Money in the Bank (2018)

The 2018 Money in the Bank was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was the ninth annual Money in the Bank and took place on June 17, 2018, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, marking the second Money in the Bank held at this venue after the 2011 event. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.

Eleven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Raw's Braun Strowman won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match. The women's ladder match was won by Raw's Alexa Bliss, who later that night cashed in her contract to win the Raw Women's Championship from Nia Jax after causing a disqualification in the previous title match between Ronda Rousey and Jax. In other prominent matches, AJ Styles retained SmackDown's WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match, and Carmella defeated Asuka to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship.

Critics gave the event a mixed-to-positive reception; the ladder matches, WWE Championship, Raw Women's Championship, and the Intercontinental Championship matches garnered the most praise. The remaining matches from the card, however—including Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal—were negatively received.

Production

Background

Money in the Bank is an annual professional wrestling event produced by WWE since 2010, which at the time was generally held between June and July. The concept of the event comes from WWE's established Money in the Bank ladder match, in which multiple wrestlers use ladders to retrieve a briefcase hanging above the ring. For 2018, the briefcase contained a contract that guaranteed the winner a match for a world championship at any time within the next year. While the 2017 event was a SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view (PPV), the 2018 event featured wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions after WWE discontinued brand-exclusive PPVs following WrestleMania 34 in April that year. The 2017 event also introduced the first women's Money in the Bank ladder match, with the 2018 event including both a now-standard men's and women's ladder match. For 2018, each match featured eight wrestlers evenly divided between the two brands and the contracts in the briefcases specifically granted the winners a world championship match of their respective brand. Male wrestlers competed for a contract to grant them a match for either Raw's Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship, while female wrestlers competed for a Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship match contract. Announced on November 22, 2017, the ninth Money in the Bank was scheduled to be held on June 17, 2018, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb Rosemont, Illinois, marking the second Money in the Bank held at this venue after the 2011 event. The event aired on PPV worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network. Tickets went on sale on March 9 through Ticketmaster.

Storylines

The event comprised 11 matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, which resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.

Raw

Qualifying matches for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match began on the May 7 episode of Raw. In the first match, Braun Strowman qualified by defeating Kevin Owens, while in the second, Finn Bálor defeated Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns in a triple threat match after interference from Jinder Mahal. The following week, two more triple threat matches took place; in the first, Bobby Roode defeated Baron Corbin and No Way Jose to qualify while in the second, Owens, who replaced Mahal after Reigns attacked Mahal backstage, defeated Elias and Bobby Lashley to qualify after interference from Zayn.

Qualifying matches for the women's ladder match also began on the May 7 episode of Raw. Ember Moon defeated Sasha Banks and Ruby Riott in a triple threat match to qualify. The following week, Alexa Bliss qualified by defeating Bayley and Mickie James, also in a triple threat match. On the May 21 episode, Natalya defeated Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, and Dana Brooke in a fatal four-way match to qualify. The final qualifying match took place on the May 28 episode, in which Banks defeated the other women who lost their respective Money in the Bank qualifying matches in a gauntlet match to earn the final spot.

During the NBCUniversal Upfront event on May 14, television presenter Cathy Kelley interviewed Ronda Rousey. Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax interrupted the interview and challenged Rousey to a match for the title at Money in the Bank, and Rousey accepted. The two signed the contract for their match the following week. The bout would be Rousey's first singles match in WWE.

On the May 28 episode of Raw, Seth Rollins interrupted Elias, who was trying to sing for the crowd as a part of his gimmick, and forced him to leave. After Rollins' successful Intercontinental Championship defense, Elias smashed a guitar on his back. On May 31, a match between the two for the Intercontinental Championship was scheduled for Money in the Bank.

On the May 14 episode of Raw, after Jinder Mahal cost Roman Reigns a chance to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match the previous week, Reigns attacked him backstage, resulting in a brawl that ended with Reigns spearing Mahal through a wall backstage, costing him his spot in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. On the May 21 episode, after Reigns and Seth Rollins defeated Mahal and Kevin Owens in a tag team match, Mahal attacked Reigns with a chair. Later that night, a match between the two was scheduled for Money in the Bank.

During a tag team match on the April 23 episode of Raw, Bobby Lashley performed a one-handed suspended vertical suplex on Sami Zayn, which Zayn claimed gave him vertigo and why he missed the Greatest Royal Rumble. At Backlash, Lashley and Braun Strowman defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a tag team match. During an interview on the May 7 episode of Raw, Lashley spoke about his family, including his three sisters; in response, Zayn said Lashley was not a nice guy and promised to bring out Lashley's sisters to tell the truth. On the May 21 episode, three men dressed as Lashley's sisters accused Lashley of violence. Lashley interrupted the segment and attacked Zayn and the imposters. The following week, a match between the two was scheduled for Money in the Bank.

SmackDown

Qualifying matches for the men's ladder match continued on the May 8 episode of SmackDown. The Miz and Rusev defeated Jeff Hardy and Daniel Bryan, respectively, to qualify. The following week, Big E and Xavier Woods of The New Day defeated Cesaro and Sheamus in a tag team match, allowing one member of The New Day to qualify. Samoa Joe secured the final spot by defeating Bryan and Big Cass in a triple threat match on the May 29 episode.

Qualifying matches for the women's ladder match also continued on the May 8 episode of SmackDown, in which Charlotte Flair defeated Peyton Royce to qualify. The following week, Becky Lynch defeated Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in a triple threat match to qualify. On the May 22 episode, Lana and Naomi qualified by defeating Billie Kay and Deville, respectively, in singles matches.

At WrestleMania 34, AJ Styles defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE Championship. After the match, Nakamura attacked Styles with a low blow, turning heel in the process. The two continued to feud through Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash; their matches ended in draws. On May 14, SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon announced a fourth rematch between Styles and Nakamura at Money in the Bank, stating every wrestling fan was "looking for a definitive winner". On the May 15 episode of SmackDown, Nakamura defeated Styles in a non-title match to pick the stipulation for the match, and chose a Last Man Standing match.

On the May 15 episode of SmackDown, SmackDown General Manager Paige interrupted SmackDown Women's Champion Carmella's celebration of her reign, and scheduled a title match between her and Asuka for Money in the Bank.

On the May 22 episode of SmackDown, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) to become the number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, which was held by The Bludgeon Brothers (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan). The match was subsequently scheduled for Money in the Bank, and later for the Kickoff pre-show.