As a service to fans who have a general interest in WWE but might not have watched a match in months, we're happy to provide this FAQ as a guide to Money in the Bank at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, available on ESPN Unlimited and on the ESPN app.
Say, what's in those briefcases dangling over the ring?
An ironclad contract for a WWE championship title match that the winner of the "Money in the Bank" briefcase can "cash in" at any time -- but usually after a champion has been incapacitated in some way, if they're smart.
The MITB ladder match features six competitors. The only way to win is to scale a ladder and untether a briefcase. Like any ladder match, it features high spots and big falls. But this probably involves someone dangling precariously from the briefcase after said ladder has been kicked out from under them.
Now, I know what you're asking: Since there are no disqualifications, why doesn't someone simply hide a comically large pair of tree-pruning clippers under the ring and then use them to cut the briefcase down, forgoing all this ladder malarkey? Other than the difficulty in sourcing a comically large pair of tree-pruning clippers in New Orleans, I don't have an answer for you. That's how I'd do it.
I know what else you're asking: Who is in this year's MITB men's match, and is this Bron Breakker's briefcase to lose?
Who's battling in the men's MITB match?
The competitors are: CM Punk, Kevin Owens, Trick Williams, Penta, Je'Von Evans, and the aforementioned Mr. Breakker.
There are typically two types of "cash-ins" of Money in the Bank contracts. The first is the sneaky opportunist who takes advantage of a champion's dire circumstances, such as Seth Rollins miraculously recovering from his knee injury to Curb Stomp CM Punk after his SummerSlam 2025 match against Gunther. The second is the "oh man, oh geez, oh no" cash-in, in which a decimated champion must overcome an absolute monster as they stride to the ring with a contract in hand -- such as when Brock Lesnar cashed in on Rollins in 2019.
Breakker, should he win Saturday, would fit into that latter category. The odds would seem insurmountable if his music hit and he sprinted down the ring, briefcase in hand, to face an exhausted champ. Which is why his winning the briefcase would probably create maximum future drama -- although there are other interesting possibilities in this match.
Consider Punk, who has won this match twice before when it was held at WrestleMania in 2008 and 2009. He went through Gunther and Finn Bálor in a triple-threat match to earn his berth, which is impressive. Punk lost the WWE Championship to Sami Zayn on "SmackDown" in Mexico City last month after taking the belt to the noggin from Owens, and the MITB contract would be his path back to glory.
Owens and Punk have been in a blistering feud since Owens' surprise return at SummerSlam, trading barbs in intense promos that evoked their tense relationship back in Ring of Honor two decades ago. Punk had never wrestled Owens until a "SmackDown" match in August, when he successfully defended his title in a match held in Owens' native land of Canada. It's impossible to imagine either of them not having a hand in the other's fate during this match.
Williams is an interesting entrant because only one other wrestler has held the U.S. Championship and won Money in the Bank: The Miz in 2010.
The other two competitors, Evans and Penta, have teamed together recently. Evans seems as if he were created in a lab for ladder matches such as this, with his high-spot potential. He's also seeking his first WWE title. Penta, meanwhile, remains an overwhelming fan favorite and a sneaky good pick to win this match. We know he's not afraid of heights, what with the "cero miedo" of it all.
Of course, it should be said that the only reason Penta could compete in a MITB qualifying match was that Solo Sikoa was kidnapped.
Will Solo Sikoa's kidnapping factor into Roman Reigns' championship match against LA Knight at Money in the Bank?
First off, isn't it great to get back to the fundamental reasons we love wrestling, like elaborate kidnappings and attempts at vehicular homicide backstage?
The good news: Solo Sikoa was returned safe and unharmed to The Bloodline on Monday and will team with The Usos on "Raw" against his abductors, The 946. Which is weird, because Sikoa recently rejected The Bloodline's overtures to join them and seemingly wanted nothing to do with them, but we digress ...
What is The 946? It's a new faction featuring Royce Keys (née Powerhouse Hobbs), NXT call-up Jaida Parker (who is awesome), and the tag team Out the Mud, Lucien Price and Bronco Nima, two of the most "WWE name generator" monikers we've ever heard.
The "946" in question is the starting three-digit zip code code of Oakland, California, Nima's hometown. They do all of the things a new faction does from the nWo playbook: enter through the crowd, sneak attacks, run people over with cars and, in Sikoa's case, kidnapping.
I mention The 946 on the off chance they get involved with this Roman Reigns vs. LA Knight (yeah!) title match, given their heat with The Bloodline. But for the most part, this has been a personal beef between the OTC and Knight, who is chasing a championship Reigns believes he's undeserving of winning.
As to be expected, these guys put in the work on the mic ahead of this World Heavyweight title match, but we'll give the advantage to Reigns here: While Knight fell back on the well-worn "Roman received an undeserved push" trope, Reigns called him a "complainer" and ultimately just "another egg in the omelet" in WWE during a scorching promo on "Raw" this week.
