It’s one thing to predict the winners and losers at Money in the Bank 2022, but how about taking a guess at the match order for the event?
Money in the Bank takes place tonight (Sat., July 2) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada starting at 8:00 pm ET, live on Peacock (in the U.S.) and WWE Network (everywhere else).
WWE has announced six different segments for the main card of this event. Here is my subjective view of how important each of these six segments rank, ordered from most important to least important.
- Men’s ladder match
- Women’s ladder match
- Ronda Rousey vs. Natalya
- The Usos vs. Street Profits
- Theory vs. Bobby Lashley
- Bianca Belair vs. Carmella
Main event & Opening match
There’s a good chance that one of the ladder matches will open the show and the other one will close the show in the main event. So WWE has to make a choice between the men and the women for those spots.
In general, the men inherently have an advantage over the women when it comes to being placed in the main event. When you also consider the fact that there are two separate women’s championship matches on this card, whereas WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is nowhere to be seen, it makes it even more likely that the women will open the show and the men will main event. Unlike the men, the winner of the women’s ladder match can potentially cash in later tonight as long as their match opens the card.
That gives me the following card:
Segment 1: Women’s ladder match
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6: Men’s ladder match
Everything else
There are an even number of men and women’s matches on this card, so I’m going to alternate between them up and down the lineup. However, it’s tempting to put Carmella in Segment 2 since that’s often reserved for the least important match of the night.
Alternating men and women means Lashley and the Usos will go in Segment 2 and Segment 4, in some order, while Segment 3 and Segment 5 are for Belair and Rousey.
Belair’s match with Carmella is pretty much an afterthought given the challenger is a late replacement for the injured Rhea Ripley. Carmella is never really pushed as someone who can hang as a singles wrestler. Therefore I think her match will go earlier than Rousey’s.
It’s a little more difficult to choose the earlier match between Lashley and the Usos. One of those matches will follow the women’s ladder match. I think Lashley’s match is a better change of pace following a ladder match, so I’ll put the All Mighty in Segment 2 and the Usos in Segment 4.
Finalized card
So here is my final prediction for the match order at Money in the Bank, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times:
Segment 1: Women’s ladder match (19 minutes)
Segment 2: Theory vs. Bobby Lashley (10)
Segment 3: Bianca Belair vs. Carmella (8)
Segment 4: The Usos vs. Street Profits (13)
Segment 5: Ronda Rousey vs. Natalya (12)
Segment 6: Men’s ladder match (24)
The two ladder matches probably need to go longer than last year, because last year included a 30+ minute singles match between Edge and Roman Reigns This year, it’s the ladder matches that are carrying the bulk of time on this show.
The main card of this event should be over in less than three hours, assuming no more matches/segments are added later today.
That’s my prediction for the match order at Money in the Bank. What’s yours?