WWE Money in the Bank 2013 is a few weeks away but we already have three matches announced. While the WWE championship announcement was predictable, the RAW MITB match is a welcome surprise.
[adinserter block=”1″]The RAW Money in the Bank match with the winner getting a crack at the WWE title is arguably the most star-studded MITB match in years or maybe even ever. The match features all former champions (some WWE, some world heavyweight) and could go down as one of the most exciting and dramatic ever. Expectations will be high but I can’t imagine that these six won’t meet them.
CM Punk vs. Sheamus vs. Kane vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Christian will do battle for the steel briefcase in Philadelphia. Talk about a fun match! What I really like about the match is that it really is unpredictable. Punk, RVD, Bryan, and even Orton all make for logical winners. I’ll have my annual MITB match prediction by the odds blog out next week where I’ll break down the chances of each guy grabbing the briefcase.
I really like that the WWE is shooting RVD right into that top spot. Why waste time with a guy that already has a long history with your fans? You could argue that Rob should go over in the match being that this is his first match in. It will be interesting to see if Rob appears on RAW before the match to cut a promo. There is almost a better case not to let him appear on live TV until the show in order to make his return even bigger.
Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, Christian, and Randy Orton’s participation in the match is a little odd for the simple reason in that I would have expected them in the SmackDown match. This match is really star-heavy and borrowing from SmackDown (not that there is exactly a brand split these days) really dilutes from its match. The plus is that you’ll probably see more guys in that match getting a push that probably wouldn’t have had the shot.
John Cena will defend the WWE championship against Mark Henry. This match was predictable last week after Henry laid out Cena during the fake retirement speech. I like it in that it’s different and I think they have potential to have a decent match. This will be a Philadelphia crowd and my hometown isn’t particularly fond of Cena so I’d expect an interesting dynamic with Henry being the clear fan favorite here. Seeing Cena get decent matches out of Ryback gives me hope that this won’t be as bad as it looks on paper.
[adinserter block=”2″]Finally Chris Jericho will take on Ryback on the show. This is an odd match for a variety of different reasons. One, I would have expected Jericho and Ryback in the MITB matches. Ryback especially fits into the match since he just competed for the WWE title and Jericho could have boosted the SmackDown match. Two, Jericho has been feuding with Alberto Del Rio for what? Three, it just seems like a bit of a comedown for Ryback coming off of two straight main-events. I don’t mean that with disrespect because Jericho is great, but in regards to the perception of both on the cards. This match was originally penciled in for WrestleMania 29. They had a decent match on SmackDown before so I’d expect even better with more time on pay per view.
I’d expect the SmackDown matches to be announced shortly but thus far we are looking at a pretty good card for MITB.
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