Money in the Bank 2011 Money in the Bank 2011 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by WWE , which took place on July 17 , 2011 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago , Illinois . It was the second annual Money in the Bank pay - per - view . Background . Money in the Bank featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre - existing scripted feuds , plots , and storylines that will be played out on WWE ' s television programs . Wrestlers will portray heroes or villains as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a match or a series of matches . The main event stemming from the Raw brand for the Money in the Bank event featured John Cena defending the WWE Championship against CM Punk . On the June 20 episode of " Raw " , Punk won a Triple Threat Falls Count Anywhere match over Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship . Also , after the match , Punk announced that his WWE contract expires the same day as Money in the Bank , and vowed to win the championship and take it with him . However , at the end of the June 27 episode of " Raw " , Punk delivered a worked shoot promo , berating WWE for not promoting him properly , and insulting several authority figures , such as McMahon family members ( Vince , Stephanie and Triple H ) and WWE executive John Laurinaitis . Additionally , he proposed that , upon winning the WWE Championship , he might defend the belt in Ring of Honor and / or New Japan Pro Wrestling . As a result of his actions during the promo , Punk was indefinitely suspended within the WWE storyline , thereby removing his match with Cena from the Money in the Bank card . After some intervention from John Cena , Mr . McMahon agreed to reinstate Punk and to bring the match back . However , the stipulation was added that if CM Punk left with the title , Cena would be fired from the company . The following week on Raw , Punk returned and revealed that Mr . McMahon desperately wanted to sign him to a contract to ensure that the WWE Championship would stay in the WWE . Punk made a list of nearly insurmountable demands to McMahon , but McMahon still wanted to sign the contract . John Cena interrupted the proceedings , and after Punk referred to Cena as a " dynasty " that rivaled the New York Yankees , Cena punched Punk in the face . The distraught Punk then ripped up the contract that would have kept him in the WWE . SmackDown ' s main event was between Christian and Randy Orton . At Capitol Punishment , Christian ' s foot was under the bottom rope while he was being pinned . The referee failed to notice this , and Christian felt as though he was cheated out of the victory . As a result , Christian demanded that he be given another chance . SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long gave Christian the chance by putting him in a match against Sheamus . The match turned into a tag team match after some interference , and Christian ' s tag team partner for the night Mark Henry pinned Randy Orton . Teddy Long decided to give Mark Henry a shot at earning the right to face Orton at the Money in the Bank pay - per - view , but Christian used The Big Show ' s music to distract Henry and allow Randy to win the match , keeping Christian in line for a title match . During the contract signing for the match , Sheamus , who had been kicked in the head by Randy Orton weeks earlier , returned and attacked both Christian and Ortoon . Christian used this opportunity to have his lawyers write up a new contract . The terms of this new contract stated that Christian could win the belt via disqualification or if there was a case of " bad officiating " . Christian then started to taunt Orton the next week by stealing his wallet , betting an absurd amount of money , and interfering in his main event match against Kane on SmackDown . The Raw Money in the Bank competitors were placed in the match based on their recent performance . Alberto Del Rio , R - Truth , and Rey Mysterio were all given an opportunity to simply become the # 1 Contender ' s for the WWE Championship following CM Punk ' s suspension by facing off in a Triple Threat Match . Del Rio won the match , but when Punk was reinstated later that night , Del Rio ' s # 1 Contendership was abandoned . Del Rio was then reinserted into the match . All the Raw competitors then spoke about their anticipation for the match on Raw , but this ended in a large brawl . Alberto Del Rio broke up the brawl by attacking his future opponents with a steel ladder , and then revealed his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez had returned from the injuries he sustained from The Big Show . Other feuds were contained within the match , including the feud between Alex Riley and Miz , which picked up steam after Riley beat Miz yet again on Raw . Miz got revenge by brutally attacking Riley on the outside of the ring . The feud between Mark Henry and The Big Show started when Big Show viciously attacked Mark Henry on SmackDown , following the events with Alberto Del Rio from last month . Mark got revenge by using the World ' s Strongest Slam to send Show through the Spanish announce table at Capitol Punishment . Mrk then went on a violent streak , interfering in Big Show ' s Steel Cage Match with Alberto Del Rio by ripping off the cage door , allowing Del Rio to win , and then using the door to smash into Big Show , completely destroying a cage wall ! This attack