WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event
The 2023 Money in the Bank was the 14th annual Money in the Bank professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American promotion WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, July 1, 2023, at The O2 Arena in London, England. This was the first Money in the Bank to be held outside of the United States as well as WWE's first major event to be held in London since Insurrextion in May 2002 and England in general since Insurrextion in June 2003. It was also the first Money in the Bank to livestream on Binge in Australia.
Seven matches were contested at the event. In the main event, which was SmackDown's main match, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated The Bloodline (Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa) in a "Bloodline Civil War" tag team match. Jey pinned Reigns to win the match, which was the first time that Reigns was pinned since in December 2019. Additionally, Raw's Damian Priest and SmackDown's Iyo Sky won the respective men's and women's Money in the Bank ladder matches. In other prominent matches, Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Finn Bálor to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, which was the main match from Raw, and Cody Rhodes defeated Dominik Mysterio. The event also saw surprise appearances by John Cena and Drew McIntyre, both appearing for the first time since WrestleMania 39 in April 2023.
Production.
Background.
Money in the Bank is an annual professional wrestling event produced by the American promotion WWE since 2010, generally held between May and July. Along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, it is considered one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, referred to as the "Big Five". The concept of the event comes from WWE's established Money in the Bank ladder match, in which multiple wrestlers use ladders to retrieve a briefcase hanging above the ring. The briefcase contains a contract that guarantees the winner a match for a championship of their choosing at any time within the next year. The 2023 event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions and also reduced the number of participants in both matches: the men's had seven participants with three from Raw and SmackDown each and one non-exclusive wrestler, while the women's had six participants evenly divided between the brands.
Following the success of Clash at the Castle in September 2022, which was held in Cardiff, Wales, WWE announced on January 5, 2023, that they would be returning to the United Kingdom for the 14th Money in the Bank event on Saturday, July 1, 2023, at The O2 Arena in London, England. This marked the first Money in the Bank event to be held outside of the United States. This was also WWE's first major event to be held in London since Insurrextion in May 2002 and England in general since Insurrextion in June 2003. In addition to airing on pay-per-view worldwide and the livestreaming services Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets, it was the first Money in the Bank to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's channel Binge in January. It was also announced that the June 30 episode of "Friday Night SmackDown" would air live from the same venue, marking the first time for the show to broadcast live and in primetime from the UK at 8pm local on BT Sport. Tickets for both events went on sale on February 24 with hospitality packages also available. It was reported that general admission tickets for Money in the Bank sold out in one minute.
Storylines.
The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, "Monday Night Raw" and "Friday Night SmackDown".
Qualifying matches for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match began on the May 29 episode of "Raw". Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura became the first and second qualified entrants by defeating The Miz and Bronson Reed, respectively. LA Knight then qualified by defeating Montez Ford on the June 2 episode of "SmackDown". The next qualifying matches occurred on the following week's "SmackDown", where Santos Escobar and Butch qualified by defeating Mustafa Ali and Baron Corbin, respectively. Damian Priest then defeated Matt Riddle in the final qualifying match on the June 12 episode of "Raw". On the following week's "Raw", however, Logan Paul—in his first appearance since Night 1 of WrestleMania 39—revealed that after talking with WWE executives, he would also be competing in the match.
Qualifying matches for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match began on the June 2 episode of "SmackDown", with Zelina Vega defeating Lacey Evans to be the first qualified entrant. The next qualifying matches occurred on the June 5 episode of "Raw", where Becky Lynch and Zoey Stark defeated Sonya Deville and Natalya, respectively. Damage CTRL's Bayley and Iyo Sky then qualified by defeating "Michin" Mia Yim and Shotzi, respectively, on the June 9 episode of "SmackDown". The last qualifying match occurred on the June 19 episode of "Raw", where Trish Stratus defeated Raquel Rodriguez by disqualification thanks to an accidental interference from Lynch. Additionally, on the June 30 episode of "SmackDown", Shotzi faced Bayley in a match where if Shotzi had won, she would have taken Bayley's spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match; however, Bayley won to keep her spot.
On the June 5 episode of "Raw", The Miz hosted a "Miz TV" segment with Cody Rhodes as the special guest. During the segment, Miz introduced Judgment Day's Dominik Mysterio and SmackDown Women's Champion Rhea Ripley as his other special guests where Dominik taunted Rhodes, stating that Rhodes was a bad father and that he should be home with his baby daughter. Rhodes then proclaimed that Dominik's father Rey Mysterio made some terrible mistakes, one of which was having Dominik as his son. Dominik then feigned leaving the ring, only to return and slap Rhodes in the face. The following week during a presentation in which Ripley's SmackDown Women's Championship became the Women's World Championship, Rhodes interrupted and challenged Dominik to a match at Money in the Bank, which Ripley accepted on his behalf.
