10 Biggest WWE Money In The Bank Surprises

The latest Money in the Bank pay-per-view isn't far away and WWE will head to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 2 for the 2022 show.

The Money in the Bank concept is now deeply ingrained in WWE, with the first match of its type having taken place at 2005's WrestleMania 21, growing to become it's own unique event with Raw, SmackDown and women's division matches being offered up for fans of ladder match mayhem.

Money in the Bank and 'surprise' these days go hand-in-hand, whether because of match winners, unexpected cash-ins and even returns, so expect the, erm, expected unexpectedness this year, too.

To get you in the mood for the upcoming show, here are 10 of the biggest WWE Money in the Bank surprises.

10. Matt Hardy Returns

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Had Matt Hardy not gone down with a serious knee injury in November of 2007, he likely would have been a participant in WrestleMania XXIV's Money in the Bank ladder match.

Hardy had been a competitor in the same match at WrestleMania in 2006 and 07,but he would have to sit this one out as he recovered from surgery.

In order to write him out of storylines, WWE had Hardy's enemy-cum-reluctant-partner MVP attack him, followed by another attack courtesy of Randy Orton some time later.

Making his grand return to thwart the man who originally put him on the shelf, Hardy ran out from the crowd during the fourth-ever Money in the Bank match and prevented MVP from snatching the briefcase by hitting him with a huge Twist of Fate off the top of the ladder.

It was a great, surprising return that got a hell of a pop from the crowd and set up a spring series between the two over the United States Title.

9. Stop! Swagger Time.

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The last time the Money in the Bank ladder match would appear on a WrestleMania card (before getting its own standalone pay-per-view) was at WrestleMania XXVI in 2010.

It was a loaded field, with potential winners including Kane, Christian and, the bookie's favourite, Drew McIntyre.

The Chosen One wasn't, well, the chosen one, though, but rather ECW's Jack Swagger, who was certainly a wrestler on the rise but still something of a surprising choice for winner.

The All-American American tried to cash-in the next night on Raw, only to be run off by WWE Champion John Cena but, undeterred, showed up a few nights later on SmackDown and successfully cashed-in on World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger.

Though Swagger cashing-in wasn't too shocking, the speed with which he did so was. Previous briefcase holders had waited for months before doing the deed, while the former ECW Champion couldn't do it fast enough.

8. Fighting In Vince McMahon's Office

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WWE had to get very creative when it came to Money in the Bank 2020, as the world reeled from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and wrestling continued to take place behind closed doors.

For the pay-per-view/WWE Network special, the company devised a new concept in keeping with the cinematic wrestling that was necessarily en vogue at the time.

Instead of being a standard ladder match in an empty warehouse, the competitors in the men's and women's Money in the Bank matches would have to somehow get to the roof of Titan Towers (WWE's headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut), where they would find a ring with a briefcase suspended above it.

Full of barmy moments, including cameos from John Laurinaitis and Brother Love and Rey Mysterio getting thrown to his death from the rooftop, the strangest moment in an incredibly strange match was when AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan accidentally crashed into Vince McMahon's office.

D-Bry and the Phenomenal One continued to brawl, with massive dinosaur skull in the background, until they caught the glare of the Chairman and subsequently beat their hasty retreats.

Vince sanitised his hands as they left.

7. The Intellectual Failure Of The Masses

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You have to give it to Damien Sandow, who really took everything he was given in WWE and made it work, often by sheer force of willpower and in the face of creative team apathy and neglect.

By the summer of 2013, the Intellectual Saviour of the Masses was enjoying a great run with Rhodes Scolars tag partner Cody Rhodes. Both men found themselves vying for the World Heavyweight Championship's Money in the Bank briefcase, however, and Sandow showed no mercy in usurping Rhodes in order to retrieve it.

The team split, Cody won their big grudge match at SummerSlam and then Damien's momentum stalled.

But was it just a classic case of misdirection, fans wondered, a way to cool him off before unleashing him and his guaranteed title shot on the world?

Nope.

Sandow, having not appeared on the three pay-per-views since SummerSlam, came out on Raw the day after Hell in a Cell and challenged new World Heavyweight Champion John Cena to a match.

He destroyed Big Match John's big left arm and looked competitive, but ultimately succumbed to defeat, marking only the second time the Money in the Bank briefcase holder had failed to successfully cash-in.

Sandow has since said that the cash-in was hotshotted as WWE felt they needed a boost in the ratings, as they were going up against the World Series and Monday Night Football, so it was a surprise to himself as well as us.

6. The Next Big Trolljob

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The Money in the Bank ladder matches are typically spectacular affairs where, even though there can only be one winner, multiple performers usually come out of them better than they went in, grasping the opportunity to shine in unique surroundings.

Think, for example, of the likes of Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne, who performed in multiple such matches and, while never winning, did things to steal the show and secure their place on the highlight reel for years to come.

