Six days after All Elite Wrestling put on arguably the best in-ring event of the year, WWE has the unenviable task of following it with Money in the Bank.
The in-ring action at Forbidden Door was at a level that is virtually unmatched anywhere in the world. WWE doesn’t necessarily have to match that, but with two multi-person ladder matches on the card, it could come pretty close.
But what Money in the Bank will have that Forbidden Door lacked is the drama, primarily with the so-called Bloodline Civil War.
So who will walk away winners Saturday in London? I’ve got some predictions.
Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Logan Paul vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Butch vs. Ricochet vs. Santos Escobar vs. LA Knight vs. Damian Priest
Is this an exciting field of combatants or what? First, you have a bunch of people who haven’t quite broken through the proverbial glass ceiling yet in WWE all receiving a real opportunity to do so in this match. Granted, Shinsuke Nakamura has already won a Royal Rumble, but he has been basically rudderless since then.
Everyone else is starving for that moment, including this match’s wild card, Logan Paul.
Paul rubs a lot of fans the wrong way, but in the ring, he has been undeniable. He has really picked up this pro wrestling thing and run with it.
Will that be enough for WWE to give him the briefcase? I think you would be naive to rule it out. I can vividly see a world where Paul is running around with the briefcase, tempting the powers that be to make international headlines by making him a world champion.
However, as much as WWE loves Paul, I don’t think the company loves him quite enough to put its top title on him. In fact, WWE has never put one of its top titles on an outsider. It has been on part-timers and people well past their respective primes, but never a complete outsider — unless you count that one time Arnold Schwarzenegger posed with the WWE title in 1999.
Paul is great for creating buzz and putting on fun matches, but being WWE champion? That would be absurd, and I think WWE has just enough restraint not to do something like that.
Since I am taking a more sensible approach to this, I am predicting LA Knight to win and earn the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Knight has been white-hot lately and seemingly has all the tools WWE usually looks for in a champion. He’s got a good physique, he has natural charisma, and boy, can he talk. He hasn’t been featured to this extent yet during his WWE tenure (remember when Vince McMahon made him a manager?), but I think he has proven that he can hold his own within the “WWE Universe.”
Will Knight cash in the contract and become a world champion? Maybe. With two titles (or is it three … who knows?), it is more likely now than it was a year ago this time.
Winner: LA Knight
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Becky Lynch vs. Bayley vs. Trish Stratus vs. Zelina Vega vs. Zoey Stark vs. IYO SKY
I think the easy call would be Becky Lynch since The Man is the most notable performer in the match, but I have a sneaky suspicion she and Trish Stratus will cancel each other out.
From there, it is a matter of who needs the win more. For me, that comes down to Bayley and IYO SKY.
Damage CTRL started off with so much promise, but never quite caught on to the level many people were expecting. Then Dakota Kai suffered a torn ACL, leaving the group with only two members for an extended period of time.
Or … they could add another member until Kai gets back. If it were up to SKY and Kai, the group would add Piper Niven, who isn’t doing much of anything at the moment.
It would be cool to see Niven make a surprise appearance, help one of the Damage CTRL members win the briefcase and officially join the group.
Nothing has been confirmed on that front, but regardless, I am going to pick Bayley to pick up the win. When I think of who needs this win the most, it has to be Bayley. She has needed a spark for quite some time, and winning Money in the Bank could easily provide that.
Winner: Bayley
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor
I think this will be a fine match between two fine wrestlers, but this is an open-and-shut case, in my book. The Visionary retains.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Bloodline Civil War: Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa vs. The Usos
While Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay put on arguably the best match of 2023, this has to be the leader in the clubhouse when it comes to the most dramatic match of the year.
The match will be so dramatic, it already has a nickname: Bloodline Civil War. Sorry, old-school fans, “Bloodline Explodes” sounds more like a medical emergency than a wrestling match.
Either way, if the name is any indication of what is to come, it will be an emotionally charged contest in London.
This was a tough one for me to predict, but at the end of the day, I am going with Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa to pick up the win.
The last time we saw Reigns in a tag team match, he lost to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn at Night of Champions. I don’t see that happening twice in a row.
The Usos may arguably be the best tag team in the world, but I just can’t see WWE handing Reigns two losses in as many months.
Winner: Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa
Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio
What a huge match this is for Dominik Mysterio, and he honestly deserves it. He has been one of the highlights of Raw ever since he joined the Judgment Day and has steadily progressed in the ring and on the microphone. I can’t say enough about how far he has come over the last year.
And now, he is being rewarded in the form of a one-on-one match with one half of this year’s WrestleMania main event. And like that main event, I think Cody Rhodes is taking an ‘L.’
I know that I am going out on a limb here, but I am basing my prediction purely on the fact that Brock Lesnar could just show up, destroy Rhodes, hand Mysterio a surprising win, and set up Lesnar-Rhodes III at SummerSlam.
Of course, Lesnar could wait until Rhodes has already beaten Mysterio to do that, but I feel like WWE is going to go for the shock factor of Mysterio pulling off an improbable win.
If you thought “Ex-Con Dom” was already intolerable, there is no preparing you for how insufferable he will become after beating Rhodes. Personally, I can’t wait.
Winner: Dominik Mysterio
WWE Intercontinental Championship: Gunther (c) vs. Matt Riddle
The one drawback to having lengthy title runs is that it doesn’t lend itself to making the fans believe the champion is any real danger.
I feel like we have gotten to that point with Gunther despite him having a historic reign as Intercontinental Champion. Under ordinary circumstances, I would believe that Matt Riddle, a former United States champion, would have a legitimate chance of beating Gunther.
The only problem is no one has beaten Gunther in a long, long time, and I don’t believe that Riddle is the person to finally vanquish the Ring General.
Winner: Gunther
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan
I am happy that Liv Morgan is healthy and back on television, but the former champs look to be in the right place at the right time to get Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler over as badass tag champs.
Winners: Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler