5 WWE men who could realistically win the 2019 Money In The Bank match

The 2019 WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view takes place in Hartford, Connecticut on Sunday, May 19. One of the highlights of the show will be the men’s ladder match, which has been won by Superstars including Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin, Dean Ambrose, Sheamus and Seth Rollins in recent years.

The rules of the chaotic match state that the winner will be able to cash in their Money In The Bank contract at a time of their choosing, provided it is within the next year, to challenge for a world title. In total, there have been 21 official cash-in attempts in WWE history, with 17 of those being successful.

In 2018, Strowman was the winner of the men’s match. However, after he handed over his contract and requested that he go one-on-one with Universal champion Roman Reigns at Hell In A Cell, the decision ended up backfiring when Brock Lesnar interfered in the match, causing a disqualification. As part of the MITB rules, that meant that Strowman’s cash-in was unsuccessful.

So, will the male Superstar who wins the 2019 match have any better luck? Let’s run through five of the most realistic contenders who could leave the pay-per-view with a guaranteed future title opportunity.

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#5 Drew McIntyre

Ever since Drew McIntyre stepped foot back on WWE’s main roster in April 2018, it feels like his career has been destined to lead to a world title reign one day.

Throughout his alliances with Dolph Ziggler and Braun Strowman, the Scot had an aura about him that was sorely lacking during his days as a 3MB member. Granted, his momentum on Raw has decreased over the last few months, especially after losing to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 35, but that is something that can quickly be fixed when he has new rivals and challenges after the Superstar Shake-Up.

The former Intercontinental champion was the bookmakers’ favourite in late 2018 to win the 2019 Royal Rumble. While that honour instead went to Seth Rollins, we would be foolish to dismiss McIntyre's world title credentials heading into Money In The Bank.

#4 Finn Balor

Finn Balor’s last world title opportunity came when he went one-on-one with Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the 2019 Royal Rumble. The Irishman put up a good fight, much like AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan in their Survivor Series encounters with “The Beast”, but he was ultimately unable to pick up the victory.

Since then, Balor’s only goal has been to win the Intercontinental Championship. He succeeded in doing so in February at Elimination Chamber, where he pinned Lio Rush in a 2-on-1 handicap match to claim the title from Bobby Lashley, but he lost it back to Lashley just 22 days later on Raw.

Now that the former NXT champion has defeated “The All Mighty” on the grand stage of WrestleMania, winning the IC title for the second time in 2019, is it too far-fetched to think that he could also win the Money In The Bank contract for the first time in his career?

After all, Balor is viewed by the majority of the fanbase as a credible world title contender – he was the inaugural Universal champion, after all – and he would certainly be a popular winner if he triumphed at Money In The Bank.

#3 Baron Corbin

Like him or loathe him, cheer him or boo him, Baron Corbin has been the breakout star in WWE over the last year. At the time of the 2018 Superstar Shake-Up, the “Lone Wolf” character had hardly changed in three years and Corbin’s heel persona was becoming very stale.

Following his switch to Raw last April, the former United States champion took on an authority role on Monday nights and quickly established himself as arguably the top heel in WWE.

Corbin controversially defeated Kurt Angle in the final match of the Olympic Gold medallist’s career at WrestleMania 35, so it is inevitable that he will use that victory in his promos over the next few weeks to further cement his status as one of the biggest bad guys on the roster.

Looking at this from WWE’s perspective, would it really be wise to have Corbin retire Angle and then lose his next PPV match? Probably not, so if the 2017 Money In The Bank winner is in this year’s men’s match, then expect him to be among the favourites to claim the briefcase.

#2 Kevin Owens

For what must be the first time in Kevin Owens’ WWE career, he feels like an afterthought as a member of the SmackDown Live roster right now.

In fairness, if widespread reports are to be believed, the former Universal champion was originally supposed to challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship in one of the featured matches of WrestleMania 35, but WWE drastically changed their plans due to the overwhelming popularity of Kofi Kingston.

In the end, Owens ended up missing WrestleMania completely – he did not even compete in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal – and his only televised appearance on ‘Mania week came when he surprisingly appeared after a six-man tag match on SmackDown Live and hit Rusev with a Stunner.

Moving forward, WWE will surely give Owens another genuine shot at winning a world title at some point in 2019. Yes, he faced Bryan and Ali in a Triple Threat at Fastlane, but the outcome was too predictable and everybody knew KO was not going to win. Maybe, just maybe, he could start to build some much-needed momentum again by winning at Money In The Bank.

#1 Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns’ storylines feel like they have not been treated as a priority since he returned from his battle with leukemia and briefly reunited with The Shield to defeat Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin in the main event of Fastlane in March.

“The Big Dog” went on to defeat McIntyre one-on-one at WrestleMania 35 in a match that was one of the least anticipated of the night, while his only appearance on the post-Mania episode of Raw came when he stood in the ring during Dean Ambrose’s farewell speech after the show had gone off the air.

With the Superstar Shake-Up on the horizon, it is only a matter of time before the four-time WrestleMania main-eventer reclaims his place in main events and at the top of the Raw (or SmackDown Live) card again.

After all, he never officially lost the Universal Championship when he was forced to relinquish it in October 2018, so if anybody deserves a guaranteed future world title opportunity, that person is Reigns.