We now have your 2020 Money in the Bank winners: Asuka and Otis.
Asuka, of course, is actually now the RAW Women’s Champion as Becky Lynch has relinquished the title following her announcement of her pregnancy. The women’s MITB match was actually for the championship itself, as the belt was inside the briefcase. Lynch unveiled the title on the following RAW after an emotional speech as Asuka took over as champion.
There were already giveaways that the women’s MITB match winner was going to be a RAW competitor. They teased that on RAW following the pay per view that Lynch would ‘confront’ the MITB briefcase holder. And if the entire match itself was for the RAW women’s championship, then logically it would go to a RAW superstar, be it Asuka, Nia Jax or Shayna Baszler.
It’s been reported that had Lynch not been pregnant, the storyline going forward would have had Nia be the next challenger with Baszler holding the briefcase. But it can also be said that Asuka becoming the next RAW Women’s Champion was the natural way to go; Nia had only returned after a year off from knee surgery and Baszler only recently arrived from NXT and had a horribly booked title match at Wrestlemania. The latter needed more time to build her cred as a dominant force on the red brand.
Some people opined that instead of Asuka showing genuine emotion and embracing Becky as she made her pregnancy announcement, the better option would be to have a heel turn and have the Empress green mist her predecessor in the face. But Asuka’s rambling commentary and promos in her native Japanese have made her over once again, and Lynch was perhaps limited to what kind of physicality she could engage with in the ring.
On the men’s side, Otis’ win of the MITB briefcase may be the most unexpected win out of all the winners thus far. But he may end up being a comedic MITB holder and could conceivably face the fate of King Corbin, Damien Sandow and Universal Champion Braun Strowman himself: that 18 percent who fail to cash in successfully.
Just look at Otis’ interactions with Strowman on this past week’s Smackdown.
If they want to liven things up with the Money in the Bank concept, WWE should consider their own words when describing the contract’s stipulation: one year to cash in on a championship opportunity. While most people expect that means the world championship on whichever brand the superstar who holds the contract belongs to, that doesn’t necessarily mean the world championship.
What if Tucker Knight comes back and convinces Otis to cash in his MITB contract for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships against the New Day (or whoever the champions happen to be) instead? Either Heavy Machinery comes up short, or Tucker turns on Otis during the match, and you can set up a program where a former tag partner is jealous of the other’s success. It’s very similar to the Sonya Deville / Mandy Rose storyline.
But does WWE want to waste a MITB contract to advance a storyline that may not get that much traction? It’s just a thought.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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