What about the Women's World Championship match at MITB?
Please recall that Stephanie Vaquer lost the Women's World Championship to Liv Morgan at WrestleMania in April, shortly after accidentally giving Morgan a hematoma the size of the Caesars Superdome on her forehead during an attack on "Raw." Vaquer then lost a few months of action after she was taken out by Morgan's faction, The Judgment Day, which includes Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez.
Vaquer returned to "Raw" in August and, folks, she wasn't happy: Attacking The Judgment Day before they overpowered her, which brought out Becky Lynch to make the save ... and accidentally wallop Vaquer, leading to a patented WWE middle-of-the-ring stare-down between the two.
Lynch wanted the belt back from Morgan, having last won the title in 2024. But the Chilean-born Vaquer captured the championship from Morgan in a WWE event held in Santiago, Chile, which gave real "CM Punk wrestling in Chicago" vibes.
Morgan wanted a rematch. Lynch wanted her title shot. So the two met in a really entertaining No. 1 contenders' match Monday where The Judgment Day interfered, and Vaquer ran down to play ring cop. Lynch hit Vaquer accidentally again; Morgan hit her on purpose. Vaquer decided to just beat them both up for a "no contest" finish, then called down "Raw" general manager Adam Pearce to demand a triple-threat match at Money in the Bank, because she wants to defeat Morgan and Lynch.
Now, does this decision by Vaquer strike anyone else as being incredibly ... stupid?
Instead of just, say, granting a rematch to a wrestler she just beat for the title, she now faces Morgan and one of the greatest wrestlers of all time who has been relentlessly pursuing the title like the monster in "It Follows." On top of that, now Vaquer can lose the belt without even being pinned! Eh, maybe that's the point.
The winner of this match could face the winner of the women's MITB match, which features several fresh talents seeking their first major championship.
Who's in the women's Money in the Bank match?
Only one competitor has captured the briefcase before: Tiffany Stratton, who won in 2024 and successfully cashed in to win the WWE Women's Championship. If Stratton wins, it could set up an eventual cash-in against current WWE women's champ Chelsea Green, with whom Stratton has partnered since Green turned face in April.
She'll face a field of five: Jacy Jayne, Lash Legend, Roxanne Perez, Sol Ruca and Lola Vice. Jayne is the leader of the Fatal Influence faction. Legend, who briefly played for the WNBA's Seattle Storm in 2019 before going all-in on wrestling, has teamed with Nia Jax as the Irresistible Forces. Perez has wrestled plenty of singles matches this year but is best known for being in The Judgment Day.
Ruca and Vice might be the most intriguing contenders in the match because they're still so new to the WWE main roster. Ruca debuted in April after starring in NXT and made a heck of a splash with a women's Intercontinental title win over Becky Lynch just over a month later. Her finishing move is the "Sol Snatcher," a top rope reverse backflip cutter. It's one of the most "if it works then it's pure magic, but if it doesn't hoooo boy" moves in modern professional wrestling, and we love it for that.
Vice is even more of a WWE newbie: Her debut match on "Raw" was the triple-threat that earned her this spot in Money in the Bank. Vice is a former MMA fighter in Bellator who won titles in NXT and Lucha Libre AAA. She recently teamed with Ruca on "Raw" ahead of this match and accidentally knocked her silly with a MIA Spinning Backfist, causing them to lose. Just something to keep in mind in a match where there are no friends ...
Are there any other matches on the MITB card?
Just one, but it involves arguably the most popular wrestler in WWE: The Ruler himself, Oba Femi. At least based on the fans' reaction when his music hits.
Femi ended his feud with Brock Lesnar -- and, for the moment, Lesnar's WWE career -- with a Hell in a Cell victory at SummerSlam. That win broke the brain of Lesnar's long-time advocate Paul Heyman, who has been obsessively watching footage of Femi defeating The Beast on a loop backstage while solemnly declaring that Oba "humbled" him. One shutters to think about how Heyman plans to get his mojo back.
Heyman is the leader of The Vision, a faction that has been feuding with Femi for weeks -- a feud that was escalated by the return of Bronson Reed to attack The Ruler after a recent bout with Breakker, setting up this grudge match.
The popular theory is that Femi will eventually be fast-tracked to a WrestleMania main event, in which case he'll need something to do in the meantime. Like, for example, continuing the feud with The Vision beyond this match at MITB.
So, why is Money in the Bank important?
I mean, that's just math, folks:
On the men's side, there have been 20 successful "cash-ins" in 26 overall MITB matches, a 77% conversion rate. For comparison's sake, the leaguewide average in the NFL on successful tush push short-yardage plays last season was 82%. It's literally money in the bank!
That's even more true on the women's side. The briefcase has been pulled down eight times. The "cash-in" has been successful in all eight attempts. Based on that history, someone in Saturday's match is your next champion.
Plus, the winners get to carry around a really cool-looking briefcase that can occasionally be used as a weapon. Especially if someone is trying to kidnap you backstage.