Dr. K's Waiting Room

The Date: 3 April 2005
The Venue: Staples Center; Los Angeles, California
The Commentary: Jim “J.R.” Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Referee: Earl Hebner
The Stakes: Six man ladder match for a chance to cash-in on a World Heavyweight Championship at any time within a year

The Build-Up:
Since World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has largely dominated the wrestling landscape, it’s no surprise that the WWE has been at the forefront of creativity, whether with their celebrated Superstars, their impact on pay-per-view entertainment, or the creation of memorable matches. Since 1993, Superstars were given a first-class ticket to a World Championship match at WrestleMania by winning the annual thirty-man Royal Rumble match, and the company had been awing fans with their ladder matches since 1992, with their Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) matches being some of their most hotly-contested spectacles. It was long-time veteran “Y2J” Chris Jericho who first came up with the idea of combining these concepts in the “Money in the Bank” ladder match, originally pitched as a means to get more names onto the WrestleMania 21 card, which, in its original inception, saw six men vying for the chance to grab a briefcase that would be their ticket to a championship match. At the time, the WWE was in the midst of their first brand split and only competitors from the Raw brand were involved in the match but, in time, the number and variety of the competitors would increase. There were a number of moving parts involved heading into the match: all of the competitors had crossed paths both in the past and recently, with Jericho and Christian having been at odds with each other since WrestleMania XX, Christian was finally finding his feet as an amoral, egotistical singles star alongside his muscle, Tyson Tomko, and his storyline brother, Edge (who was originally reluctant to be in the match), was just starting to explore his own path as a reprehensible bad guy. Also involved were Chris Benoit (a dependable hand who had spent most of the year in the main event scene as the World Heavyweight Champion), Kane (still in the midst of a run as an unmasked psychopath), and rising star Shelton Benjamin, who was not only the Intercontinental Champion at the time but who had also made an impression by besting Triple H in what should have been star-making performances Raw.

The Match:
I’ve always enjoyed ladder matches; they can be extremely gruelling and impressive bouts, especially the tag team and TLC contests that the WWE perfected between 1999 and 2002. The idea of putting some of the best and most physically impressive up-and-comers in a ladder match alongside some reliable hands with a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship on the line was already a great prospect, but the very idea of a Superstar being able to cash-in that briefcase anytime, anywhere really added some much-needed spice into the main event scene. However, I have to say that I think I preferred it when the Money in the Bank ladder match didn’t have it’s own pay-per-view event; it makes sense, of course, since the King of the Ring, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble matches all got their own events but I think it very quickly diminished the spectacle of the match and the entire concept since you suddenly had annual Money in the Bank pay-per-views running with at least two of the matches on the card, which I do think is a bit of overkill. These matches could easily be spaced out over the year, taking place on WrestleMania or SummerSlam or even special editions of Raw or SmackDown! since it’s a great way to get some names on a card and under the spotlight without draining the crowd with multiple matches in one night. Following the entrances (which included a fantastic visual of the ladders around the entrance ramp bursting into flames when Kane came out), Jericho, Benoit, Christian, and Shelton put aside their differences to intercept Kane on the aisleway in a blatant attempt to target the biggest man in the match, only to be summarily manhandled by the Big Red Machine.

This pack mentality continued at ringside as Benoit and Shelton worked together to take Kane out with a double suplex, while Jericho caused a ladder to smack Christian right in the face in the ring before getting into it with Shelton. The youngster ended up eating the canvas off a facebuster and then Jericho successfully fended off Benoit and Edge with a dropkick to the ring apron before he, Christian, and Shelton took it in turns to dive onto the two, though of the three it was Shelton who impressed the most with his running senton splash from the ring to the competitors outside. Not to be outdone, Kane then took all of them out with a diving clothesline of his own before heading into the ring and swatting Edge and Christian with a ladder. Jericho ended this assault with a Missile Dropkick off the top rope and then used the same ladder to brutalise Shelton and Edge before he (and the ladder) got planted with a German Suplex by Benoit! Benoit retrieved the ladder and managed to counter Kane’s Chokeslam into a Crippler Crossface; however, he took a ladder shot right to the face from the Big Red Machine when he had the same hold locked in on Edge and ended up having his left arm pulverised by the ladder courtesy of Kane. Edge put a stop to the assault with a Spear and then rekindled his old partnership with Christian to crush Kane between two ladders before both men were downed by a springboard clothesline from the agile Shelton Benjamin. Although Shelton was able to hit a spin kick on the ladder to take Christian out of the equation, he got hurled into another ladder by Edge but immediately got a little payback by countering Edge’s Spear into a flapjack into the same ladder! Shelton followed this up by crushing Edge against the ladder with a huge Stinger Splash, clearing the ring and allowing him to make a climb for the briefcase; unfortunately, Jericho intercepted him from the other side of the ladder and the two got into a slugfest. Christian, Benoit, and Edge then joined the party, scaling ladders of their own to duke it out up high, each one making a desperate reach for the briefcase, until Christian sacrificed his spot to drive Benoit’s arm into the canvas, Jericho plummeted from his ladder, and Edge was sent crashing off the top courtesy of Shelton’s signature T-Bone Suplex Slam!

