Money in the Bank(2017)

Money in the Bank(2017) was a pay-per-view that took place on June 18th, 2017, live from Indianapolis, Indiana. The event featured the SmackDown brand, and the main event was a match between AJ Styles and Triple H for the WWE Championship.

## Background

   This was the first pay-per-view of the series to bear the Money in the Bank name, and the first time a Money in the Bank ladder match had been held. This was the second SmackDown pay-per-view of Series 3, and the fourth overall. The official theme song for the show was "Whatever It Takes" by Imagine Dragons.

After AJ Styles retained his WWE Championship against Brock Lesnar in the main event of Backlash, he was left without a challenger. AJ would not even compete in a match until the June 6th edition of SmackDown Live, when he was scheduled to take on Bray Wyatt. However, before the match could take place, Triple H returned to attack Styles, the man who injured him in their match on the March 21st edition of SmackDown. The Game looked to deliver a Pedigree to the champion before security seperated both men. The following week, it was announced that Triple H would get his chance for revenge in a match for the WWE Championship. Throughout the month leading up to this event, the blue brand held qualifiers for the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match. The first saw The Miz defeat Tyler Breeze, while the second man to qualify was the debuting Kenny Omega, who defeated Tyson Kidd. After ending his rivalry with the Social Outcasts, Tye Dillinger qualified by defeating Jack Swagger, while the fourth man in was John Cena, picking up the win over Big Show. Tag team partners squared off as Big Cass took on Enzo Amore, which ended up with the big man qualifying for the match. Tyler Breeze talked Daniel Bryan into giving him another chance, but he came up short against bitter rival Fandango, as the Lord of Dance took the sixth and final spot. With six days before they faced each other, the Money in the Bank participants would then meet in singles action. Cass picked up a huge win over John Cena, Fandango out-lasted The Miz and Kenny Omega used a low blow to defeat Tye Dillinger.

Sami Zayn may have come up short against Randy Orton at Backlash, but he would get a second chance at the Intercontinental Champion a few weeks later on SmackDown Live. In a hotly contested match, Sami got the win with the Koji Clutch. Orton was unwilling to take this loss lying down, and requested another match between the two. After being defeated by Roman Reigns and Cesaro at Backlash, AJ Styles ordered Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to prove themselves. They would pick up a dominant win over Enzo and Big Cass, before interfering in Reigns and Cesaro's non-title bout with the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, The Wyatt Family. This set up a rematch between the two teams for the number one contendership, which took place six days before the event. In that match, Gallows and Anderson earned a title match with the Magic Killer. On the May 30th edition of SmackDown Live, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte offered an open challenge for a non-title match, which was answered by new SmackDown roster member, Bayley. Bayley picked up the win, but was attacked by Nia Jax afterward. Nothing came of this attack, however, and Bayley would be handed a championship match at the event. (I'm not quite sure what happened here. I guess I just completely forgot about Nia's attack? Terrible booking).

## Event

In the opening match of the show, Bayley became a Triple Crown winner, as she defeated Charlotte with an elbow drop to become SmackDown Women's Champion for the first time. The Wyatt Family would then retain their championships over The Club, in a match that saw Bray become the first person to kick out of the Magic Killer. Randy Orton was in control in his match with Sami Zayn, before Baron Corbin returned to attack Orton, the man who put him on the shelf with a Punt Kick back at Fastlane.

Before the Money in the Bank match could begin, Fandango was found laid out backstage, unable to compete in the match. With a spot open, Tyler Breeze was added to the match, and became the first Mr. MITB, retrieving the briefcase when the other competitors were distracted. The main event was a bloody, brutal affair between AJ Styles and Triple H, that saw Styles retain his WWE Championship with a Styles Clash.

## Matches

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