Money in the Bank (2018)

The 2018 Money in the Bank was the ninth annual Money in the Bank professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on June 17, 2018, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.

The event featured eleven matches, including one match on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Raw's Braun Strowman won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match. Raw's Alexa Bliss won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in her contract later in the night to win the Raw Women's Championship from Nia Jax after causing a disqualification in the previous title match between Ronda Rousey and Jax. In other prominent matches, AJ Styles retained SmackDown's WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match and Carmella retained the SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka with help from the returning James Ellsworth.

The event received a mixed to positive reception from critics, with the ladder matches, WWE Championship, Raw Women's Championship, and the Intercontinental Championship matches garnering the most praise. However, the remaining matches from the card, as well as the finish of the SmackDown Women's Championship match were negatively received.

Production

Background

Money in the Bank is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event produced by WWE since 2010, generally held between June and July. The concept of the show comes from WWE's established Money in the Bank ladder match, in which multiple wrestlers use ladders to retrieve a briefcase hanging above the ring. The briefcase contains a contract that guarantees the winner a match for a world championship at any time within the next year. While the 2017 event was a SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view, 2018 featured both the Raw and SmackDown brands as WWE discontinued brand-exclusive pay-per-views after WrestleMania 34 in April. The 2017 event also introduced the first women's Money in the Bank ladder match. The 2018 event in turn also had a men's and a women's match, which is now standard. For 2018, the contracts in the briefcases granted the winners a world championship match of their respective brand. Each match featured eight wrestlers, evenly divided between the two brands. Male wrestlers competed for a contract to grant them a match for either Raw's Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship, while female wrestlers competed for a Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship match contract. The 2018 event was the ninth event in the Money in the Bank chronology. It took place on June 17, 2018, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Tickets went online on March 5, 2018 through Ticketmaster.

Storylines

The professional wrestling matches at Money in the Bank featured professional wrestlers performing as either heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by the hosting promotion, WWE, on the Raw and SmackDown brands.
The event card comprised eleven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from the scripted storylines which were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, ''Monday Night Raw'' and ''SmackDown Live''.

Raw

Qualification for the Money in the Bank men's ladder match began on the May 7 episode of ''Raw''. The first fixture involved Braun Strowman defeating Kevin Owens using a "running powerslam" to qualify. The second was a triple threat match involving Finn Bálor, Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns. During the bout, Jinder Mahal interfered and attacked Reigns, allowing Zayn to perform a " helluva kick". Bálor then immediately dropkicked Zayn and qualified by landing a " coup de grâce" to win the match. The following week, two more triple threat matches were conducted. The first bout had Bobby Roode winning against Baron Corbin and No Way Jose after Roode cleared Corbin from the ring and pinned Jose with a " glorious DDT". The second one featured Owens, Elias and Bobby Lashley, where Owens qualified by performing a " frog splash" on Elias after Zayn interfered and attacked Lashley.

Qualification for the women's ladder match also began on May 7. The first one was a triple threat match involving Ember Moon, Sasha Banks and Ruby Riott. Moon planted both Banks and Riott with a " double eclipse" and pinned the latter to earn a spot. Another triple threat match was held the following week, where Alexa Bliss qualified by defeating Bayley and Mickie James when she planted a " Bliss DDT" on the former. On the May 21 episode of ''Raw'', a fatal four-way match between Natalya, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan and Dana Brooke was conducted; In the climax, Natalya used a " sharpshooter" on Logan and qualified by submission. The final qualification match occurred next week, where Banks overcame Bayley, Brooke, James, Logan, Morgan, and Riott in a seven-woman gauntlet match to earn the final spot.

During the NBCUniversal Upfront event on May 14, Ronda Rousey was interviewed by television presenter Cathy Kelley. The defending Raw Women's Champion, Nia Jax, interrupted the interview and challenged Rousey to a match at Money in the Bank, putting her title on the line. Rousey accepted the challenge and they both signed the contract for their match the next week. The bout was also Rousey's first singles match with WWE. The week after on ''Raw'', Jax tried to intimidate Rousey by demonstrating on an amateur wrestler that she would counter Rousey's "armbar" and perform a "samoan drop".

