The Five Best Money in the Bank Ladder Matches Ever
From Edge at WrestleMania 21 to Big E in Fort Worth, our pick of the best briefcase ladder matches, with fan scores and star ratings.
WWE has been hanging briefcases above the ring since WrestleMania 21 in April 2005, and the next Money in the Bank show takes place on Saturday, October 10, 2026 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Before it, we went back through every men's and women's Money in the Bank ladder match on a major WWE show and picked the five we think stand above the rest.
How we picked
Two numbers sit beside each match. The first is an average fan score out of 10, built from a few hundred votes per match and checked on October 8, 2026, so it will drift a little over time. The second is the star rating the match received from the best-known critic in the business, on the usual five-star scale. Neither number decided the order on its own. We also asked what the match changed: who won, what they did with the contract, and whether people still talk about the finish.
| Rank | Event | Date | Winner | Fan score | Star rating (of 5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WrestleMania 21 | April 3, 2005 | Edge | 8.89 (541 votes) | 4.5 |
| 2 | Money in the Bank 2021 | July 18, 2021 | Big E | 8.80 (433 votes) | 4.75 |
| 3 | Money in the Bank 2011 (SmackDown) | July 17, 2011 | Daniel Bryan | 8.27 (369 votes) | 4 |
| 4 | Money in the Bank 2016 | June 19, 2016 | Dean Ambrose | 8.45 (285 votes) | 4.25 |
| 5 | Money in the Bank 2014 | June 29, 2014 | Seth Rollins | 8.38 (254 votes) | 4.5 |
1. WrestleMania 21, 2005: Edge
The first one is still the best one. Chris Jericho is credited with the idea, and the match went on at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in front of 20,193 people with six men in it: Edge, Jericho, Chris Benoit, Christian (with Tyson Tomko at ringside), Shelton Benjamin and Kane.
Benjamin had the biggest moments. He gave Edge a T-bone suplex off a ladder and later used a ladder leaning against the ropes as a ramp, running up it to clothesline Jericho. Benoit dropped a diving headbutt off a ladder onto Kane. At the finish Kane pulled Benoit down once, Benoit fought him off with headbutts and started climbing again, and Edge hit him with a steel chair before climbing up to take the briefcase.
The cash-in set the template every holder has followed since. Edge kept the briefcase until New Year's Revolution in January 2006, waited for John Cena to come through an Elimination Chamber match and then took the WWE Championship from him. It has the highest fan score of any Money in the Bank ladder match, 8.89 out of 10 from 541 votes, and a four-and-a-half-star rating.
2. Money in the Bank 2021: Big E
The 2021 show at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, was WWE's first pay-per-view with a full-capacity crowd and no COVID restrictions, and 14,541 people were there. The men's ladder match had four entrants from each brand: Drew McIntyre, John Morrison, Ricochet and Riddle from Raw, and Big E, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura and Seth Rollins from SmackDown.
McIntyre was out of the match early after Jinder Mahal attacked him with a steel chair. Riddle tipped over a ladder with Ricochet on it, sending him onto several wrestlers outside the ring, and Rollins powerbombed Owens through a ladder set up between the apron and the announce table. The finish belonged to Big E, who stopped Rollins from reaching the case, hit him with the Big Ending off the ladder and climbed up to unhook it.
He cashed in on Bobby Lashley on Raw on September 13, 2021 and won the WWE Championship. The match holds the highest star rating of any Money in the Bank ladder match, four and three-quarter stars, and a fan score of 8.80 from 433 votes, only just behind the 2005 original. We put it second because the original still did more for the format, but a case for first place is easy to make.
3. Money in the Bank 2011: Daniel Bryan
The SmackDown match at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, on July 17, 2011 had eight men in it: Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Kane, Sheamus and Sin Cara. Its best-known moment came early, when Sheamus powerbombed Sin Cara through a ladder bridged between the ring apron and the announce table. Sin Cara was taken out on a stretcher.
The closing stretch came down to three men. Bryan locked a guillotine choke on Rhodes at the top of a ladder while Barrett climbed the other side, then shook Rhodes off. Barrett tried to throw Bryan from his shoulders, and Bryan answered with repeated elbows to the head and a kick before pulling the briefcase down.
What followed is why we rank it this high. Bryan said he would cash in at WrestleMania XXVIII, then tried it early on November 25 when Mark Henry had been knocked out by Big Show. General manager Theodore Long overturned the result because Henry had not been medically cleared and gave Bryan the briefcase back. Bryan used it properly at TLC that December, cashing in on Big Show to become World Heavyweight Champion, and he lost the title to Sheamus in 18 seconds at WrestleMania XXVIII. The match has a fan score of 8.27 from 369 votes and a four-star rating.
4. Money in the Bank 2016: Dean Ambrose
Six men climbed at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, on June 19, 2016: Dean Ambrose, Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Ambrose won it by pulling Owens into a ladder, knocking him onto another ladder bridged between a second ladder and the corner, and unhooking the case.
The ending of the night lifts it into our five. Seth Rollins beat Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event, and Ambrose's music then started. Rollins looked to the stage, but Ambrose came in behind him, hit him with the briefcase, cashed in and won the title with Dirty Deeds. All three former members of The Shield held the championship on the same night. The ladder match itself has a fan score of 8.45 from 285 votes, the third highest of any Money in the Bank ladder match, and a four-and-a-quarter-star rating.
5. Money in the Bank 2014: Seth Rollins
At the TD Garden in Boston on June 29, 2014, six men fought for a contract for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston and Rob Van Dam. Van Dam hit Rolling Thunder on Rollins while Rollins was propped on a ladder in the corner, Swagger powerbombed Van Dam off a ladder, and Ambrose suplexed Rollins off one. Ambrose was helped to the back by medical staff with a shoulder injury and came back later. Kingston gave Rollins a back body drop off a ladder, and Ziggler hit a Zig Zag on Kingston onto another.
The finish was plain. Kane walked down, chokeslammed Ambrose and gave him a Tombstone piledriver, and Rollins climbed up and took the briefcase. The payoff came nine months later at WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015. Rollins cashed in during the Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns main event, turning it into a triple threat, and pinned Reigns for the title. It was the first cash-in during a match already in progress and the first at a WrestleMania. The ladder match scores 8.38 from 254 votes and has a four-and-a-half-star rating.
Close calls
Several matches came close. WrestleMania 23 in 2007, won by Mr. Kennedy, was the first with eight men drawn from Raw, SmackDown and ECW. The 2013 show in Philadelphia had two strong matches on the same card, and the 2013 World Heavyweight Championship contract match won by Damien Sandow has a higher fan score than our number three. The best women's matches so far came in 2023 and 2024. IYO SKY's win in London has the best fan score of any women's Money in the Bank ladder match, and Tiffany Stratton's win in Toronto a year later has the best star rating.
| Event | Winner | Fan score | Star rating (of 5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Money in the Bank 2013 (World Heavyweight contract) | Damien Sandow | 8.36 | 3.75 |
| WrestleMania 23 (2007) | Mr. Kennedy | 8.23 | 4.25 |
| Money in the Bank 2013 (WWE Championship contract) | Randy Orton | 8.07 | 4.5 |
| Money in the Bank 2017 (men's) | Baron Corbin | 8.01 | 4.5 |
| Money in the Bank 2023 (women's) | IYO SKY | 7.94 | 4 |
| Money in the Bank 2024 (women's) | Tiffany Stratton | 7.81 | 4.25 |
| Money in the Bank 2023 (men's) | Damian Priest | 7.73 | 4.5 |
What comes next in New Orleans
This year's show is the first Money in the Bank held in New Orleans and the first held in October, after WWE moved it twice from its original date of August 29. WWE has confirmed six names for each ladder match. The men's field is CM Punk, Kevin Owens, Trick Williams, Penta, Je'Von Evans and Bron Breakker. The women's field is Jacy Jayne, Tiffany Stratton, Lash Legend, Roxanne Perez, Sol Ruca and Lola Vice. Owens was in two of our top five without winning either. Punk won the briefcase at WrestleMania XXIV and WrestleMania 25, and Stratton won it in 2024.
