5 reasons why Sami Zayn replaced Braun Strowman at Money in the Bank 2019

In a rather bizarre turn of events, the go-home episode of RAW to Money in the Bank saw an incredible falls count anywhere main event, where Braun Strowman put his Money in the Bank ladder match spot on the line against Sami Zayn.

Ricochet did the same last week to Robert Roode, handily defeating him (while also avenging his loss a week prior) to retain his spot. The same can't be said about Braun Strowman, who was defeated thanks to interference from Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre.

It's certainly got the wrestling world buzzing. One half believes that it was wrong to put Strowman out of the match, especially given that he won it last year. The other half is glad that Sami Zayn is in the match, because he obviously brings something different to the table.

It's certainly going to be interesting to see if he wins or not, but here's why he replaced Strowman.

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#5. Sami Zayn is finally getting a push

Sami Zayn's latest run has been interesting

This isn't to immediately conclude that Zayn will win the briefcase. Knowing his history of coming short on big occasions, it wouldn't be surprising if he falls just short. But putting him in a WWE Championship match on SmackDown and now putting him at MITB means that someone important backstage (most likely Vince McMahon) is enjoying Zayn's current run now.

It certainly is enjoyable, because a very large part of the WWE Universe fully agrees with Sami Zayn and what he says in his promos. Even Mark Henry was full of praise for Zayn's recent promos, going as far to calling him the best talker in all of wrestling.

That's a huge compliment from a legend of Henry's calibre. Perhaps McMahon feels like it's time to finally start doing something with Sami Zayn. He's been underutilized for a while.

#4. Sami Zayn is a better fit for the match year

Sami Zayn hasn't been in the MITB ladder match for a while

If this is the reason behind replacing Braun Strowman, it would have just made sense to put Sami Zayn in the spot in the first place. They likely either changed their minds in the last minute or wanted this to happen by design.

Either way, there's no doubt that Sami Zayn is a better fit for the match this year given the competitors as compared to Braun Strowman. Don't get us wrong, Strowman is always a good addition to the match, but if you recall the 2016 MITB match, Zayn was one of the stars of the match.

It's true that he was a babyface then, but his style perfectly complements the match - not to mention that he's a veteran when it comes to ladder matches. Either way, we view it as more of an upgrade, even though Strowman was taken out.

#3. Braun Strowman's push may have been cancelled

Braun Strowman hasn't had a great 2019

In case you didn't realize, Braun Strowman isn't exactly someone who backstage officials are high on right now. It was just a couple of years ago, or even one year ago for that matter, when Strowman was pushed as the #2 full-time guy behind Roman Reigns.

He participated at and won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but that never really means much anyway. But the issue seems to have been Strowman's performance in the match. Not only did he miss a cue that reportedly angered Luke Harper, but he may have been responsible for Ali having a big injury scare.

At the moment, it really doesn't look like there are any plans to push Strowman. It's a shame that WWE never pulled the trigger even once when they had multiple opportunities to do so, especially given that he was once the hottest star of the entire company.

#2. Unpredictability factor

It certainly felt unpredictable

We all know how Vince McMahon and WWE loves pulling off the occasional swerve. While not all swerves are necessarily welcome ones, we will give them credit where credit is due. Perhaps they even felt that there was one too many former winners in the match, instantly eliminating three names from winning the briefcase.

That left only five other superstars, two of whom have essentially just been called up a couple of months ago. The options really are few despite being a stacked match, with Drew McIntyre being the favourite to win the entire match as of this writing.

While McIntyre still could very well win the match, Sami Zayn adds a big unpredictability factor to the match. Now, there's a chance that Zayn could end up with the briefcase as well.

If he does, it'll be a weird step-up given that he's never won any other title on the main roster.

#1. Braun Strowman could have a minor injury

Braun Strowman could be dealing with niggling injuries

We don't mean to speculate, but usually, when someone is written out of a match, the most likely reason is that they're dealing with an injury of some sort. The fact of the matter is that virtually every WWE superstar has worked/is working injured at any given point of time.

It normally depends on the severity of it. However, to WWE's credit, they usually do a good job when it comes to dealing with injuries. They likely felt that in Strowman's case, he would risk further damaging his body by competing in the ladder match.

After all, it does involve superstars flying around and a lot of ladders being smacked to the body. Being the giant, Strowman was always going to take the most punishment. Either way, if this is the case, then we wish Strowman luck with his recovery.