Every WWE Money In The Bank Cash-In, Ranked

The WWE's Money in the Bank ladder match has been going strong since its inception in 2005. The prize is the Money in the Bank contract enclosed in a briefcase, which guarantees its holder a one-time shot at any championship within a year's time. The contract has allowed new stars to jumpstart their careers and established stars to add to their list of accomplishments. It has also provided some of the most memorable ladder match moments in wrestling history, as superstars have cashed in their contracts at opportune and often unexpected times.

Not all cash-ins have been exciting, though. Some have been disappointing or straight up lame. Some were exciting in the moment, but either made no sense upon further judgment or led to nowhere in the long term. The good thing is that most have been exciting and surprising, and many have created some of the loudest crowd reactions of the past two decades.

Twenty-seven superstars have cashed in Money in the Bank since the first one in 2006. This list ranks all 27, taking into account elements such as storylines, crowd reaction, surprise factor and the aftermath of the cash-ins.

Baron Corbin's Money in the Bank cash-in on "SmackDown Live" in 2017 has to be the lamest and most anti-climactic cash-in of all time. After holding the briefcase for almost two months, Corbin decided to cash in on then-WWE champion Jinder Mahal, who had just wrestled a match against John Cena. Corbin had to wait for the referee's loosely-enforced rule that Mahal had to reach his feet before starting the match. Once the bell rang, Corbin turned around to punch Cena and was rolled up by Mahal for a three count, losing his cash-in match.

This made no sense at all. First off, why give Corbin the contract just to make him lose it like an idiot a couple months later? Corbin winning the championship could have helped propel him to the top as one of the company's best heels, but instead it solidified his position as the company goof who can't get above the mid-card.

Braun Strowman's cash-in against Roman Reigns at Hell in a Cell 2018 was initially a good one on paper. Strowman decided to cash in ahead of time, establishing himself as a beast who didn't need to surprise attack the champion in order to win the title. If Strowman had won the match, it would have further established his dominance as a monster who can stand up to the best in the company.

Instead, fans got another lame and nonsensical ending that left them frustrated without answers. What could have been a war between two heavyweights turned into an overbooked mess with interference from several wrestlers, including Brock Lesnar, who ran in at the end of the match. Lesnar wrecked Strowman and Reigns, leaving them "unable to compete." The referee ended the match as a no contest, and upset fans booed as the show went off the air.

Damien Sandow is one of the biggest "what ifs" in recent memory. With loads of talent and potential, cashing in and winning the championship seemed like the next logical step for "Sir Money in the Bank," who seemed to be on the verge of a push. Unfortunately, that push halted after he cashed in. Sandow cashed in Money in the Bank on then-World Heavyweight champion John Cena after attacking him, but the WWE was hell-bent on soon unifying the World Heavyweight and WWE Championships at the time.

Clearly the WWE didn't want Sandow to be the unified champ, so Cena ended up hitting Sandow with an Attitude Adjustment and winning the match on a 2013 episode of "Raw." Sandow never really recovered as a potential top guy after losing his match to Cena. He later got over with the crowd with various gimmicks, including as The Miz's stunt double as "Damien Mizdow," but WWE ultimately could not figure out what to do with Sandow as a singles star. That uncertainty places this failed cash-in among the company's worst decisions with the briefcase.

John Cena was surprisingly the first superstar to cash in his briefcase and not end up winning the championship. He cashed in on the 1,000th episode of "Raw" in 2012 against then-WWE champion CM Punk, with the cash-in being announced ahead of time. The two wrestled a back-and-forth match before Big Show eventually interfered and killed any intrigue the match had. Big Show attacked Cena which allowed the latter to win by disqualification, but the title cannot change hands via DQ. After the match, The Rock helped out Cena before Punk turned on The Rock and hit him with a GTS.

The run-in by Big Show was anti-climactic, uninteresting and pointless. It makes you wonder why WWE booked Cena to win the briefcase at all instead of giving it to a less-established superstar to help put them over. This was an example of the briefcase being completely wasted.

Brock Lesnar isn't exactly the kind of wrestler who needs to surprise the champion with his cash-in attempt, but he went ahead and did it anyway. After all, Lesnar is a man who lives by the concept that he doesn't get paid by the hour.

