming a common theme of Paul Levesque’s treatment of babyface’s not named Cody or Sami.

Don’t believe me; just look back at Chad Gable, The Miz, Kevin Owens, LA Knight and others in the past few years. Teases of close but no cigar and most of the time there is very little payoff.

Worse without the briefcase, there isn’t a path forward for Jey Uso going forward going into SummerSlam. Sami is busy with Bron Breakker for the Intercontinental title, Gunther has his title shot versus Priest, and Logan Paul and LA Knight are headed for a showdown.

Even the Judgement Day is sort of tied up with feuds as is Chad Gable and Ludwig Kaiser, leaving Jey without any feud or dance partner going forward. Which leads me to the second loser of this whole group

LOSER 2: Damian Priest. For the record, I am a big fan of the “Archer of Infamy” as he has demonstrated huge growth since arriving in the WWE. His physical transformation alone is incredible but the work he has done to improve on the microphone and tweak his character is spot on. The feud with Bad Bunny had to have been incredibly stressful as you knew that there was immense pressure on him not just to deliver but also NOT to let the Grammy Award winning Musician get hurt in the ring.

Ever since Judgement Day was founded, Priest has had to overcome the long shadow of Edge and later Rhea Ripley. When he cashed in and won the title at WrestleMania 40, the hope was that this was going to catapult him onto bigger things.

Instead, his title reign has given off vibes of Jinder Mahals as each defense views more of the lack of long-term vision the company has in him as champion.

At Backlash France, he defeated Jey Uso after multiple interference by the Judgement Day. At Clash of the Castle, after getting caught in the ring ropes due to a botched move, he won after a ref bump and CM Punk screwing Drew McIntyre.

And last night, after another miscue, WWE goes back to the well as McIntyre cashes in the Briefcase, turns it into a triple threat, and CM Punk screws McIntyre over.

The portrayal is that Priest isn’t good enough to win on his own; he needs help and miracles to pull this off.

This is what you do for champions like Jinder Mahal, Nikki Ash, Santino Marella and Crash Holly. Comedy wrestlers who have lucked their way into world titles, not guys who are supposed to be future big babyface wrestlers of the company.

I understand the idea that Priest is supposed to be frustrated that he isn’t getting the chance to get the big win on his own. But nuance often gets lost in pro wrestling and the image is often lost in the visual that the champion feels secondary to the bigger players.

Hell, Priest isn’t even the bigger story in Judgement Day right now as that is the Liv Morgan-Dominick Mysterio “romance” that is meant to infuriate Rhea Ripley when she comes back.

The feeling right now is that Priest is holding onto the title until Gunther takes it off him at SummerSlam. By the way, speaking of and the last name in the loser category…

LOSER: GUNTHER: The Ring General has been the darling on wrestling fans due to his cold disposition, fiery and hard chops, and brutal wrestling moves. His dominating Intercontinental title reign helped breathe new life into the title and lead him into super stardom.

At the King of the Ring, he defeated Randy Orton (albeit with some controversy) to win the King of the Ring Title and get his title shot at SummerSlam.

A Title shot against a champion that has zero momentum, for a title that is secondary compares to the Universal and with no momentum of his own.

There has been almost no build for this fight and going forward you could forgive people for looking past this title match. Gunther has basically had one appearance since he won King of the Ring and showing up the night after. His interaction with Seth and Priest was as business and dry as ever.

How many people are going to care about Gunther’s title win and reign as Drew vs Punk vs. Seth is going on?

Even the leadup for this title is convoluted as Gunther doesn’t even feel like the biggest issue for Damian Priest. He is dealing with a possible mutiny of Judgement Day as they are being seduced by Liv Morgan. What on paper should be a possible dream match is quickly turning into a wet fart of an event which makes the final loser even fitting.

LOSER: World Heavyweight Championship. If the Women’s Tag Titles are the most cursed titles in WWE, the World Heavyweight title is a close second. Neither title has had a great run and at times feels like a hot potato or second fiddle to other titles at play. Last night, the World Heavyweight Title felt like an afterthought in the bigger drama that was Drew and Punk rekindling their Ahab vs. Moby Dick Obsession.

