WWE News: ‘Money In The Bank’ Plans For The United States Championship

The marquee matches for WWE’s upcoming pay-per-view, Money In The Bank have now all been confirmed. Roman Reigns is set to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Seth Rollins. John Cena vs AJ Styles was made official on RAW and the Money in the Bank ladder match features Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, Chris Jericho, Cesaro, Sami Zayn and Alberto Del Rio with the winner walking out with the briefcase containing a contract that enables them to cash in an opportunity at the World title anytime they choose.

It was also announced on RAW by Stephanie McMahon, via Teddy Long, that the WWE Tag Team Championships will be defended in a fatal four way match with The New Day, Enzo & Cass, The Vaudevillains and The Club. There have been as many as five other matches rumored to fill out the Money In The Bank card on June 19, including a women’s match (presumably a tag match at this point), another clash between Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews’ pay-per-view debut against Sheamus, and a United States Championship match. The fifth would have had Enzo & Cass go up against The Dudley Boyz, but those plans obviously changed.

So with The Miz off filming a movie (with the Social Outcasts and Naomi), the Intercontinental Championship remains idle with the U.S. title getting showcased as the preeminent mid-card championship at Money In The Bank. Rusev is the current champion after winning the title from Kalisto at Extreme Rules and originally, there were some bigger plans at play after the Bulgarian Brute regained the belt. Rumors were circulating around John Cena challenging Rusev for the title during Cena’s return to RAW on the Memorial Day episode. Cena would have won the belt back that night and reignited a feud with Rusev that would have lasted at least up until Money In The Bank.

Obviously, all those plans were scrapped as Cena was immediately placed into a mega-program with AJ Styles. WWE then turned to Titus O’Neil for Rusev’s next challenge, with O’Neil coming to the aid of Kalisto after another vicious attack from Rusev. As of last week, the plan was for O’Neil to challenge Rusev for the U.S. Championship at Money In The Bank, but now things have changed. According to Ringside News, the belt will be defended in a triple threat match at Money In The Bank between Rusev, Titus, and Jack Swagger.

Rusev and Swagger have done battle on the most recent episodes of SmackDown and then RAW, with things escalating Monday night with O’Neil on commentary. It isn’t clear whether Swagger was added because O’Neil has struggled to get over as a result of the opportunity, or if WWE officials realized that Swagger remains over despite any recent lack of direction. It certainly helped that Monday’s RAW took place in front of Swagger’s home town, which enabled his credibility to rise, eventually putting him in the title picture. If you were paying attention during the match, Michael Cole noted that if Swagger could beat Rusev, he’d be in line for a championship opportunity, which is generally not a throwaway line, and not often said if the result is a squash match.

The match ended in a count-out, but Swagger and O’Neil would get the upper-hand at the conclusion after Titus was knocked off his chair at the announcer’s table. It will be difficult to envision either Swagger or Titus coming away with the United States Championship at Money In The Bank, as Rusev appears to have the most momentum of the three. But with Cena out of the title picture for the foreseeable future, the creative team will have a lot of work to do to make it seem relevant.

[Image via WWE]