Lesnar cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules 2019 after the then-WWE Universal champion Rollins and then-WWE Raw Women's champion Becky Lynch had just finished defending both of their titles in a tag team match. Rollins tried to defend himself but was ultimately unsuccessful, leading to yet another championship win for Lesnar. This was a semi-surprising moment for the fans but ultimately falls low on this list because fans were absolutely sick of seeing the part-time Lesnar become champion yet again. The good thing is Lesnar ended up losing the title back to Rollins, but then he annoyingly beat Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship just months later.

The Miz's second run with the briefcase was a strange one. Miz unsuccessfully cashed in at TLC 2020 in a triple threat match against then-WWE champion Drew McIntyre and AJ Styles, but the briefcase was later returned to Miz after the cash-in attempt was deemed invalid since it was Miz's partner, John Morrison, who cashed in for him. Miz later cashed in on McIntyre at Elimination Chamber in 2021 and was successful thanks to the help of Bobby Lashley.

The cash-in itself was unfortunately not very exciting thanks to the pandemic-era ThunderDome virtual crowd, which was the best the company could do given the times. Post-cash-in wasn't great either since Miz lost the title two weeks later to Lashley. The story of Miz "owing" Lashley a title shot after benefitting from his help was intriguing, but one can't help but think that Miz was given the shaft again with another subpar title run. Miz has weirdly had better runs with the Intercontinental Championship than the main WWE titles.

Jack Swagger might have been a star in WWE if he wasn't pushed too soon. Swagger had not fully developed his character and gotten over with the crowd before he was given the championship thanks to his Money in the Bank win and eventual cash-in. Swagger cashed in Money in the Bank on a 2010 episode of "SmackDown," which was a TV taping, killing some of the intrigue for viewers who may have been privy to spoilers. He cashed in on then-World Heavyweight champion Chris Jericho who was just attacked by Edge.

Swagger's cash-in was strange because it was the beginning of a more serious gimmick where he didn't react to, well, anything. This resulted in Swagger being more bland, rather than being taken more seriously by the fans. He ended up dropping the title a little over two months later to Rey Mysterio, making his reign uneventful and pointless. Swagger never won a world championship with WWE after that.

In 2015, the WWE was adamant about getting Roman Reigns over with the crowd as a babyface, but fans saw right through it and it just wasn't working. Somehow, the company thought having Sheamus cash in his briefcase on Reigns would help the matter, but it did the opposite.

Survivor Series 2015 ended with Reigns defeating Dean Ambrose for a vacated World Heavyweight Championship. During Reigns' celebration, Sheamus jumped in the ring, brogue kicked Reigns and cashed in his briefcase, winning the title. It was a surprising moment that drew a decent reaction from the crowd, but that didn't last long, as people realized they did not want to see Sheamus as champion either. Sheamus was more of a mid-carder at the time and was more over for his crazy hair style than anything in-ring. The Celtic Warrior ended up losing the title back to Reigns less than a month later, rendering his own reign meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

The WWE has had their fair share of issues with allowing superstars to cash in their contract just for them to lose the title soon after. Alberto Del Rio was no exception. It took WWE a while to commit to putting the strap on Del Rio, and they finally did it when he cashed in at SummerSlam 2011. CM Punk had just defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship and was then attacked by Kevin Nash. Del Rio took advantage of the attack and cashed in, winning the title to a decent reaction from the crowd.

The issue with this cash-in was the aftermath. Del Rio lost the title a month later to Cena, won it back a couple weeks later, then dropped it again the next month to Punk. Playing hot potato with the title caused it to lose value and didn't really help anyone — the company may have been better off letting Del Rio have a longer reign with the title instead.

WWE's women wrestlers have a track record of not waiting very long to cash in their briefcases. Alexa Bliss was the first of them to actually start that trend. Bliss won her contract at Money in the Bank 2018 and wasted no time cashing in later that night. She interrupted the Raw Women's Championship match between Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey, hitting Rousey in the back with the briefcase and throwing her out of the ring before beating down Jax with the briefcase and cashing in to win the title.

This win made Bliss a five-time champion, which shows she didn't necessarily need to win the title to help her character. She also ended up dropping it to Rousey later that summer. Nonetheless, it was a surprising moment and the crowd popped hard for her cash-in and title victory, making it a moment worthy of praise.

Edge historically had the first Money in the Bank cash-in in 2006, but his second cash-in was pretty good, too. On a 2007 episode of "SmackDown," Edge took advantage of a laid-out Undertaker, who was just beaten down by Mark Henry, hitting 'Taker with a spear and winning his first World Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately Edge did not have a long reign with the title, as he had to vacate it due to injury a couple months later.

