Money in the Bank (2010)

Background

The professional wrestling matches at Money in the Bank featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Storylines between the characters were produced on WWE's weekly television shows Raw and SmackDown with the Raw and SmackDown brands—storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs.

At Fatal 4-Way, it was announced that the Money in the Bank event would feature the Money in the Bank ladder match. On the June 25 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that two Money in the Bank ladder matches would be held at the event for the Raw and SmackDown brands respectively, with the winners of the matches given a title match for the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship respectively at a time of their choosing within the next year. Three days later, all eight superstars for Raw's match were announced by Raw guest host Rob Zombie. The eight men would be Randy Orton, The Miz, R-Truth, Chris Jericho, Evan Bourne, Ted DiBiase, John Morrison, and Edge.

On June 30, WWE announced six of the competitors for SmackDown's match: Matt Hardy, Kane, Cody Rhodes, Christian, Kofi Kingston, and Big Show. On the July 5 episode of Raw, The Miz attacked and injured R-Truth, taking him out of the Money in the Bank match; Mark Henry was announced as R-Truth's replacement the next week. On the July 9 episode of SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler defeated Montel Vontavious Porter and Chavo Guerrero in a triple threat match to qualify for SmackDown's ladder match. On the same night, Drew McIntyre earned the final spot by pinning Kofi Kingston.

Rey Mysterio replaced The Undertaker, who was found in a vegetative state by his brother Kane, in the fatal four-way match at Fatal 4-Way for the World Heavyweight Championship by winning a battle royal. Before Fatal 4-Way, Mysterio picked up a non-title victory over Jack Swagger. At the event, Mysterio once again pinned Swagger in SmackDown's fatal four-way match which also involved CM Punk and Big Show to become a two-time World Heavyweight Champion. On the June 25 episode of SmackDown, Swagger announced his rematch at Money in the Bank.

Sheamus won the WWE Championship at Fatal 4-Way after The Nexus interfered. The next night on Raw, John Cena invoked his rematch clause, but The Nexus interrupted the match. The next week on Raw, due to the previous match's result being inconclusive, Raw's anonymous general manager announced a steel cage match between Sheamus and Cena to ensure no outside interference from The Nexus.

Preliminary matches

The commentators were Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker.

The event opened with the Money in the Bank ladder match for a World Heavyweight Championship match contract, which involved Big Show, Matt Hardy, Christian, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler. Midway through the match, Kingston performed a Boom Drop off a ladder on McIntyre through an announce table. Big Show climbed a super-sized ladder he had set up but Kane pushed the ladder and Christian and Rhodes buried Big Show under multiple ladders. In the end, McIntyre attempted to retrieve the briefcase but Kane performed a Chokeslam off the ladder on McIntyre and retrieved the briefcase to win the match.

Next, Alicia Fox defended the WWE Divas Championship against Eve Torres. In the end, Fox performed a Scissors Kick on Eve to retain the title.

After that, The Hart Dynasty defended the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship against The Usos. Smith forced Jimmy to submit to the Sharpshooter to retain the title.

In the fourth match, Rey Mysterio faced Jack Swagger for the World Heavyweight Championship. In the end, Swagger applied an Ankle Lock on Mysterio but Mysterio removed his boot, performed a Hurricanrana on Swagger and pinned Swagger with a roll-up to retain the title. After the match, Swagger attacked Mysterio but Kane entered the ring and chased off Swagger. After that, Kane then returned to the ring with referee Charles Robinson and his briefcase, electing to cash in the contract, marking the first (and until Dean Ambrose at Money in the Bank (2016), only) time a wrestler cashed in their briefcase on the same night they won it. Kane then Chokeslammed an injured Mysterio before a Tombstone Piledriver to win the World Heavyweight Title in 54 seconds.

Next, Layla defended the WWE Women's Championship against Kelly Kelly. In the end, Kelly attempted a Sunset Flip on Layla but Layla countered the attempt into a roll-up to retain the title.

After that was the Money in the Bank ladder match for a WWE Championship match contract involving Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Edge, Evan Bourne, John Morrison, The Miz, Mark Henry and Ted DiBiase. Early in the match, Orton performed an Elevated DDT on Bourne using a ladder. Midway through the match, The Miz attempted a catapult on Morrison into a ladder but Morrison climbed the ladder and used another ladder to climb a ladder set up underneath the briefcase. Edge trapped Morrison in the ladder and, along with The Miz, drove another ladder into Morrison. Morrison performed a Springboard Roundhouse Kick using the ring apron on Henry, Jericho performed a Codebreaker on Henry and Edge performed a Spear on Henry. In the end, Orton attempted to retrieve the briefcase but The Miz pushed the ladder and retrieved the briefcase to win the match.

Main event

In the main event, Sheamus defended the WWE Championship against John Cena in a Steel cage match. In the climax, Cena performed an Attitude Adjustment on Sheamus for a near-fall. The Nexus interfered, with Michael Tarver holding a pair of bolt cutters but referee stole the bolt cutters and ran backstage. Wade Barrett demanded the key to the cage door off another referee but the referee threw the key into the crowd. Meanwhile, Cena pushed Sheamus, causing Sheamus to knock the referee down, and applied the STF on Sheamus. Sheamus submitted but the referee was still down,. Cena attempted to climb out of the cage but Justin Gabriel climbed the cage, distracting Cena. Whilst The Nexus prevented Cena from climbing off the cage, Sheamus climbed out of the cage to retain the title.

Aftermath

Kane was then involved in a feud with his (kayfabe) brother The Undertaker, facing him on several occasions. The next night on Raw, Edge, Chris Jericho and Randy Orton faced off in a Triple Threat match, where the winner would face Sheamus at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship. Orton won the match, but at SummerSlam won the match via disqualification, allowing Sheamus to retain the championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, Rey Mysterio and Jack Swagger faced each other in a two out of three falls match to determine Kane's opponent at SummerSlam. Mysterio defeated Swagger to earn a championship rematch, but was unsuccessful in regaining the championship at the pay-per-view. On the November 22, 2010 episode of Raw, The Miz successfully cashed in the briefcase he won at the pay-per-view against Randy Orton to become the WWE Champion.

Reception

Rob McNichol of The Sun stated it was a "gripping night of grappling action", calling both ladder matches outstanding. McNichol also praised the World Heavyweight Championship match, saying it demonstrated "WWE storytelling in a very good light". He also described the Women's Championship match as "overbooked and poorly executed contest – the worst of the evening". The WWE Championship match was negatively received by McNichol as well, complaining that it was "forgettable, and oftentimes very slow". Overall, McNichol said it was a very entertaining night of action and gave the event a score of 8 out of 10. Andy McNamara, a reviewer for the Canadian Online Explorer's wrestling section, rated both Money in the Bank ladder matches a 4 out of 5, the WWE Championship match a 3 out of 5, and the World Heavyweight Championship match a 3.5 out of 5. The event was attended live by a crowd of 8,000 fans. Money in the Bank drew 169,000 pay-per-view buys, approximately 99,000 of which came in the United States.