Rumored Favorite For WWE Money In The Bank

Tuesday night on SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon announced the 6 participants for the 2017 Money In The Bank match. AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura will all be competing for the chance at a guaranteed WWE Championship match. The star studded roster leaves many possibilities for where WWE creative could go, but it appears they may already have a favorite.

According to Cageside Seats, Shinsuke Nakamura is the early rumored favorite to reach the blue briefcase and take aim at the WWE Championship.

Cageside does emphasize that rumors are in no way final, but booking Nakamura to claim the coveted case would make a lot of sense. WWE is doing their best to treat The Artist as a big deal and having him snag the case would certainly be a great way to keep that up. The winner of the briefcase has an entire year to carry the case before the cash-in anytime stipulation becomes void.

Looking down the contenders there are two I feel comfortable ruling out. Dolph Ziggler has already won a Money In The Bank match and nothing about his current booking leads me to believe he is being positioned for a WWE Championship run. Then again, the same thing could’ve been said about Jinder Mahal a few months ago.

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I would also rule out Kevin Owens simply because he is holding the United States Championship. Also giving him a briefcase just seems like too many props and devalues the US strap a little if he’s always thinking about getting the “bigger belt.”

Sami Zayn seems very unlikely, but he also seems like the kind of star they could build up a big underdog cashing in the briefcase story around.

AJ Styles flat out doesn’t need the briefcase. As a former WWE Champion he could be named number one contender at any moment and no one would bat an eye.

My money is on Baron Corbin. Before last night’s announcement he was the Vegas betting favorite to climb the ladder and I wouldn’t be surprised if his recent losing streak wasn’t just a ploy to throw us off the scent of him coming out with the briefcase.

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Note that it was also rumored John Cena would be returning to enter the MitB match, so be careful what you believe.

This is the internet after all.