It was very on-brand for Edge's character to yet again cash in on a tired champion, making this a good "not-again" moment. The shocking moment was also propelled by Michael Cole's disgusted reaction, who yelled on commentary, "Not this way! Not this way! Damn it!" The only reason why this cash-in falls further down on the list is because so many good cash-ins followed it — plus the fact that Edge's historic first cash-in overshadows this one.

CM Punk had two briefcase cash-ins back-to-back. This was his first, which came during a 2008 episode of "Raw." Then-World Heavyweight champion Edge was just attacked by Batista, and Punk ran in to cash-in and steal the title from Edge, who had done the same thing twice before.

This was a great moment for two reasons. First, what better poetic justice than for Edge to lose his title in the same slimy fashion that he won it by cashing in his contracts on Undertaker and Cena years prior. It was a great way for Edge to receive his comeuppance after making a name for himself as "The Ultimate Opportunist." The second reason is that Punk was a fan favorite who had the backing of the crowd, which heavily cheered when Punk cashed in and won the title. It was a good way for Punk to establish himself as a top guy in the company.

It was tough to determine which CM Punk cash-in was better, but his second one against Jeff Hardy ultimately takes the cake. It was almost a full year later at Extreme Rules 2009, when Hardy had just defeated Edge in a ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Hardy was a huge fan favorite, so when the babyface Punk cashed in his contract, fans were perplexed and not happy. They booed Punk as he hit Hardy with a GTS, then cheered when Hardy amazingly kicked out. They cheered again when Hardy rolled Punk up for a pin and were disappointed when Punk kicked out.

Ultimately Punk won the title, but the intrigue of whether Hardy would somehow pull off the victory made this moment exciting and unique. Punk ended up getting booed more and eventually turned heel on Hardy that year, making this moment even better for Punk's character development.

The best thing about this cash-in was the long-term booking, even if some of it was done on the fly by WWE based on crowd reaction. Wrestling fans were all in on Daniel Bryan at the time, and he had just defeated John Cena to win the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam 2013. The crowd loved Bryan's victory, which made it that much more shocking when Randy Orton decided to make his way down to the ring to potentially cash in. Bryan was game for another match, but Triple H, who was the special guest referee, hit Bryan with a pedigree, making way for Orton to win the title.

This seemed badly booked at the time, and fans were frustrated after wanting to see Bryan win and keep the title. It eventually led to a Bryan vs. The Authority storyline which culminated at WrestleMania 30 when Bryan defeated Orton and Batista in a triple-threat match for the title. Looking back, this cash-in was a great decision, given the story fans got later.

Nikki A.S.H. continued the trend of women not hanging onto their Money in the Bank contracts for very long. Just one day after winning her briefcase, Nikki cashed in on a 2021 episode of "Raw." "Raw" Women's champion Charlotte Flair had just been disqualified in a title match against Rhea Ripley, and an angry Ripley attacked Flair in frustration. Ripley had no problem allowing Nikki to enter the ring and cash in her contract against Charlotte, so Nikki was able to capitalize on the moment by hitting Flair with a crossbody for the win.

The pop from the crowd was huge. It was already a shock that Nikki had won the briefcase the night prior instead of a bigger name, so it was even more surprising when Nikki cashed in the next day and became a champion. Unfortunately, Nikki only held on to the title for a month before losing it back to Flair, but the moment was surprising and wholesome enough to still hold up on its own.

The Miz is one of just three wrestlers to cash in the Money in the Bank contract twice. The first time he did it was actually better than his most recent cash-in. It was 2010, four months after Miz had won the contract, and he decided to capitalize on a tired Randy Orton, who had just defended his WWE Championship against Wade Barrett. It was a risky cash-in because Orton wasn't completely incapacitated, like most champions are when a Money in the Bank winner cashes in. Orton did have an injured knee (kayfabe) though, which allowed Miz to wear Orton out before hitting him with a "Skull Crushing Finale" for the win.

Miz had an okay reign with the title following this victory, including a successful (albeit assisted by The Rock) defense against John Cena at WrestleMania XXVII. Neither of Miz's world championship reigns have been as good as his Intercontinental Championship runs, but winning the WWE Championship did help legitimize Miz into a main event-level talent.

