Money in the Bank (2024)

The 2024 Money in the Bank was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American company WWE. It was the 15th annual Money in the Bank event and took place on Saturday, July 6, 2024, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was the first Money in the Bank event to be held in Canada, and the second consecutive to take place outside of the United States, after the 2023 event. WWE Hall of Famer and Toronto native Trish Stratus was the hostess of the event.

The event is based around the Money in the Bank ladder match, a multi-person ladder match in which participants compete to obtain a contract that grants the respective men's and women's winners a match for a championship of their choice at any time within the next year. The 2024 matches had six participants each, evenly divided between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands. The men's match, which was the opening bout, was won by Raw's Drew McIntyre, while the women's match was won by SmackDown's Tiffany Stratton.

Three other matches were contested at the event. In what was the main event of the card, which was SmackDown's main match, The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, and Tama Tonga) defeated Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton in a six-man tag team match. This was Jacob Fatu's WWE in-ring debut and the first appearance of Tonga Loa since the 2012 event. In another prominent match, which was Raw's main match, Damian Priest defeated Seth "Freakin" Rollins and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship; the match started as a regular singles match between Priest and Rollins, but midway through, McIntyre cashed in the Money in the Bank contract he had won earlier, converting the match to a triple threat. It was also originally stipulated that if Rollins lost, he could never challenge for the title again for as long as Priest was champion, but this was later lifted out of mutual respect between the two. The event also saw a surprise appearance by John Cena, who announced that 2025 would be his final year as an in-ring performer.

Production

Background

Money in the Bank is an annual professional wrestling event produced by the American promotion WWE since 2010, generally held between May and July. Along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, it is considered one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, referred to as the "Big Five". The concept of the show 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. The briefcase contains a contract that guarantees the respective men's and women's winners a match for a championship of their choosing at any time within the next year. The 2024 matches were announced to have six participants each, evenly divided between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.

On January 4, 2024, the 15th Money in the Bank event was announced to be held on Saturday, July 6, 2024, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, marking the first Money in the Bank to be held in Canada and the second to be held outside of the United States, after the 2023 event, which was held in London, England. It aired on pay-per-view worldwide and the livestreaming services Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets. The show was promoted as being part of a three-night "Money in the Bank Weekend" event, as the preceding night's July 5 episode of Friday Night SmackDown and NXT's July 7 livestreaming show, Heatwave, also took place at the Scotiabank Arena. Tickets for all three events went on sale on March 15, 2024, with combo and hospitality packages available. The official theme song of the event was "Tap" by NAV featuring Meek Mill, making it the first Money in the Bank since 2010 to have a theme song by a recording artist (replacing "Gotta Get That", renamed to "Cash In" in 2023, which was used from 2019 to 2023). On July 5, WWE Hall of Famer and Toronto native Trish Stratus was revealed to be the host of the 2024 Money in the Bank.

Storylines

The card included five matches that 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 programs, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

Qualifying matches for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match began on the June 17 episode of Raw. The qualifiers were held as a series of six triple threat matches, with three each on Raw and SmackDown. Iyo Sky claimed Raw's first spot by defeating Kiana James and Zelina Vega. Chelsea Green became the first from SmackDown to qualify by defeating Bianca Belair and Michin on the June 21 episode of SmackDown. On the June 24 episode of Raw, Lyra Valkyria became the second to qualify from Raw by defeating Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler. SmackDown's final two spots were determined on the June 28 episode of SmackDown where Tiffany Stratton defeated Jade Cargill and Candice LeRae, with Naomi defeating Blair Davenport and Indi Hartwell. Raw's final spot was won by Zoey Stark, who defeated Dakota Kai and Ivy Nile on the July 1 episode of Raw.

The men's Money in the Bank ladder match qualifiers also began on the June 17 episode of Raw and were also held as a series of six triple threat matches with three each on Raw and SmackDown. Jey Uso won Raw's first spot by defeating Finn Bálor and Rey Mysterio. Two of SmackDown's participants were determined on the June 21 episode of SmackDown where Carmelo Hayes qualified by defeating Randy Orton and Tama Tonga, with Andrade qualifying by defeating Grayson Waller and Kevin Owens. The second spot from Raw was earned by Chad Gable, who defeated Braun Strowman and Bronson Reed on the June 24 episode of Raw. SmackDown's final spot was won by LA Knight, who defeated Logan Paul and Santos Escobar on the June 28 episode of SmackDown, followed by Drew McIntyre claiming Raw's final spot by defeating Sheamus and Ilja Dragunov on the July 1 episode of Raw.

On Night 2 of WrestleMania XL on April 7, Seth "Freakin" Rollins lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Drew McIntyre, who would in turn immediately lose the title to Damian Priest in the latter's Money in the Bank cash-in match. Rollins then took time off due to a knee injury. On the June 17 episode of Raw, Rollins made his return from the injury, stating his intentions to reclaim the title. As Rollins was about to announce his participation in the men's Money in the Bank ladder match, he was interrupted by Priest, who said that out of respect, he had actually wanted to cash-in on Rollins at WrestleMania. Rollins noted their similarities in which both had won their first world championships via a Money in the Bank cash-in at WrestleMania, with Rollins's occurring at WrestleMania 31 in 2015. After being asked by Rollins what he wanted his legacy to be, Priest decided to challenge Rollins at Money in the Bank with the World Heavyweight Championship on the line and Rollins accepted. The match was subsequently made official. The following week, Priest declared that Rollins would never see "the mountaintop" as long as he was champion. Rollins came out and proposed that if he lost, he could never challenge for the title again for as long as Priest was champion, but if he won, Priest would be forced to leave The Judgment Day; Priest accepted.

On the June 17 episode of Raw, as Sami Zayn was celebrating his successful Intercontinental Championship defense from Clash at the Castle: Scotland, he was interrupted by Bron Breakker, who stated that he wanted Zayn's championship. On the next episode, Zayn confronted Breakker backstage outside of Raw General Manager Adam Pearce's office and agreed to defend the title against Breakker in Zayn's home country of Canada at Money in the Bank, and Pearce made it official.

In April, Solo Sikoa became the de facto leader of The Bloodline after Roman Reigns lost the Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes on Night 2 of WrestleMania XL, with Reigns subsequently taking a hiatus. On the following SmackDown, Sikoa introduced Tama Tonga as the newest addition to the group. During this time, Kevin Owens and Randy Orton, who previously had their own respective issues with The Bloodline, began to team up against the stable and at Backlash France, The Bloodline's newest member Tonga Loa helped Tama and Sikoa defeat Owens and Orton in a Street Fight match. Orton and Owens then continued to be involved in numerous matches against members of The Bloodline. After Rhodes successfully defended the Undisputed WWE Championship at Clash at the Castle: Scotland, he was attacked by The Bloodline with Orton and Owens making the save. On the following episode of SmackDown, Orton and Tama competed in a Money in the Bank qualifying match, but despite Loa's interference, the two lost. Later, Owens was attacked by Tama and Loa, which also cost him a qualifying match. Also that same night, a non-title match between Sikoa and Rhodes ended in a no contest after another interference from The Bloodline. Owens and Orton tried to save Rhodes, but they were all attacked by another new Bloodline member, the debuting Jacob Fatu. On June 24, a six-man tag team match pitting The Bloodline against Rhodes, Owens, and Orton was announced for Money in the Bank.