Money in the Bank ladder match

The Money in the Bank ladder match is a multi-person ladder match held by the professional wrestling promotion WWE. First performed at WWE's annual WrestleMania event beginning in 2005, a separate Money in the Bank pay-per-view was established in 2010.^[1] In wrestling's fictional premise, the prize is a briefcase containing a contract for a championship match of the winner's choice, which can be "cashed in" by the holder of the briefcase at any point in the year following their victory. If the contract is not used within a year of winning it, it will be invalid, but this has yet to happen in any WWE storyline. From its inception until 2017, ladder match performances only involved male wrestlers, with the contract being for a world championship match. Beginning with the 2017 Money in the Bank event, women also have the opportunity to compete in such a match, with their prize being a contract for a women's championship match.

The first match was contested in 2005 at WrestleMania 21, after Chris Jericho invented the concept.^[1] At the time, it was exclusive to wrestlers of the Raw brand, and Edge won the inaugural match.^[1] From then until WrestleMania XXVI, the Money in the Bank ladder match, now open to all WWE brands, became a WrestleMania mainstay. The 2010 Money in the Bank event saw a second and third Money in the Bank ladder match when the eponymous WWE pay-per-view debuted in July, with WrestleMania no longer featuring the match. Unlike the matches at WrestleMania, this new event included two such ladder matches: one each for a contract for a WWE Championship match and a World Heavyweight Championship match, respectively.

Before the establishment of the annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view, wrestlers were allowed to use the contract to claim a match for any world championship in WWE. After the establishment of the pay-per-view, the Money in the Bank contracts were specifically aimed at one or the other championship. With the championship unification of the WWE and World Heavyweight titles into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the 2013 TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event, there was only a single contract in play. This went into effect beginning with the 2014 Money in the Bank event.

The brand split returned shortly after the 2016 Money in the Bank event along with a new world title. The 2017 event was SmackDown-exclusive and the contract was a match for its world championship, the WWE Championship (formerly WWE World Heavyweight Championship). It also included the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match, with the winner receiving a contract for a SmackDown Women's Championship match. Due to the controversy surrounding the ending of that match, the first non-pay-per-view Money in the Bank ladder match occurred on the June 27 episode of SmackDown Live. It became dual-branded beginning with the 2018 Money in the Bank event, involving both the Raw and SmackDown brands with one men's match and one women's match with participants evenly divided between the brands; the respective contracts guaranteed the winner a championship match for the top title of their respective brand, allowing Raw wrestlers (should they win) to cash-in on the Universal Championship or Raw Women's Championship. Beginning with the 2019 Money in the Bank, the respective winners could challenge either brand's champion.

At the 2020 Money in the Bank event, while the rules of the match remained the same, a "Corporate Ladder" gimmick was added on top of the match; both the men's and women's matches, which were held at the same time, took place at WWE's Titan Towers in Stamford, Connecticut, in which the participants began on the ground floor of the building and fought their way to the roof where a ring and ladders were located with the briefcases suspended above the ring; this change was brought about due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The matches returned to their regular format for the 2021 Money in the Bank event. While the contract is originally only for a world championship match, 2022 Money in the Bank winner Austin Theory was the first to cash-in on a non-world championship when he unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE United States Championship.