Are there enough credible guys for 2 MITB matches?

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Just letting you guys know... I kind of ramble on here for a bit as I try to break this all down. So bear with me.

This was spurred on by a discussion in the SmackDown Spoilers thread (don't worry, none will be posted here). We all know that the midcard and below are generally spinning their wheels doing little of note, but it has been suggested by some that there should only be 1 MITB ladder match this year, lest the matches be padded out with jobbers.

Personally I enjoy seeing the jobbers, but that's not the point. The question is, are there enough credible guys for 2 MITB matches?

Let's have a look at the pool of possible entrants for the match. Keep in mind that I'm not including those who are inactive (Undertaker), occupied (Triple H), major champions (Punk and Sheamus), injured long-term (Henry and Bourne) or Wellnessed (Orton). I've also asterisked guys who are questionable because of factors like plausible injury return, unknown injury duration and even filming a movie (Miz is doing that, right?).

---

RAW Faces (8):
Riley, Cena, Kofi, Mason, Mysterio*, R-Truth*, Santino, Ryder

RAW Heels (14):
Big Show, Jericho, Hawkins, Otunga, Ziggler, Epico, Swagger, JTG, Kane, McGillicutty, Miz*, Primo, Tensai, Reks

SD Faces (13):
Brodus, Christian, Zeke, Khali, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Gabriel, Ryback, Sin Cara, DiBiase Jr*, Barreta*, Kidd, Yoshi

SD Heels (14):
Del Rio, Cesaro, Camacho, Rhodes, Sandow, Bryan, Young, McIntyre, Slater, Hunico, Mahal, Curtis, O'Neil, Barrett*

---

So, out of those who are left, are there enough to fill 2 MITB matches (keeping in mind that at least two of the above will be put in world title matches and a few of them will be put in other matches)? And are wins and losses really that big an influence on credibility anyway, especially since most people are picking Ziggler (11-25-2) and Rhodes (7-22) to win the matches despite their less than stellar 2012 W/L records?

[thelonewolf527]

Raw:
- John Cena
- Kofi Kingston
- Santino Marella
- Dolph Ziggler
- Jack Swagger
- Chris Jericho

SmackDown:
- Big Show
- Daniel Bryan
- Cody Rhodes
- Sin Cara
- Christian
- Brodus Clay

[KobashiChop]

Part of the fun is the guys who arent really "credible". I remember Raw MITB 2010. I REALLY thought Evan Bourne had it at one point.

[Arrow]

Jun 20, 2012 6:45:33 GMT -5 KobashiChop said:

Part of the fun is the guys who arent really "credible". I remember Raw MITB 2010. I REALLY thought Evan Bourne had it at one point.

I prefer a Money in the Bank where everyone could theoretically have a shot to win. That's one of my favorite things about the first one, anyone could have won it because everybody in it was credible enough.

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

Jun 20, 2012 6:33:59 GMT -5 thelonewolf527 said:

Raw:
- John Cena
- Kofi Kingston
- Santino Marella
- Dolph Ziggler
- Jack Swagger
- Chris Jericho

SmackDown:
- Big Show
- Daniel Bryan
- Cody Rhodes
- Sin Cara
- Christian
- Brodus Clay

No way is Cena in the MITB match. That briefcase has been, in kayfabe, his bane for the past several years.

[thelonewolf527]

Jun 20, 2012 6:49:29 GMT -5 Spankymac is sick of the swiss said:

Jun 20, 2012 6:33:59 GMT -5 thelonewolf527 said:

Raw:
- John Cena
- Kofi Kingston
- Santino Marella
- Dolph Ziggler
- Jack Swagger
- Chris Jericho

SmackDown:
- Big Show
- Daniel Bryan
- Cody Rhodes
- Sin Cara
- Christian
- Brodus Clay

No way is Cena in the MITB match. That briefcase has been, in kayfabe, his bane for the past several years.

Cashing in randomly has been his bane. But it looks like they're doing Punk vs either just Kane or another triple threat, so what else is Cena gonna do?

Also

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Big Show's in a/the MITB match so it really leaves Cena without an opponent unless they have him face Jericho for no reason.

[Arrow]

It'd make no sense for WWE to put Cena in Money in the Bank when they could sell the show on both him and the gimmick match. He'll just be in a high-profile one-on-one match instead.

RAW MiTB:
Show vs. Ziggler vs. Swagger vs. Kofi vs. Mysterio vs. Santino vs. Ryder

SD MiTB:
Brodus vs. Christian vs. Rhodes vs. Sin Cara vs. vs. vs. vs.

If Barrett is back by then, there's another spot to be filled, but I don't know any other midcards on SmackDown who could be considered credible. Del Rio, Kane, Bryan, etc. seem like they would be better served in their own matches. They're actively pushing Ryback as an undefeated monster, so he won't be in there. Damien Sandow probably won't be in there either.

EDIT: On second thought, they could add both Bryan and Kane to the MiTB match and have the Sheamus vs. del Rio WHC that they're so set on, but that would leave Punk without an opponent...

[Legion]

Personally, I would prefer one match featuring the obvious guys, the past champs or the ones on a role.

And then one match which they could try and label as the 'Wildcard Match' or something, with the younger unestablished guys. They could make that for the IC/US titles just to change it up, but I'd also quite like the idea of a midcard nobody carrying around a world title briefcase.

If they only do one match, the only people who will be in it will be the 'always pushed'

[Todd Pettengill]

No. There's not enough talent if we're talking about MITB for a shot at World Titles. Everyone in the MITB should feel like they could be a #1 contender.

