Money in the Bank 2021: How to watch and what to watch for WWE July PPV

This weekend marks the WWE’s official return touring in front of live crowds and the company will dive right into their first shows with fans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic by hosting its annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view live from Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX, on Sunday.

Introduced as a match concept in 2005, the Money in the Bank ladder match has become a a yearly staple on the WWE’s calendar every summer, becoming its own PPV in 2010. Usually involving eight competitors in both the men’s and women’s matches respectively, the person who successfully climbs the ladder and retrieves the briefcase earns the right to “cash in” a guaranteed shot at his/her title of choosing at any time for an entire year.

Some previous MITB winners have waited several months to cash in their briefcase while we’ve seen others cash in on the exact same night that they’ve won it, making the entire show rife with the possibility of surprise.

How to watch

Date: Sunday, July 18 from Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX
Time: 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT
Live stream: Streaming live on Peacock

What to watch

The two MITB ladder matches this year are chalk full of possibilities as the buildup to the show on both Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown haven’t so much as teased a clear favorite to win the match. Both matches feature a mix of former winners and first-time participants trying to climb the ladder, so we’ll see who exactly will be positioned for a future title match moving forward.

On the championship fronts, WWE Champion Bobby Lashley has dominated as the top dog on Raw for the past five months but will receive a stiff challenge from former champ Kofi Kingston. Kingston defeated Lashley in a non-title match back in May and pointed out that he never received another opportunity for the title since losing the belt to Brock Lesnar back in October of 2019. Lashley, along with manager MVP, have traded barbs with Kingston and New Day tag team partner Xavier Woods for the past month, with Woods himself defeating Lashley in one-on-one competition.

On Smackdown, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns has had his hands full with WWE Hall of Famer Edge for the past month and the two will go toe-to-toe for the belt at MITB. Edge, who previously earned a title opportunity at Wrestlemania after winning the Royal Rumble, never got a one-on-one shot at Roman for the title. On top of potential involvement by the Usos and the Mysterios, keep on high alert for maybe a surprise appearance by John Cena. The rumor mill is swirling that it’ll be Roman-Cena for the championship at Summerslam in Las Vegas and they could potentially begin the build to that match on Sunday.

Full list of matches

• Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Ricochet vs. John Morrison vs. Riddle vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Big E vs. Kevin Owens vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins
• Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Asuka vs. Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki A.S.H. vs. Liv Morgan vs. Zelina Vega vs. Natalya vs. Tamina
• Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Kofi Kingston: Singles match for WWE Championship
• Roman Reigns (c) vs. Edge: Singles match for WWE Universal Championship
• Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair: Singles match for Raw Women’s Championship
• AJ Styles and Omos (c) vs. The Viking Raiders: Raw Tag Team Championship match