Pay Per Views come around really quite quickly these days. This is due to the brand split and most months having both a Raw and Smackdown pay per view. It doesn't seem like we've had time to breathe from when Jinder shockingly won the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at Backlash. So here we go with how we think the Smackdown exclusive Money in the Bank Pay Per View will play out. With two multi competitor matches on the card, this is very difficult to call, but we'll give it a go!
Smackdown Tag Team Championship:
The Usos (c) v The New Day
This rivalry was obviously one of the reasons the New Day got switched over to Smackdown during the brand split. The Usos are the dominant heel tag team on either brand at the moment, and the New Day are the longest reigning tag team champions of all time, so it makes sense that this should be a rivalry that will light up the division for a while The downside to this is that great teams such Breezango, The Ascension and the Hype Bros now that Zack Ryder has returned, will get ignored for a while. I expect this feud to go on for a few PPVs and that would probably require the Usos to retain here meaning that the New Day will chase the belts for a bit.
Prediction: The Usos
Smackdown Women's Championship:
Naomi (c) v Lana
Lana has been catapulted into a title match, despite not having wrestler on television in longer than I can remember. She demonstrated her new finisher on this week's Smackdown and it was really rather impressive. The fans were looking forward to seeing her in ring and have been chanting for her although she turned heel with her attack on Naomi. She is definitely on the rise, and has won all of her recent matches on the NXT Live tours, including against Ruby Riot and Liv Morgan. It would be a shock to give her the belt and they already have one unlikely champion on the brand in Jinder Mahal. Whilst Naomi hasn't been lighting up the division with her glow perhaps as much as she would have liked, she was unfairly stripped of the belt the first time she held it (due to the 30-day rule which doesn't seem to apply to Brock Lesnar) and I think she'll hold on for a bit longer yet.
Prediction: Naomi
WWE Championship:
Jinder Mahal (c) v Randy Orton
Jinder has to hold on to this here. If he doesn't, it will appear very tokenistic. Whether that is through a legitimate victory or holding on due to the champion's advantage, remains to be seen. One rumour is that Rusev will be returning to set his sights on Mahal. I'm not sure how this would work. Rusev is admired by the fans and if he attacks Jinder, he is clearly being positioned as a face but Lana is set up as a heel. It might be a bit odd if one was face and the other heel. Still, it may happen. The lines between faces and heels are blurred these days. Orton doesn't need the belt back. It won't help him in any way but every passing week that Jinder's got the belt gives him greater legitimacy.
Prediction: Jinder to retain.
Women's Money in the Bank Match:
Becky Lynch v Charlotte Flair v Carmella v Natalya Neidhart v Tamina Snuka
Three of these women are at least second generation superstars and three of them have held a title before, so this should hopefully be a good match. It is a continuation of the fact that the women are getting equal status and equal opportunities within the WWE, so if it is poor it might set the women's revolution back slightly.
Because of the above facts, it is difficult to call. The division is also quite small and so you have competitors in this match who aren't really looking to jump from the mid-card to the main event so much as from the lower card to the main-event. I class Carmella in this category, and Tamina is maybe only a little higher. Although realistically, any of them could win the briefcase. There's a much different dynamic here to the men's match.
Charlotte along with Sasha has been making firsts in the WWE for the last year and she would be the obvious choice to be the first woman climb down from the ladder with the contract. Others would benefit more but when you look at them on paper, one competitor is head and shoulders above the others.
Prediction: Charlotte
Men's Money in the Bank Match:
Kevin Owens v Shinsuke Nakamura v Dolph Ziggler v AJ Styles v Sami Zayn v Baron Corbin
The talent in this match is insane. All of these guys have their own style and have been performing at the top level recently. None of them would be out of place holding the briefcase, and so it's really difficult to call a winner here. You'd think that it might be too soon for Nakamura but then Samoa Joe is the number 1 contender on Raw and they've both only recently come up from NXT. He'd also have a large portion of the next year to continue developing before he cashes in. The new era has all been about opportunity and so it wouldn't be unexpected for him to do so.
However, Nakamura's star is clearly already on the rise and he will get to the top regardless of whether he gets his hands on the briefcase or not. There are two guys in this match who could do with the boost from a victory here. Sami Zayn has been ambling around the midcard. Whilst he is a fan favourite, he needs something like this to catapult him to the main event and give him a bit more credibility. Baron Cobin has been the only Andre the Giant winner to really kick on after the victory, has been talked of as a future world champion for months and whilst he has the in ring skills and a couple of bad ass moves, he would benefit from the fans seeing him as a legitimate champion. I think I'm going to have to go for Corbin here, but it's close.
Prediction: Corbin
