The Money in the Bank ladder match is a professional wrestling ladder match held by WWE. The match can feature anywhere from five to ten participants from any WWE brand, with the objective being to retrieve a briefcase that is suspended 20 feet above the ring. The briefcase contains a contract that guarantees a match for one of WWE's world titles, which include the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. Throughout ECW's time as an active brand, its world title, the ECW Championship, was an option as well. The contract is valid for one year, and the briefcase holder—dubbed "Mr. Money in the Bank"—can appear on any program and cash in the contract at the date, place, and time of his choosing. The briefcase may also be defended in matches, similar to how championships are defended. All of the briefcase holders have successfully defended and cashed in the contract except for Mr. Kennedy and John Cena.
The Money in the Bank ladder match was first contested in 2005 at WrestleMania 21 and was exclusive to Raw Superstars. Since the match's inception, five additional Money in the Bank ladder matches have been held annually at their pay-per-view event, WrestleMania, the most recent being held at WrestleMania XXVI, and all subsequent matches have been interpromotional. In July 2010, a second and third Money in the Bank ladder match was held in the same year at an event also titled Money in the Bank for the Raw and SmackDown brands respectively, breaking from the WrestleMania tradition. The first winner of the Money in the Bank ladder match was Edge, who won at WrestleMania 21. Edge is also the only wrestler to cash in a contract he did not win in the actual ladder match. He defeated Mr. Kennedy, who won the WrestleMania 23 Money in the Bank match, for his briefcase in May 2007, and cashed it in against The Undertaker. CM Punk won at both WrestleMania XXIV and XXV, making him the only Money in the Bank participant to win the match on multiple occasions, the second to have earned multiple Money in the Bank contracts, and the first to win the Money in the Bank match in consecutive years.
The most recent Money in the Bank match winners are Dolph Ziggler, who won the World Heavyweight Championship contract at Money in the Bank in 2012, and John Cena, who earned the WWE Championship contract at the same event.
Until the establishment of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event, wrestlers were allowed to use the contract to claim a match for the world championship of any WWE brand if they desired. Edge and Jack Swagger, who were both Raw wrestlers at the time they had won Money in the Bank contracts (Edge with the contract for which he defeated Mr. Kennedy and Swagger with the contract he won at WrestleMania XXVI), did this on the episodes of SmackDown that immediately followed their contract wins.
Read more about Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Matches
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The first Commandment is—never let them get anything on you—
The second: Graft—get privileges others haven’t got—worm yourself into confidence
The Third—seem neat and prosperous—as if you had money in the bank—”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
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—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“As to your kind wishes for myself, allow me to say I can not enter the ring on the money basis—first, because, in the main, it is wrong; and secondly, I have not, and can not get, the money. I say, in the main, the use of money is wrong; but for certain objects, in a political contest, the use of some, is both right, and indispensable.”
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—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“When Titian was mixing brown madder,
His model was posed up a ladder.
Said Titian, “That position
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—Anonymous.
“A strong tiger is no match for a pack of wolves.”
—Chinese proverb.