Chris Jericho recovered first but Christian intercepted him before he could climb, earning him a good old boot to the back of his head for his troubles. This led to the undeniable highlight of the match as Shelton ran up an angled ladder and clotheslined Jericho from the top of another ladder as he was reaching for the briefcase! Absolutely unreal stuff from Shelton here; it boggles my mind that he didn’t get more of a push towards the main event, or a World Championship run! Unfortunately, Christian was on hand to bash Shelton off the ladder with one of his own; Kane then booted the ladder in Christian’s face and tried to murder Shelton by Chokeslamming him out to ringside, but the youngster’s boot got tied up in the ropes and Christian’s “Problem Solver”, Tyson Tomko, took Kane out with a boot before he could do any more damage. Tomko then set up a ladder and gave Christian a boost towards the briefcase, but Kane simply shoved the ladder over and sent Christian spilling onto his bodyguard on the outside! Kane then made a play for the briefcase but he and Jericho ended up toppling to the top rope during their struggle; Benoit then returned to the ring and, despite his bad arm, was able to set up a ladder, scale it, and drop head-first onto Kane’s prone body with his trademark Diving Headbutt that busted open the stitches above the Rabid Wolverine’s eye! Benoit then hauled himself up another ladder and frantically fought off Kane’s attempt at a Chokeslam with repeated headbutts. Although this worked, Edge came out of nowhere with a sickening chair shot to Benoit’s injured arm! Benoit tumbled from the ladder and, with the field clear, Edge was able to scale it, unhook the briefcase, and steal the victory for himself to a chorus of boos! Man, I have to say, this was a hell of fun match; I think the only things that let it down were the short length (though this did add to the entertaining chaos) and the fact that Edge and Benoit kinda disappeared for a bit in the middle there. As weird as it always is seeing Kane in this kind of match, he really held his own; I think a bit more could’ve been done with the other guys ganging up on him, but he definitely made an impression with his power game. The star of the show was, of course, Shelton Benjamin; his agility and innovative offense was absolutely riveting at the time, and it really is a shame he didn’t get a proper run at the top. Everyone else was, of course, brilliant and played their parts well; the match even benefitted from the ladders actually behaving and this really set a high standard for other Money in the Bank ladder matches to follow.

The Aftermath:
Most of these guys would continue to mix it up in matches together over the following weeks and months; Chris Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Championship at Backlash the following month and Edge scored a big victory at that same event by blasting Chris Benoit with a brick to win their Last Man Standing match. A few months down the line, at Vengeance, Chris Jericho and Christian were challenging for John Cena’s WWE Championship and Kane was embroiled in a feud with Edge that had somehow resulted in the Big Red Machine becoming the heroic avenger after he was betrayed by Lita, a woman he had blackmailed into a relationship and all-but-raped! This of course leads me to the man who benefitted the most from this match; Edge’s victory saw him become an unhinged, despicable character on Raw, one who stole Lita away from Kane and delighted in flaunting their highly sexual relationship on a weekly basis. He even made a chump out of former friend Matt Hardy, who made a dramatic return to the company to get into it with Edge despite the real-life animosity between them as Lita had been sleeping with Edge behind Matt’s back! Edge cemented himself as a top heel on Raw but held onto the Money in the Bank briefcase for about eight months; although he could’ve cashed in his contract at any time, he wisely chose to do so at the conclusion of the 2006 New Year’s Revolution pay-per-view, which saw him blast WWE Champion John Cena with two consecutive Spears to capture his first World Championship. Unfortunately, Edge wouldn’t get to defend the belt at WrestleMania 22 as he lost the title to Cena via submission only one month later; instead, Edge went on to have a brutal hardcore match against Mick Foley that further established him as a top star. Of course, this wasn’t the last Money in the Bank ladder match; the first interpromotional version was held at WrestleMania 22, it was upgraded to an annual pay-per-view event in 2010, and the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank match took place in 2017.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

What did you think to the inaugural Money in the Bank match? Did you like that Edge won the match or would you have liked to see someone else take the win? Were you impressed by Shelton Benjamin’s physicality and would you have liked to see him get a World Championship run? Which of the competitors was your favourite? Were there any competitors you would’ve liked to see included in this first match? What’s your favourite Money in the Bank match? Whatever your thoughts on the Money in the Bank match, share them below or leave a comment on my social media and be sure to check out my other wrestling reviews!