It's too bad Daniel Bryan's "Yes!" chants had not yet been created leading up to his Money in the Bank cash-in, because his first title victory celebration would have been that much better. Bryan held the briefcase for five months before pulling the trigger on a cash-in, taking advantage of a laid-out Big Show who had just been attacked by Mark Henry at TLC 2011. Big Show had just won the World Heavyweight Championship over Henry. Bryan ran in and didn't even need to hit a move on Big Show — he just pinned him immediately and won the title.

It was a sweet victory for Bryan, who had won over a lot of fans since entering the WWE through its early iteration of NXT. His celebration with the crowd was fun and winning the title helped legitimize him; it also paved the way for an eventual heel turn that fleshed Bryan out as a character. Unfortunately, his 18-second title loss to Sheamus at WrestleMania XXVIII was disappointing, but the WWE made up for that in a big way two years later.

Kane loves to set things (and sometimes people) ablaze, but he also loves to torch the dreams of little kids in the crowd. That's exactly what he did at Money in the Bank 2010, when he became the first wrestler to cash in his contract on the same day he won it. Fan-favorite Rey Mysterio had just successfully defended his World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger when the flames hit and Kane menacingly made his way down the entrance ramp. There was a strong feeling of doom as Kane took his time before cashing in. He ended up hitting Mysterio with a chokeslam and Tombstone Piledriver, becoming the champion once again.

This was a unique cash-in not because of the crowd pop, but rather the crowd shock. Those who were happy to see Mysterio as champion watched in disbelief as Kane came away with the title shortly after winning the Money in the Bank ladder match. To this day, Kane holds the record for the fastest contract cash-in at around 50 minutes.

Carmella is the only woman wrestler so far who has waited more than a day to cash in her Money in the Bank contract. She's also the first woman to do it, winning the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match. Her cash-in can probably be considered one of the funniest cash-ins in history. After then-SmackDown Women's champion Charlotte Flair was attacked by the IIconics, Carmella came blazing down the entrance ramp and snagged an unsuspecting referee on her way. Unfortunately Carmella chose the most clueless referee, as she had to scream at him multiple times to get him to actually cash in the contract and ring the bell.

Despite the ref's incompetence, Carmella was still able to win the title after a kick to Flair's head. The crowd popped hard for the cash-in, which was a great moment for Carmella. Like many wrestlers who cashed in before her, the title helped put Carmella on the map as a top performer in the women's division.

Bayley's cash-in to win the "SmackDown" Women's Championship at Money in the Bank 2019 was unique because she didn't initially run in to cash in — she was just saving her friend. After Charlotte Flair had defeated Becky Lynch for the title, Flair and Lacey Evans ganged up on Lynch and attacked her after the match. Bayley ran in to even the odds and help out Lynch, and once Evans was out of the picture and Flair was down, Bayley saw an opportunity. The crowd egged Bayley on with "Yes!" chants as she pondered the cash-in and exploded when she made the decision to do it.

The pop was great for this cash-in as Bayley became the first female Grand Slam winner in WWE history. The aftermath was good, too, as it eventually led to a heel turn which Bayley successfully developed into a smarmy heel character.

Rob Van Dam's cash-in was the second Money in the Bank contract cash-in in history, and it was one of the few announced ahead of time. Van Dam had homefield advantage with this cash-in, as he decided to have his title match held at ECW One Night Stand in 2006 against WWE champion John Cena. It was one of the most iconic events in WWE history, as the ECW crowd in the historic Hammerstein Ballroom was absolutely hot for Van Dam, and, more importantly, absolutely loathed Cena. One fan even had a sign that read "If Cena wins, we riot."

We never found out if the crowd would have rioted because Van Dam left with the title. As expected, the crowd popped for Van Dam's win, even if the win wasn't clean, thanks to Edge's interference and the fact that Paul Heyman oddly made the 1-2-3 count at the end. Still, this was a landmark event for WWE and its short revival of the ECW brand.

Sweet, poetic justice once again. Much like CM Punk's cash-in against Edge, Dean Ambrose cashed in his contract against Seth Rollins a year after Rollins had done the same thing. What separates this cash-in from Punk's, though, was the history between Ambrose and Rollins. Rollins betrayed Ambrose and Roman Reign in 2014 after the three had spent two years together as The Shield. Ambrose was hit hardest by the betrayal, and the two feuded for quite a while after Rollins' betrayal.