If they want to make a second MITB match with the stipulation being it can only be cashed in on the IC/US Champ, then maybe two MITB matches would work. I'd still say stick to one MITB match & worry about filling out the rest of the card.

[Final Countdown Jones]

That's the problem they've come into in their squandering of the midcard. Nobody is really credible who isn't already at main event status, and there aren't enough main eventers to fill out a single match. They're going to have to put in some filler jobbers who we can hope will get some good spots and look better after the match, but it's unlikely.

Ziggler is picked as a winner despite his record because they're not paying attention to his being fed to Sheamus. Sadly, with their crappy records, Ziggler and Rhodes are some of the most credible people in the midcard. We won't likely see anyone doing jobber squashes because, aside from them making for throwaway filler matches, would ruin what they're going for if they wrestled actual matches and be booked in something. That means Brodus, Ryback, maybe Sandow, and definitely Tensai are gone. Hell, I don't think they're stupid enough to put Tensai, with how slow his matches are, into something like MITB. Sadly, we'll definitely get Khali in one of them and Big Show in the other. Which is each match's big man quota filled. We can also rule out holders of the midcard titles, likely. People in tag teams where they're sort of unified in their identity are also off, so there goes the Usos, Primepico, and PTP. Kofi and Truth are viable just because they're two characters who were around and did shit pre-tag and it still feels like they were just sort of thrown together.

We're going to have very sparsely populated matches this year.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

I think they SHOULD use the midcarders. The usual suspects are guys who can just walk out to the ring, call out the champion and demand a title shot anyway, which would negate the briefcase.

[Been burned too many times]

Established(already main event) guys shouldn't even be in the mitb. I wanna see Tyson Kidd show up in one.

[joebob27]

IF, if I had the ability to pull this off, I would have one match, have an injury angle take of the 8 to 10 guys out, and have the Rock come out of nowhere as a replacement and win the match.

Obviously it makes no sense business-wise but I think they really could do without the MITB this year and I'd rather use it as a prop to set up Rock's WM run and have a "WTF just happened?" moment.

[PKO]

There is more than enough talent but not really enough credible talent.

They should just have one. As great as last years two matches were, they should spread them out anyway.

[BigWill]

You really don't need every guy in MITB to be credible. About 4 for each show is enough, because regardless of who's in it, you can always narrow down the most likely winners to about 2 or 3 superstars. It's more important to have guys in it who excel at ladder matches. While a guy like Kane would have more credibility, you know someone like Tyson Kidd would end up putting on a better show. The MITB ladder matches are more about the high spots than about trying to squeeze in maximum star power.

[joebob27]

It's not so much the credibility of the guys in the match, it's just I'm not sure this match provides anything for the winner, that couldn't be done BETTER with a good old fashioned push. Considering the candidates this year, it seems like a pretty big waste of time.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Jun 20, 2012 13:41:26 GMT -5 BigWill said:

You really don't need every guy in MITB to be credible. About 4 for each show is enough, because regardless of who's in it, you can always narrow down the most likely winners to about 2 or 3 superstars. It's more important to have guys in it who excel at ladder matches. While a guy like Kane would have more credibility, you know someone like Tyson Kidd would end up putting on a better show. The MITB ladder matches are more about the high spots than about trying to squeeze in maximum star power.

I agree with this. The big stars should be used to fill out the card.

The big stars in the MiTB ladder match are actually LESS likely to win.

- Mr. Kennedy won a ladder match featuring King Booker, BOTH Hardys, Randy Orton and Edge

- An irrelevant Jack Swagger miraculously won a match where everyone else was an upper midcarder much higher on the totem pole than he was.

- Miz won a ladder match featuring Randy Orton and Edge

- A barely relevant Daniel Bryan won a ladder match featuring Kane, Wade Barrett (whom Bryan has never beaten despite his depush), and Sheamus

[froggyfrog]

Yes. People can be built up in MITB if done right

[rnrk supports BLM]

Yes, albeit barely.

Jun 9, 2012 19:27:13 GMT -5 rnrk supports BLM said:

Jun 9, 2012 19:05:49 GMT -5 Bravo Echo November said:

Now that I think about it... will 'E even have enough people to fill two MITB matches this year?

Assuming we'll get a Cena/Big Show rematch, plus title defenses by the two world champs, we'll need a minimum of 18 other guys (eight for each MitB, plus two challengers):

Kane
Bryan
Tensai
Christian
Kofi
R-Truth
Miz
Cody
Ziggler
Swagger
Sin Cara
Otunga
Santino
Ryder
Brodus
Khali
Sandow
Cesaro

There's also Ryback, but I assume they won't put him in MitB while he's still got the undefeated streak going. Khali and Brodus are questionable as well, though I'm not sure there's anyone else currently active whose credible enough to take those last spots. Though considering Heath f***ing Slater was in one of last year's MitBs, credibility might not really matter.

Since posting this, R-Truth's out, but del Rio's back from injury, and Jericho will be back next week.

And actually, according to this week's Smackdown spoilers...

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Big Show's going to be in MitB, so that's one less spot to fill. Though it'll probably be offset by whoever's having a singles match with Cena in his place.

[01010010 01101001 01100011]

No, they should just do one 8 man MITB match and use the rest to build up more people. Put Cena, Big Show, Cody, Kane (or Bryan depending on who face Punk), Ziggler, Jericho, Sin Cara and Tensai in the MITB match and have Punk v. Bryan (or Kane) for the WWE Title, Sheamus v. Del Rio for the WHC, Christian v. Antonio Cesaro (just using a Smackdown low card heel) for the IC, Santino v. Otunga v. Clay for the US Title and the PTP v. Kofi and Truth (Ryder if Truth cannot go) for the tag belts.

Actually use this to build some people.