On the May 28 episode of ''Raw'', Seth Rollins interrupted Elias, who was trying to sing for the crowd as a part of his gimmick, and forced him to leave. After Rollins' match against Mahal for the WWE Intercontinental Championship was over with Rollins retaining his title, Elias smashed a guitar on his back. On May 31, a match between the two for the Intercontinental Championship was scheduled for Money in the Bank.

After Mahal cost Reigns a chance to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match, Reigns attacked him backstage the following week resulting in a brawl which culminated with Reigns landing a " superman punch" on Mahal. On the May 21 episode, after Reigns and Seth Rollins defeated Mahal and Owens in a tag team match, Mahal attacked Reigns with a chair. A match between the two was then scheduled for Money in the Bank.

During a tag team match on the April 23 episode of ''Raw'', Lashley performed a one-hand suspended vertical suplex on Zayn, which Zayn claimed gave him vertigo and why he missed the Greatest Royal Rumble. At Backlash, Lashley and Strowman defeated Owens and Zayn in a tag team match. During an interview on the May 7 episode, Lashley spoke dearly about his family, including his three sisters. In response, Zayn said that Lashley was not a nice guy and promised to bring out Lashley's sisters to tell the truth. On the May 21 episode, three men dressed up as Lashley's sisters accused Lashley of violence. Lashley interrupted the segment and attacked the imposters along with Zayn. The following week, a match between the two was made for Money in the Bank.

SmackDown

Qualifications for the men's ladder match continued during ''SmackDown''s May 8 episode. The Miz and Rusev qualified for the match by beating Jeff Hardy and Daniel Bryan, respectively. The Miz countered a cover by Hardy after the latter performed a " swanton bomb" into a pinfall to win while Rusev qualified by landing a " machka kick" on Bryan. The following week, Big E and Xavier Woods of The New Day won against Cesaro and Sheamus in a tag team match, allowing one member of The New Day to qualify. Samoa Joe secured the final spot by defeating Bryan and Big Cass in a triple threat match on the May 29 episode, winning by making Bryan submit to the " coquina clutch".

Qualifications for the women's ladder match also continued on May 8, with Charlotte Flair qualifying over Peyton Royce by applying her signature " figure eight leglock". The following week, Becky Lynch won against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in a triple threat match after Lynch made the former tap out to the " dis-arm-her". On the May 22 episode, Lana and Naomi were the last two women to be qualified, both of them doing so by winning in singles matches against Billie Kay and Deville, respectively.

At WrestleMania 34, A.J. Styles won against Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE Championship. After their bout, Nakamura attacked Styles with a " low blow", turning heel in the process. The two continued to feud through Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash with their matches ending in draws. On May 14, SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon announced a rematch between them for the fourth time at Money in the Bank, stating that every wrestling fan was "looking for a definitive winner". Nakamura was granted the right to choose the stipulation for the match after defeating Styles on ''SmackDown''s May 15 episode by using a " kinshasa". The following week, Nakamura attacked Styles by dropping him onto the announcer's table and striking him with a "kinshasa"; Nakamura then chose a Last Man Standing match as his stipulation.

During the May 15 episode, SmackDown General Manager Paige interrupted SmackDown Women's Champion Carmella's celebration of her reign and scheduled a title match between her and Asuka for Money in the Bank.

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeated The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) on the May 22 episode, therefore becoming the number one contenders to face The Bludgeon Brothers (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Money in the Bank. Their bout was later scheduled for the Kickoff pre-show.

Big Cass and Daniel Bryan began feuding after the former returned from injury during the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up. Cass continued to taunt Bryan on the May 1 episode of ''SmackDown'' by calling him "small and weak" and declaring himself to be "a real WWE superstar" while beating up a midget dressed like Bryan. Their feud intensified when Cass eliminated Bryan from the Greatest Royal Rumble match by using a ''big boot''. It eventually led to a match between them at Backlash where Bryan won against Cass, who attacked him again after the match. Bryan returned the favor by applying a "heel hook

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