2019's inter-brand men's Money in the Bank ladder match was shaping up to be a similar affair, as exciting superstars like Ali, Andrade, Finn Balor and Ricochet dazzled while likely winners Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin did their thing.

Nobody was talking about any of the seven athletes risking life and limb when the show was over, though, because Brock Lesnar sauntered out (as a kayfabe injured Sami Zayn's unnamed replacement), knocked Ali off the rungs and grabbed the prize.

The Beast hadn't been around since losing his own title to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania and, though he was due back any day, his presence here was a shocker.

5. The Big Red Cash-In Machine

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2010 saw the emergence of Money in the Bank as a standalone pay-per-view concept, the first event featuring namesake matches for both the Raw and SmackDown brands, as well as other major championship showdowns.

In the opener, Kane beat Christian, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Matt Hardy, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler to retrieve the blue briefcase.

Where Jack Swagger had surprised everyone a few months earlier by waiting mere days to cash-in on Chris Jericho, Kane took things a step further by sauntering out after World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio's successful defense against Swagger just a few matches later.

The same-night cash-in (or attempted cash-in) was done a lot over the following years, but it was genuinely surprising at the time.

The Big Red Machine beat Mysterio in less than a minute to become a world champion for only the second time in his long and illustrious career.

4. The Devilish Advocate

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Though Paul Heyman turning on CM Punk was inevitable, the manner in which it happened certainly caught WWE fans by surprise.

They had teased dissension since Punk's comeback at Payback, which came a couple of months after Punk (accompanied by Heyman) lost to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29.

While the Straight-Edge Superstar and his manager had been one of the top heel acts in the company for the better part of a year, Punk was beloved and came back as a babyface, which is where the trouble began.

With a natural conclusion being Punk going up against Heyman's other charge, Brock Lesnar, the split was bound to happen, but could (and should) have been drawn out until the Royal Rumble or, perhaps, WrestleMania.

Instead, WWE rushed things (quelle surprise) and had Heyman turn on Punk at Money in the Bank, preventing him from climbing the ladder and retrieving the prize above before slamming a ladder right into his head for good measure.

It had been coming, yes, but it still happened sooner than most thought and, judging by the reaction, certainly caught those in the arena off guard that night.

3. The Champ Isn't Here

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John Cena, honourable man that he is, didn't utilise the surprise cash-in method when he won Money in the Bank in 2012.

Big Match John announced his intention ahead of time, challenging CM Punk for the main event of the following week's much-hyped Raw 1,000 show.

The two had a decent match, though not one that was on the level of some of their other epics, and it looked for all the world that Cena would prevail.

You know, to give a 'happy' ending on a major show and ensure that the valliant babyface triumphed and all that.

Instead, Cena became the first person in history to fail to successfully cash-in their Money in the Bank contract. It wasn't his fault, naturally, as Big Show waddled out to cause a disqualification, but it was still surprising.

Adding to the surprise was the post-match scene where Punk turned on The Rock, who had ran out to fend off the World's Largest Athlete.

2. The Edge/Kennedy Situation

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The third winner of the Money in the Bank ladder match was Ken Kennedy, a star on the ascendancy that more than a few believed could be the next star on the level of Steve Austin, due to his charisma and microphone skills.

It didn't quite turn out that way (to say the least), but WWE were, at one point, all-in on Kennedy, whose career was hampered by injuries, bad timing and worse luck.

Them giving him the briefcase at WrestleMania 23 was an indication that they had big plans for him, but those plans were scuppered when Kennedy went down with (yet another) injury less than two months later.

Before he could even think about cashing in, Ken suffered what was initially believed to be a triceps tear, which would require surgery and an eight-month layoff.

Kennedy likely would have beaten World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker, since the Deadman was also injured around that time.

However, WWE instead booked Raw's Edge to beat Kennedy for the briefcase in a hastily-arranged match, before showing up on the next episode of SmackDown and Spearing a knackered 'Taker (after his Cage Match draw with Batista) to win the title in a fashion very similar to his cash-in on John Cena at New Year's Revolution 2006.

The whole series of events was not something that anyone could have foreseen, and was basically the beginning of the end for Kennedy, as it kicked off two years of gloom that culminated in his 2009 release.

1. RollinsMania

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We'd seen cash-ins take place on Raw, SmackDown and even in the end (and after) the main events of major pay-per-views.

But we hadn't seen anyone try to redeem their guaranteed world title shot on the Grandest Stage until Seth Rollins sprinted out at WrestleMania 31, as Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar were beating the hell out of each other, turning the bout into a triple-threat.

The Architect had been in possession of the briefcase for a while and had teased cashing-in previously, but nobody rightly expected him to gatecrash the main event of the biggest show of the year, especially as it was still in progress.

Expectations were lessened after Rollins succumbed to Randy Orton and his showstealing RKO earlier in the night, too.

But that's what Rollins did, pinning the Big Dog after rocking his former Shield teammate and the Next Big Thing to end the show on a thrilling note.