This weekend at WWE Money in the Bank 2023, Damian Priest and Iyo Sky won their ladder matches and obtained the briefcases to secure themselves a title shot for any belt they want at any moment for the next calendar year.
History has shown there are a wide variety of ways this could all play out, with multiple titles up for grabs they could potentially target, as well as any show (Raw, SmackDown, NXT, live events or pay-per-views) where this could potentially go down.
Even now, when the belts have been in a bit of chaos with the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships being restructured as the Women's World Championship and WWE Undisputed Women's Championship, as well as Roman Reigns carrying a third ceremonial undisputed title belt and Seth Rollins holding the new lineage of the World Heavyweight Championship, things are a bit crazy. Adding an unknown like Money in the Bank makes things even messier!
But whether you're trying to add a little money into your bank, or just holding a friendly wager between friends on who can guess what is going to happen, let's break down the belts and their chances of being targeted over the next year.
Who are Priest and Sky most likely to try to steal a title from?
Iyo Sky's Targets
The entire landscape of women's titles in WWE at the moment isn't large. Iyo is limited to only being able to challenge for Asuka's Women's Championship, Rhea Ripley's Women's World Championship, Tiffany Stratton's NXT Women's Championship and, technically, she could opt to bring a partner along with her to fight Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the Women's Tag Team Championships.
The latter hasn't ever been done. No one has used Money in the Bank for a tag team title opportunity. But the parameters of the briefcase change all the time.
We've seen a transition from having one champion to being limited to your brand's title, crossing over to the opposite brand, and last year, Austin Theory cashed in on the United States Championship, opening up midcard titles for an option. This means the tag titles CAN happen, as it does state any championship. For all we know, it could be within the fake rule books that Iyo could cash in on the Intercontinental Championship, even.
But WWE will likely keep the men's and women's titles separate, and will also most likely focus on the three singles titles, rather than the tag team division. In particular, that is because it seems Iyo and Bayley are at odds with each other and a split from Damage CTRL could be happening as soon as Monday Night Raw or Friday Night SmackDown.
Iyo might keep the briefcase well past Asuka, Ripley or Stratton losing to new challengers. Judging this as "Iyo vs. Rhea", for instance, is shortsighted. Sky has a full year.
But the idea of Sky going back down to NXT to win the title she's already won is backwards momentum. NXT is the developmental brand. Stratton is better suited as champion to learn on the job and progress, rather than Sky going back down to the C-show. We can almost guarantee Sky isn't cashing in on the NXT Women's Championship at any point.
Between the Women's World Championship and Women's Championship on Raw and SmackDown, Sky is a member of the blue brand. Mathematically, the odds are better that she was put on that show and given this position with MITB because there's more of a chance she'll be hovering around that Women's Championship than Ripley's belt.
A crossover could happen. Iyo could be traded for a Raw Superstar, even. But since Ripley is a dominant heel who likely will hold that title all the way until WrestleMania, if not longer, and has someone like Raquel Rodriguez as a major threat down the line that is still being pushed off, the safer bet is that Iyo could work a program with Asuka, Charlotte Flair and/or Bianca Belair on SmackDown.
Let's go with a 75% bet that Iyo cashes in on SmackDown's top championship.
Whether or not she succeeds in her title shot and wins the belt is a different story, but that's the one she's most likely to target.
Damian Priest's Targets
WRKD Wrestling and others pinpointed Damian Priest as a favorite to win the briefcase several weeks back, even with all the support for LA Knight and all the buzz over Logan Paul's addition to the match. Does that indicate there is an actual plan in WWE for how to use this cash-in?
Priest has many more options compared to Iyo. On the table for him are not just two sets of tag team titles that we can almost guarantee he won't bother with, but technically, there are eight other titles he could cash in on.
We can pretty much rule out everything from NXT. Again, the likelihood Priest goes down to the developmental brand to win the North American Championship he already held, for instance, is extremely low. It wouldn't serve any progression to his career. Even worse would be the NXT Heritage Cup, and even the NXT Championship is below his pay grade now.
"Everything Comes To He Who Waits… And I Have Waited So Very Long For This Moment" pic.twitter.com/LUrFasP027
— Damian Priest (@ArcherOfInfamy) July 2, 2023
That leaves the United States Championship on SmackDown, Gunther's Intercontinental Championship on Raw, the WWE and Universal Championships Roman Reigns holds on SmackDown, and the World Heavyweight Championship around the waist of Seth Rollins on Raw.
Priest, as a Raw star, has much more of a chance to focus on Rollins and Gunther than to deviate and go after Theory or Reigns.
Reigns can be tossed aside just on the grounds that it is Reigns. The Tribal Chief isn't going to lose his title to a heel Money in the Bank cash-in. They're keeping the championship on him for a while longer. The soonest he'll lose it will probably be WrestleMania 40 (and likely only to Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins or The Rock), if not after Mania. Priest isn't going to be the guy to beat him through this method.
Theory and the US title just seems odd. Why would Priest go after that belt and revert back to the status he was as a midcard champion before?
At most, beating Gunther makes more sense because he'd be used as a tool to protect Gunther. If Gunther were to lose his title from a cash-in, it helps fans think Gunther still hasn't been beaten straight-up.
But the real target is going to be Rollins and the World Heavyweight Championship. Not only is that the top prize on that brand, and Priest hasn't won a world title yet, but Rollins is currently feuding with The Judgment Day and had recently had a match against Priest.
Priest almost won that. He knows that. He'll be looking for redemption to prove himself and to win the belt he thinks he rightfully almost captured.
In his post-match interview, Priest said we'll all know who the one person he has in mind is, soon enough.
That could mean as quickly as Monday Night Raw, where he might try to cash in on Rollins and run into a problem with Finn Balor getting in the way, as miscommunication between them has been a regular thing as of late.
All in all, bet on Priest going after the World Heavyweight Championship more so than any other title.
So before any of this madness goes down, place your bets on wherever you go and see if you can get a little money in the bank by predicting what Sky and Priest will do.
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