5 surprising wrestlers who have competed in a Money in the Bank ladder match

There have been 19 Money in the Bank ladder matches, including an all-women's one. Most of them were really good and filled with countless dangerous spots. This match type is one of the most satisfying in that regard. There have been so many wrestlers who tried to get their hands on the career-making briefcase, with most of them being believable figures.

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However, there have been several wrestlers who competed in the risk-filled match who did not really fit in. Wrestlers you wouldn't associate Money in the Bank ladder matches with. Most of these wrestlers were in the matches between 2010 and 2013, when there were two Money in the Bank briefcases - one for RAW, and one for Smackdown.

In this day and age, it is genuinely surprising and odd when you find out that these superstars once competed in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Prepare to be surprised, as we glimpse at five superstars who you forgot were in Money in the Bank ladder matches in the past.

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#1 Santino Marella (2012)

Santino Marella had been involved in many high profile situations during his WWE career, so it wasn't really a surprise at that time. But while looking back, it seems quite bizzare that he was in those scenarios. In 2012, Santino was a second away from walking into Wrestlemania as World Champion. Later that same year, he was involved in the Smackdown briefcase match.

The 2012 Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder Match was a really good one, but did involve a few surprising names including Santino, Tyson Kidd, a newly debuted Damien Sandow, and someone else we will get to. There was a moment in the match where the Milan Miracle was alone in the ring and could have unhooked the briefcase but instead, he took out his cobra sock and tried taking down the briefcase using his cobra hand movement. There is no place for things like that in Money in the Bank ladder matches.

#2 Tensai (2012)

Matt Bloom is currently a very well respected coach at the WWE Performance Center, and is playing a key role in shaping the future of the company. His WWE in-ring career is most remembered for his work during the early 2000s as Albert, or A-Train. He returned to WWE in 2012, reinventing himself as Japanese lord called Tensai. It was highly forgettable and Bloom was reduced to playing a comedy role along with Brodus Clay within a year.

That makes it even more bizzare that he appeared in the 2012 Smackdown Money in the Bank ladder match. The gimmick did not work out at all and he was a very odd fit in this match, despite of his experience. It remains one of the best matches of it's type, but the 2012 Smackdown ladder match did have some bizzare participants.

#3 Heath Slater (2011)

Enter captioEnter caption — Heath Slater

In 2011, Heath Slater was part of a group called The Corre. It was formed by the men who were kicked out of the New Nexus stable. Led by Wade Barrett, The Corre could not make a major impact on Smackdown. However, three of the group's members were part of Smackdown's Money in the Bank ladder match. Barrett was one of the favourites of the match, but Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel were surprise inclusions.

Gabriel being in the match was just as big a surprise as Slater. But I only included Slater on this list because he's been around a lot, and it doesn't feel like WWE has done anything noteworthy with him in his eight years on the main roster, besides the tag title push in 2016. He has been doing nothing for so many years, that you'd likely forget he was part of a Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

#4 Alex Riley (2011)

Alex Riley was honestly, quite over in 2011. He had just turned face on his master, The Miz and beat him on pay-per-view. He was going in the right direction at that time, until he hit a speedbump called John Cena.

An incident involving the 16-time World Champion caused him to lose his way in the WWE. His next act of significance in the company was a stint in NXT as a commentator, which happened years after the undisclosed incident took place.

You would be forgiven if you couldn't recall Riley being part of the 2011 Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match. That was likely the peak of his WWE career.

He could have been so much more, but unfortunate incidents will leave us wondering about what he would have been. Right now the only thing Riley is remembered for, is being buried by John Cena.

#5 Ric Flair (2006)

The Nature Boy has done it all in the wrestling business. An astonishingly long and stellar career has made him the first ever two-time WWE Hall Of Famer. Ric Flair has done some pretty memorable things as part of the WWE, including his classic Royal Rumble 1992 performance, being part of Evolution, and completing the WWE triple crown by winning the Intercontinental Championship.

However, it is a surprising fact that Flair has also competed in a Money in the Bank ladder match. 57 years old at the time, Flair was part of the second ever Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania 22 in 2006. He took a crazy bump when he was SUPLEXED from the top of the ladder, an unbelievable and unnecessary risk taken at his age. He still returned to try and win the briefcase later in the match, but was unsuccessful.

Here's hoping that his daughter, Charlotte has more luck in this type of match in the future, as she is one of eight women to compete in the second ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match on June 17th.

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Edited by Riju Dasgupta