Five Times Money In The Bank Winners Didn't Win The Title

One of the hottest topics in WWE right now is the cashing in of Baron Corbin's Money in the Bank contract. In a shocking turn of events to close out this week's SmackDown Live, The Lone Wolf handed over his coveted briefcase and lost the WWE Championship match that followed, but more on that later. Since the Money in the Bank concept was first introduced in 2005, there have now been three times where Superstars cashed in and failed to leave with a World Championship, but you likely already knew that. This article will cover those three occurrences, plus two more times that Superstars lost the briefcase but did not leave with a title.

5. Mr. Kennedy

The first ever example of a Money in the Bank winner not going on to cash in their contract and become a World Champion happened all the way back in May of 2007. Mr. Kennedy won what was just the third ever Money in the Bank ladder match, and vowed to cash in his contract the following year at WrestleMania XXIV, the final night that he would have been able to do so. Sadly, long before then he had to defend his contract against Edge during an episode of Raw. Kennedy was struck with a monitor right before the match started meaning Edge could pick up an easy win and become Mr. Money in the Bank for the second time in his career. The Rated R Superstar would go on to cash in on The Undertaker and become World Heavyweight Champion later that week.

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4. John Cena

It took an impressive seven years since the Money in the Bank ladder matches first began for a contract holder to cash in and not emerge from the subsequent championship match as champion. In 2012, Mr. Money in the Bank, John Cena, cashed in his contract on long time rival and WWE Champion, CM Punk. It happened during an already stacked 1000th episode of Raw during which we were also treated to a D-Generation X reunion and an appearance from the Brothers of Destruction. Both men went back and forth until the referee was knocked unconscious and Big Show emerged and delivered a KO Punch to Cena. By the time the ref came around, Cena recovered enough to kick out. Show then returned and attacked Cena again, this time getting Punk disqualified. All of this chaos meant that even though John Cena won, Punk retained the championship due to it being a disqualification

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3. Damien Sandow

The first Superstar to ever make it as far as cashing in his Money in the Bank contract and actually lose the championship match that followed was Damien Sandow. The Intellectual Savior of the Masses was a huge hit with the WWE Universe, and when he won the MITB contract in 201,3 it appeared that Vince McMahon was finally on board with him being a top star. That was not the case. During an episode of Raw later that year, Sandow confronted then World Heavyweight Champion John Cena, accusing the champion of having an injured arm sustained from a previous match with Alberto Del Rio. Sandow then went about proving it by attacking Cena and cashing in his contract. Not the best move for the now former WWE Superstar who ended up losing the match. It also started his slow descent down the card until his departure in 2016.

2. Baron Corbin

As promised, the latest man to cash in a Money in the Bank contract and lose his championship match, the reason behind this whole article, Baron Corbin. There was no real tease of Corbin cashing in his briefcase on SmackDown Live before costing John Cena his match with Jinder Mahal. The WWE Champion was struggling back to his feet and Corbin cashed in. What he hadn't accounted for, however, was Big Match John also getting his bearings back. Cena distracted Corbin and Mahal saw his chance, rolling up the now former Mr. MITB and retaining his title. It made for great television and certainly livened up an otherwise mundane edition of SmackDown Live, but if Damien Sandow is anything to go by it may have done irreparable damage to the career of Baron Corbin.

1. Daniel Bryan

No, you did not misread the beginning of this article, we did say that there have been five occurrences of Money in the Bank winners losing their contracts and not becoming a World Champion. This fifth and final one is more of an honorable mention, however. Long before Daniel Bryan was lifting those World titles above his head at WrestleMania XXX, the Ultimate Underdog was a Money in the Bank winner. Bryan decided to cash in his opportunity against World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry after the World's Strongest Man had been knocked down by Big Show's KO Punch. Daniel got the cover and was awarded the title, at first. Then, SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long broke the news to Bryan that the decision did not stand since Henry was clearly not fit to compete. The decision was reversed, the championship was given back to Mark Henry, and the MITB briefcase returned to Daniel Bryan.