Finn Balor Qualifies for Money in the Bank With Help From Jinder Mahal

Finn Balor punched his ticket to Money in the Bank in the main event on Monday night, and he did it with an assist from an unlikely source.

Late in the triple threat match between Balor, Reigns and Sami Zayn, it looked like Reigns was about to put Zayn away with a Spear. But as he got set up in the corner, Mahal appeared and grabbed him by the leg. This distracted “The Big Dog” long enough to set himself up for a Helluva Kick from Zayn.

But before Zayn could capitalize, he turned around and was hit by a Shotgun Dropkick from Balor. The former Universal Champion climbed to the top rope and hit the Coup de Grace for the win.

Joining him in the eight-man ladder match is Braun Strowman, who earned his spot by defeating Kevin Owens in Raw’s opening match with a Running Powerslam.

SmackDown Live has already announced two qualifying matches for Tuesday Night’s episode, with Daniel Bryan taking on Rusev and United States Champion Jeff Hardy facing The Miz. Since WWE is back to having co-branded pay-per-views, the match will be split down the middle with four wrestlers from Raw and four from SmackDown.

A second Money in the Bank match for the women’s division will also take place on June 17. Ember Moon became th first woman to qualify by beating both Ruby Riott and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match, and she’ll be joined by the winner of Charlotte Flair vs. Peyton Royce on Tuesday night.

The June 17 pay-per-view marks the first time Balor has been in a Money in the Bank ladder match. As a former NXT Champion, he joined the main roster in 2016 to a massive ovation, winning the Universal Championship in his first pay-per-view match against Seth Rollins. But an injury he suffered during the match forced him to relinquish the title and be off television for nearly half a year, not returning until the night after WrestleMania 33.

Since he’s been back Balor has earned a number of opportunities to strike gold with the company again, most recently in a series of matches with Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 34, the Greatest Royal Rumble and an episode of Raw.

Mahal’s motivation for helping Balor seemed to be for selfish reasons, as Mahal was visibly furious earlier in the night over not having a qualifying match for the ladder match. Now that he’s angered Reigns, he’ll likely have one in the near future.