On the May 8 episode of "Raw", Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Finn Bálor in the semifinals of a tournament for the inaugural World Heavyweight Championship, which Rollins ultimately won at Night of Champions. On the next episode of "Raw", Rollins was victorious in a tag team match against Judgment Day members Bálor and Damian Priest. This led to a title match the following week where Rollins retained against Priest. Following the match, Bálor and Rollins came face-to-face. On the June 12 episode, Bálor called out Rollins and recalled that at SummerSlam in 2016 when he defeated Rollins for the inaugural Universal Championship, Rollins injured him in the match, which caused him to vacate the title the following day and derailed his career. Bálor claimed that he would do the same to Rollins at Money in the Bank by taking away the World Heavyweight Championship from him. Rollins then accepted Bálor's challenge for his title at Money in the Bank.
In the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) lost the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship and failed to regain them. The Bloodline (The Usos and Solo Sikoa) ended up winning a six-man tag team match at Backlash, although there was friction between Sikoa and The Usos. On the following "SmackDown", Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns demanded that The Usos apologize for their loss and failure to regain the championships, and although Jimmy refused to apologize, Jey apologized on Jimmy's behalf. The Bloodline's special counsel Paul Heyman then announced that he was able to procure another tag team championship match for The Bloodline; however, instead of The Usos, it would be Reigns and Sikoa, which would take place at Night of Champions. At the event, The Usos interfered in the match, and accidentally attacked Sikoa with a superkick. This infuriated Reigns and eventually lambasted and shoved both Usos around, however, Jimmy retaliated by attacking Reigns, after which, along with Jey, they retreated. Reigns and Sikoa would ultimately lose the match. On the next episode of "SmackDown", during a celebration for Reigns' achievement of reaching 1,000 days as Universal Champion, The Usos interrupted. Jimmy stated that he did what he did at Night of Champions to protect his family, specifically his brother Jey. Jimmy seemingly convinced Sikoa to join them against Reigns and The Usos had apparently convinced Reigns that they should stay together as a family. Reigns then embraced Jimmy, however, Reigns rejected Jimmy's proposal, prompting Sikoa to attack Jimmy. On the next episode, Heyman tried to persuade Jey to stay in The Bloodline, while also getting him a United States Championship match. However, Jey said that if he stays with the Bloodline, Heyman would have to leave. Then on the championship match, Jey lost after Jimmy unintentionally attacked him. On the next episode, Reigns said to Jey that Heyman is his special counsel, not Bloodline's, then Heyman would not leave. After Jey seemingly sidelined with Reigns, he turned on him, choosing to stay by Jimmy's side. On the June 17 episode of "SmackDown LowDown", it was announced that The Usos would face Reigns and Sikoa at Money in the Bank in a "Bloodline Civil War" tag team match.
During Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan's defense of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on the May 12 episode of "SmackDown", Morgan legitimately injured her shoulder. On "Raw" the next week, Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler, in their first appearance since Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, attacked Rodriguez after her match, wanting a title match, regardless if Rodriguez defended it alone. However, on the May 19 episode of "SmackDown", the championship was vacated because of Morgan's injury. A fatal four-way tag team match was scheduled for the May 29 episode of "Raw" to determine the new champions, where Rousey and Baszler won. On the June 23 episode of "SmackDown", Rousey and Baszler defeated NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn to unify the championships. During the match, Rodriguez was watching at ringside. As she walked away, Rousey called her out and asked why she was there. She said that she wanted a rematch for the title before introducing the returning Morgan. They had a staredown before Rousey and Baszler left the ring. The next day on "SmackDown LowDown", it was announced that Rousey and Baszler would defend the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Rodriguez and Morgan at Money in the Bank.
On the May 15 episode of "Raw", Matt Riddle was competing in a battle royal to determine Gunther's next challenger for the Intercontinental Championship. During the match, by Gunther's order, his Imperium stablemates, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, attacked Riddle, causing him to be eliminated. This led to a six-man tag team match the next week against Imperium, where Riddle's team won. Their rivalry continued through the next episodes, and on the June 12 episode of "Raw", after Riddle's Money in the Bank qualifying match, he was attacked by Kaiser and Gunther, and later, Riddle tried to interfere in Gunther and Kaiser's Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship match, costing both men the titles. On the next episode, after Riddle defeated Kaiser, Gunther and Kaiser attacked Riddle once again, almost Kayfabe injuring his leg. On June 26, Riddle challenged Gunther to a match for his Intercontinental Championship at Money in the Bank, which Gunther accepted on that night's episode of "Raw".
Event.
Preliminary matches.
The pay-per-view opened with the men's Money in the Bank ladder match, featuring Damian Priest, Ricochet, and Shinsuke Nakamura from Raw, LA Knight, Butch, and Santos Escobar from SmackDown, and Logan Paul. The match began with the other competitors attacking Paul and throwing him out of the ring. Paul quickly recovered, obtained a ladder and ascended it, however, Paul was thwarted by Nakamura. Escobar, Butch