left Big Show out of action for weeks , but Mark continued to terrorize WWE officials by attacking a sound technician and throwing him off the stage . Big Show ' s return to Raw was marked by a Handicap Match against Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre . This match was set up after Mr . McMahon overheard Ziggler , McIntyre , and Vickie Guerrero mocking him backstage . Big Show tried to Chokeslam Drew off the stage during the match due to his mounting frustrations with Alberto and Henry , but Mark tackled Big Show and Drew off the stage before this could take place . Kelly Kelly won the WWE Divas Championship from Brie Bella on Raw during the Power to the People episode . The Bella Twins then focused on ridiculing Kelly for her small stature . Eve Torres , still bitter about losing the belt to Brie due to Bella trickery , joined Kelly ' s side to face off against The Bella Twins . Eve decided to be in Kelly ' s corner at Money in the Bank when she was forced to give Brie her obligatory rematch , to make sure Nikki didn ' t interfere . The SmackDown Money in the Bank members also had a promo similar to the one given by the Raw superstars . However , instead of their promo being interrupted by Alberto Del Rio , it was interrupted by a chair - wielding Sheamus . Every competitor tasted Sheamus ' s steel , except for Sin Cara , who managed to dodge the attack and escape to the outside of the ring . Aftermath . After leaving the Allstate Arena with the WWE Championship , CM Punk was pictured that night by " TMZ " showing off his newly won title on the streets of Chicago together with Colt Cabana and Ace Steel . WWE Chairman Vince McMahon started an eight - man tournament to crown a new WWE Champion on Raw , which included all the participants of the Raw Money in the Bank ladder match except Evan Bourne , whose place was instead filled by Dolph Ziggler . The Miz and Rey Mysterio made it to the tournament finals , which McMahon postponed so that he could fire John Cena based on the match stipulation from Money in the Bank . However , Triple H interrupted and announced that the WWE Board of Directors had removed McMahon from power due to a vote of no confidence , and that Triple H was to take over the day - to - day operations of WWE . Triple H then refused to fire Cena . On July 21 , Punk , with title belt in hand , gatecrashed the joint WWE / Mattel panel at the San Diego Comic - Con International , confronting Triple H and taking exception to WWE attempting to crown a new WWE Champion . Two days later , Punk made a surprise appearance at a show hosted by the independent All American Wrestling promotion without his title to endorse Gregory Iron , a wrestler who had cerebral palsy . On the next Raw , the tournament concluded with Mysterio winning to become the new WWE Champion , and he had to immediately fend off Alberto Del Rio from cashing in his Money in the Bank . However , Triple H , now Chief Operating Officer , decreed that Mysterio was to face ex - champion Cena later that night for the title ; Cena won to once again become WWE Champion . After the match , Punk made a surprise return to WWE with the old WWE Championship belt to confront Cena . Cena and Punk later faced off in a match at SummerSlam to crown the undisputed WWE Champion , with Punk coming out victorious . As Punk celebrated , Kevin Nash made his WWE return and assaulted Punk . Del Rio then cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and pinned Punk to become the new champion after kicking him in the head . Punk later regained the WWE Championship at Survivor Series by defeating Del Rio . After losing the World Heavyweight Championship to Christian , Randy Orton was granted a rematch at SummerSlam , where he won a No Holds Barred match to win the title . Meanwhile , Mark Henry went on to crush Kane and Vladimir Kozlov ' s ankles with steel chairs in the storyline . He then defeated Orton at Night of Champions to become World Heavyweight Champion for the first time . Big Show returned from injury in October 2011 to feud with Henry over his title . Daniel Bryan initially declared that he would only cash in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania XXVIII . However , on the November 25 episode of SmackDown , Bryan cashed in the briefcase after Henry had been knocked out by Show to become the World Heavyweight Champion . The match was voided by General Manager Theodore Long as Henry was not medically cleared to compete with the briefcase being returned to Bryan . At WWE ' s PPV , Henry lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Big Show . After the match , Henry assaulted Big Show which allowed Bryan to cash in his contract and pin Big Show to win the title . Bryan actually did manage to hold on to the World Heavyweight Championship until WrestleMania XXVIII , where he lost it to Sheamus . Kelly Kelly ' s next contender for the Divas Championship was Beth Phoenix , who turned villainous by attacking Kelly after winning a # 1 Contender ' s battle royal on the August 1 edition of " Raw " . Kelly defeated Phoenix to retain her title at SummerSlam . John Laurinaitis continued to appear on television after Money in the Bank . In October 2011 , he was appointed Raw General Manager , replacing Triple H as the on - screen authority figure . During Laurinaitis ' rule , he feuded with CM Punk and later John Cena , until he was fired in June 2012 in the storyline .