WWE’s Money in the Bank may have lost some steam over the last few years, but fans still get excited for it each year, with it becoming a staple of the company at this point. Although losing the briefcase or failing at a cash-in has become more common place, there are still several superstars who achieved success.
When looking at the last 10 briefcase holders who won a championship upon their cash-in, their subsequent title reigns have resulted in a mixture of positives and negatives. Some reigns have been better than others, with the most recent reigns being ranked worst to best in this list.
10 Nikki A.S.H.
It had been just a few weeks since Nikki Cross changed gimmicks to Nikki A.S.H., but WWE decided to push her immediately, with her not only winning the briefcase, but cashing it in a day later. Fans weren’t on board with her superhero gimmick just yet, with it not getting any time to settle.
Nikki was booked to lose three non-title matches in a month, before dropping the belt in her first PPV title defense against Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley at the 2021 SummerSlam. Her reign was a complete waste of time, and a waste of her talents.
9 Alexa Bliss
When Alexa Bliss cashed in her briefcase, interfering in the Raw Women’s Title match between Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey, it was widely believed that Bliss didn’t need another reign, especially so soon after her last one had ended.
This reign saw her win just one televised match in two months, before losing the belt to Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam 2018. Bliss was good on the mic, as she usually is, but the reign wasn’t memorable in the slightest.
8 Brock Lesnar
Lesnar winning the MITB briefcase was an unpopular decision, as was his cash-in on Seth Rollins. This reign was just like any other Lesnar title reign – standing looking menacing whilst Paul Heyman did his talking, with few defenses.
In fact, this reign featured no successful defenses, as he fell at the first hurdle to Seth Rollins, who won the title back at SummerSlam 2019. Whilst the reign itself was mostly pointless, it did do a good job in further putting over Rollins, so it wasn’t entirely worthless.
7 The Miz
The Miz only held the WWE Championship for two weeks following his cash-in over Drew McIntyre, and even within the ThunderDome era, there was an overwhelming feeling of it being deserved due to his hard work over the years.
It was a fun two weeks, but he was clearly just a transitional champion, with him dropping the belt to Bobby Lashley. Seeing Miz with the title again offered up a nice moment, but it was a poor use of the briefcase overall.
6 Sheamus
Sheamus’ title win came out of nowhere, as he ambushed Roman Reigns following his first WWE Championship victory in the Survivor Series 2015 main event. Sheamus was simply just a placeholder champion whilst WWE tried to garner more support for Reigns, with him being booked weak.
He and Reigns did have a couple of entertaining matches, once in a TLC match, and the other on Raw in which Reigns would win the belt back. These two matches were a lot of fun, but the reign itself was not.
5 Carmella
Carmella’s initial MITB win was mired in controversy, but following that, she had an entertaining run with the briefcase. Even though she did her best following her SmackDown Women’s Title win, her booking left a lot to be desired.
A returning James Ellsworth took attention away from her, and she was controversially booked to defeat Asuka on two consecutive PPVs, which further damaged the aura of Asuka, who was undefeated just a month or so prior. From there, she wasn’t booked very strongly, but her work as a heel was good, at the very least.
4 Big E
In hindsight, Big E would have been better suited to a climb up the card, rather than a MITB cash in. However, it was still a nice moment when E won the WWE Championship, defeating Bobby Lashley. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts to bring some mainstream appeal to WWE, E’s reign was lacking.
He was booked to lose several non-title matches, with him not being treated like the number one star on Raw, despite being champion. He had some strong matches during his reign, with it lasting 110 days. It came to an awful end though, with Brock Lesnar running through him like any other superstar on the roster, winning the title in a fatal five-way at the 2022 Day One PPV.
3 Dean Ambrose
Dean Ambrose’s initial title victory in the main event of the 2016 MITB PPV was a brilliant moment, but from there, his reign was simply just fine. He had a few good matches here and there, but The Shield triple threat match was underwhelming, and his defense against Dolph Ziggler didn’t have much hype.
Ambrose did the best he could with the questionable booking and constant overshadowing, but by the time he lost the title to AJ Styles, there wasn’t too much to shout about. There were decent matches and decent moments, but nothing exceptional.
2 Asuka
In a surprising turn of events, Asuka’s MITB win in 2020 turned out to be a Raw Women’s Title victory, as Becky Lynch relinquished the belt due to pregnancy, with the title being awarded to Asuka. Lynch’s pregnancy reveal was a highlight of the Performance Centre era of WWE, and it helped to start an enjoyable run for Asuka.
The reign only lasted two months, but Asuka was consistently an entertaining part of Raw at the time. She had a great match against Sasha Banks, which unfortunately ended in a no contest. Some of the booking wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t the longest of reigns, but it was still fun.
1 Bayley
Bayley cashed in her briefcase the very night she won it, defeating Charlotte Flair at the 2019 MITB PPV. From there, she spent several months with the title, although her babyface run wasn’t ultimately the strongest.
She was booked fairly strongly, winning most of both her title and non-title matches, with PPV wins over Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, Ember Moon, and Charlotte Flair. Her eventual loss would lead to a much-needed heel turn, which resulted in an even better reign as Smackdown Women’s Champion.