Since Vince McMahon stepped away from his executive and creative roles in WWE following his scandal earlier this year, there’s been a notable uptick in the quality of weekly programming. A renewed focus on in-ring action and the removal of some of McMahon’s silly rules (like not using the word “wrestling” on a wrestling show) have been part of it, but just as important has been a boost in internal logic and consistency.
In other words, Raw and SmackDown have insulted your intelligence as a viewer less often. But there are still occasions when the jaw drops not because of some spectacular move but due to the fact that your brain can’t comprehend what just took place, and the end of this week’s Raw, which featured Austin Theory failing in his attempt to cash in his Money in the Bank contract for Seth Rollins‘ United States Championship, was definitely one of those moments.
To explain why it was so ridiculous, let’s start with a quick review of how we got here. When Theory won the Money in the Bank briefcase in July, it quickly became a major part of his character that he was the youngest MITB winner of all time. Along with being McMahon’s hand-picked chosen one, it’s fair to say it was the defining characteristic of Theory’s heel persona, enhancing the idea that he was an underhanded opportunist.
Theory didn’t waste much time letting Roman Reigns know that he should watch his back, suggesting that he may cash in on the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at the time he seemed weakest. This is standard operating procedure for any Money in the Bank winner, and WWE used it to good effect in the lead-in to SummerSlam, with Paul Heyman very believably worried that Theory could cash in after Reigns went through a grueling Last Man Standing match with Brock Lesnar.
But while everything up to that point made perfect sense, Theory’s aborted attempt to cash in at that event was the first sign that WWE has written itself into a corner with this year’s briefcase winner. With Reigns holding both of the company’s most important men’s titles, did anyone really think this young upstart was going to walk away holding both of them?
More recently, Theory hinted at possibly using his briefcase to chase after the NXT Championship. That, too, wasn’t a horrible idea for this particular wrestler. The NXT title did seem like a more achievable goal, after all. It’s just that when the contract grants you a shot at the richest prize in the game, why waste it on something lesser? It’s like winning a contest for six ounces of gold and saying, “no thanks, I’d like silver, please.”
That feeling loomed even larger this past Monday, when Theory arguably aimed even lower by taking his case down the ramp after Rollins had been beaten silly by Bobby Lashley. Sure, WWE could have him explain it by saying he’s held that title before and it’s important to him, but after he had already made designs of going after Reigns, it still wouldn’t really ring true.
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(There was also the issue that he might not even have needed to cash in, considering that Rollins had issued an open challenge and his match with Lashley never started, so perhaps Theory could have just said he was accepting the challenge instead. Let’s just forget that and move on.)
It felt like WWE was trashing the MITB briefcase just like Nikki Cross attempted to throw away the 24/7 Championship a little bit earlier. Hopefully that’s not the case, because the concept still has merit, and the actual Money in the Bank ladder matches almost always turn out to be great entertainment.
The potential sticking point with the briefcase, though, is that fans have to believe the winner will have a chance of dethroning one of the current champions. It’s a problem that reared its head in 2020 when Otis won the contract, which he eventually lost to The Miz. It was the right move but rendered Otis’ initial victory pointless.
With Theory the issue was slightly different. Though it was possible to sell him as a surprising world champion (kind of like WWE did on the women’s side with Liv Morgan), the timing wasn’t right. No one was buying the idea that he was going to beat Reigns, leaving WWE in a pickle.
It’s possible that the current creative team was saddled with a Money in the Bank holder it didn’t really want, kind of like a GM taking over a football team with a quarterback drafted by their predecessor. At some point, the writing is on the wall that there’s going to need to be an exit strategy.
So maybe Triple H and his crew did the best they could with the hand they were dealt. Theory no longer has the briefcase and can hopefully be rebuilt in an interesting way that doesn’t rely on it. Fans now know the MITB contract can be used on any title, which … well, we’ll have to see if that’s a positive or negative.
It may take some time to rebuild the Money in the Bank notion so that it’s as compelling as it once was. It certainly was an ugly part of the process on Raw, but hopefully, we’ll look back and say it was a necessary one for both Theory and the briefcase to move forward to better things in 2023 and beyond.