When the title was first created, it was done so because Roman Reigns had defended the unified title by beating Cody at WrestleMania 39. In an effort not to have Raw be without a champion, the title was created and fans quickly soured on it.

It took a Herculean effort by Seth Rollins at the expense of his body to bring prestige to the title. But even then, his title feuds at times were diluted against mostly mid card wrestlers such as Fin Balor and Shinske Nakamura. When he had great matches with Drew and Jey Uso, they often were sandwiched between the storyline with the Judgement Day saga.

Most of 2024, he was on the shelf due to pushing his body to his breaking point and when he dropped the title at WrestleMania 40. And even then, the title was treated as the runner up as Rollins Day 1 Main Event match was a tag match w/ Cody vs. Roman & the Rock

Drew McIntyre wins the title and within 5 seconds, loses it due to CM Punk and the MITB Cash in by Damian Priest.

This title might as well just be a prop that gets used for charity functions, golf tournaments and celebrity award ceremonies the way it is presented. Maybe going forward it will get better treatment but right now this title feels like a bastard son of the Universal Title in more ways than one.

On the bright side, there were two winners of out the whole debacle that came last night.

WINNER: Seth Rollins. While Seth lost the match, he might have just won the war as he finds himself involved in potentially the hottest feud in pro wrestling. After the match, the camera’s cut to him walking over menacingly to Punk and verbally laying into him.

At this point we can only assume a Triple Threat match at SummerSlam is in the works as it allows Rollins to get his licks in on McIntyre and Punk for costing him the title. It also allows him to work an easier pace rather than full breakneck of a one on one as he normally does.

The Rollins/Drew/Punk feud could go on for a few months and spin into Drew vs. Seth part 2 for the title, Seth vs. Punk or Drew vs. Punk and a Seth heel turn. Either way, Seth feels like he is back in the Main Event scene and fresh as always which leaves the final winner as this man.

WINNER: CM PUNK. Nearly a year ago, Punk was being fired from AEW, wondering where his next contract was and nursing some injuries. Less than six months ago he was starting rehab on his torn right triceps and facing the possibility of being done for good.

Now he is part of the hottest angle in pro wrestling and just had more heat put on with screwing Seth Rollins also last night and costing him a title win.

Lost in all of this is the fact that we still don’t know how healthy Punk is at this point in his rehab from surgery. At this writing, he has yet to be fully cleared to wrestle and even then, he has yet to be injury free since 2021. You have to think there were people in WWE that were worried Punk was going to get reinjured within the next three months after coming back so soon.

His recent history has given us more than enough pause on his body being able to withstand the punishment of being a pro wrestler.

Now, with a possible triple threat match at SummerSlam upon us it allows Punk to ease into the match and avoid more damage. It can allow him to prolong getting into the ring for as long as humanly possible to allow his body to heal.

For the fact remains that Punk is a 45-year-old man with the back, arms, legs and joints of a guy who has been in several car crashes. If your WWE, the more you can protect and prolong his career, the more you take advantage of that situation.

Bottom line though is that for the first time the Men’s Money in the Bank Match felt like it was a waste of time. It did nothing to help the winner (Drew McIntyre) and the end game of the briefcase also felt like a formality to the point that it cast a pall on the rest of the card.

Granted its only on PLE, and WWE business is still going on strong but going forward it might be time for them to put a cork in this. Paul Levesque has always prided himself on creating long term storylines and letting things breathe. The MITB Briefcase has always felt like something that can be used to add instant spice.

Let NXT have it for a few years so that you can have more of the prospects get a chance to shine. Or allow the Briefcase to be used for Tag Titles and IC/US titles to avoid it being not so predictable in who is going to win the thing.

Because if last night showed us anything it’s that the whole thing has gotten a bit stale and overstayed its welcome.

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