At Money in the Bank 2016, Ambrose decided to enact more revenge on Rollins after winning the Money in the Bank ladder match earlier that night. Rollins had just defeated Reigns to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship when Ambrose's music hit. Ambrose attacked Rollins with the briefcase from behind and hit him with the Dirty Deeds, securing the belt against his enemy. It was one of those rare "what goes around comes around" moments that was executed perfectly.

When fellow New Day member Kofi Kingston got injured, it was the perfect opportunity for Big E to put his tag team career on hold and pursue another singles run. Almost a year later, Big E won the Money in the Bank contract, and it only took him about two months to decide to cash in. Big E took his shot on a 2021 episode of "Raw" against Bobby Lashley, who had just successfully defended his WWE Championship against Randy Orton. Big E cashed in and actually struggled early on against Lashley, who still had some juice left after his match.

Big E kept battling and finally hit Lashley with a Big Ending, winning the title in front of a raucous crowd. It was a long journey for Big E, who had been in the WWE's system since 2009. He celebrated with his New Day teammates Kofi and Xavier Woods as "Raw" went off the air.

For a while, it seemed like the WWE would never cash in on the potential and popularity of Liv Morgan. She started in NXT in 2014 and had seen a lot of her peers win titles over the years while she was stuck in tag teams and losing championship opportunities. However, her long journey finally culminated at Money in the Bank 2022 when she won the briefcase and cashed in on Ronda Rousey later that night.

Rousey had just successfully defended her "SmackDown" Women's Championship against Natalya when Morgan's music hit. Morgan cashed in and tried to hit Rousey with a kick, but Rousey caught it and put Morgan in an ankle lock. At that moment it seemed like Rousey, who is very much protected by WWE's booking, would get the win and Morgan would be overlooked once again. The crowd booed in disbelief, wanting Morgan to win. Luckily, Morgan kicked Rousey in her bad knee, causing her to fall and allowing Morgan to get the roll-up and the win. The crowd exploded, Pat McAfee went crazy on commentary, and even Rousey herself gave Morgan props after the match. As Morgan celebrated, the crowd chanted "you deserve it," and she definitely did.

Much like Liv Morgan's, Dolph Ziggler's cash-in on a 2013 episode of "Raw" was a long time coming. He had been with the company since 2004 and the fans were starting to get behind him. He had technically won the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011, but he was really handed the title by then-general manager Vickie Guerrero and had lost it to Edge that same night. That wasn't really considered a true reign by fans. So when Ziggler cashed in his contract on Alberto Del Rio, it felt earned.

Del Rio had just defeated Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter, and was attacked by Swagger afterwards. Ziggler took advantage and cashed in, and the two wrestled a legit match for a couple minutes as Del Rio had life left. It looked like Del Rio even had it won at one point, but Ziggler ended up hitting him with a Zig Zag and captured the title. The crowd loved it. Unfortunately Ziggler lost his title back to Del Rio two months later, but it did pave the way for a rare and intriguing double turn when Ziggler turned face and Del Rio turned heel during the rematch.

The one that started them all. Edge won the first-ever Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21 and hinted that he would cash in his contract at the next year's WrestleMania. However, the perfect opportunity arose at New Year's Revolution 2006 when John Cena successfully defended his WWE Championship against five other wrestlers in a brutal elimination chamber match. Vince McMahon announced Edge's cash-in and Edge hit a bloody Cena with two spears before pinning him for the win.

This was a huge moment in WWE history. Not only was it a first, it also established that the Money in the Bank contract was truly able to be used at any time, which meant future holders would wield tremendous power. Not to mention it put over Edge big time as he captured his first world championship. Edge did lose his title back to Cena shortly after, but he was established as a main event player and never looked back.

Everyone expected WWE's handpicked face of the company (behind the scenes), Roman Reigns, to walk away with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the end of WrestleMania 31. The crowd just wasn't having it. Luckily, Rollins had other plans for the title anyway. During the title match between Reigns and the champion Brock Lesnar, Rollins waited until the two were worn down before running like hell down the long entrance ramp to cash in.

Rollins made it a triple threat match and hit Lesnar with a Curb Stomp, but Lesnar caught him when he tried a second one. Reigns came out of nowhere to spear Lesnar, which gave Rollins an opportunity to hit Reigns with his signature move and pin him for the victory. Rollins smartly got the heck out of dodge after his win, escaping with the title and swinging it around his head in celebration. This was the most surprising cash-in of all time, making it the heist of the century.