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Cashing In


HarmonicGenerator

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Pretty much all the discussion of Survivor Series and the WWE Title tournament has suggested Sheamus cashing in Money In The Bank. Ideas as to how it will happen differ, but it doesn't seem that there's many of us who don't think it'll happen one way or the other.

 

My question is, is the whole cashing in/MITB briefcase thing getting a bit tired and old hat now? It's been around 10 years, and while it's still not predictable in one sense, in another sense you can usually see a cash in coming, and you generally know what's going to happen when it does. Have WWE become too reliant on it? And have we come to the point where it affects our anticipation of things? As far as Survivor Series goes, I would be looking forward to a Reigns vs Ambrose final with one of them becoming the new champion, but then my head goes "yeah, but Sheamus is coming down and cashing in after that" which kills that excitement for the tourney final, because it'll have all been a bit pointless investing in the match when neither bloke ends up champion in the end.

 

Or is it just the 'opportunistic heel strikes at the worst moment' trope that's overplayed? Are there more ways to use the MITB contract than WWE are currently doing? Is it still of value?

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It is a bit tired but a decent creative team would find ways to freshen it up, I actually thought they should have knocked it on the head last year, simply as The Authority had their champion in place so why would they want to risk someone cashing in on him whenever they want, wouldn't have been hard for Triple H or Steph to do a promo saying "there's no MITB this year, tough shite"

 

At least with that you get a year off from the MITB gimmick which should freshen it up and it makes sense from a storyline perspective

 

If they're not going to get rid of it anytime soon I'd have a babyface win it for a few years in a row and try and do an "honourable" cash in like RVD did with Cena and Cena did with Punk, the heel cashing in when the face is fucked has been done so often it's expected now

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I like it but the one thing that annoys me about it is the teased cash-ins. They were interesting and new at first but now it seems as if they do it all the time. A cash-in on RAW would be good to see again - when is the last time we had a WWE World Championship change on RAW? Must be a while now - those were always the best title changes as they were so surprising.

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Doesn't help that they had two bloody briefcases for a fair while there which really watered it down.

 

Personally I'm with Drax, I reckon there are lots of ideas out there that haven't been done before. The scenarios I want to see are:

 

- Have some rookie / up and comer win it, and actually outright announce their intention to cash in at Mania (like what Kennedy did) and follow through on it.

- For a heel to win and then just stop wrestling. Instead have him sit at ringside, wearing shades and a suit, at every televised show and until one day he stands up and cashes in. 

- Plus the often suggested idea of having the champion hold it simultaneously as a backup plan.

 

But really.... I want to see something utterly stupid, silly and fun as this:

 

I reckon one day you could have a face win it and have the heel champion constantly avoid them successfully for the year. Then as time runs out, the heel champion announces he won't be appearing at the PPV when the contract runs out.

 

During said PPV, we see the heel champion chilling out and training at the gym whilst watching the show. Towards the end of the PPV, and as the heel is leaving the gym, we discover that the face MITB holder has secretly setup an outdoor ring, flown in a WWE referee and is surrounded by a small crowd of fans and cashes in.

 

The exhausted heel champion has no choice but to defend his title, and have the champion win as a feel good end to the PPV.

 

Yeah it's an idea that could bomb miserably... but screw it... do something unique and silly with it. 

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Doesn't help that they had two bloody briefcases for a fair while there which really watered it down.

 

Personally I'm with Drax, I reckon there are lots of ideas out there that haven't been done before. The scenarios I want to see are:

 

- Have some rookie / up and comer win it, and actually outright announce their intention to cash in at Mania (like what Kennedy did) and follow through on it.

- For a heel to win and then just stop wrestling. Instead have him sit at ringside, wearing shades and a suit, at every televised show and until one day he stands up and cashes in. 

- Plus the often suggested idea of having the champion hold it simultaneously as a backup plan.

 

But really.... I want to see something utterly stupid, silly and fun as this:

 

I reckon one day you could have a face win it and have the heel champion constantly avoid them successfully for the year. Then as time runs out, the heel champion announces he won't be appearing at the PPV when the contract runs out.

 

During said PPV, we see the heel champion chilling out and training at the gym whilst watching the show. Towards the end of the PPV, and as the heel is leaving the gym, we discover that the face MITB holder has secretly setup an outdoor ring, flown in a WWE referee and is surrounded by a small crowd of fans and cashes in.

 

The exhausted heel champion has no choice but to defend his title, and have the champion win as a feel good end to the PPV.

 

Yeah it's an idea that could bomb miserably... but screw it... do something unique and silly with it. 

 

Didn't Bryan do that as well? always thought that was a nice subtle touch after he beat Big Show that he just ignored it whenever anyone mentioned that he'd cashed in earlier than he said he would, it played in perfectly with him not turning heel immediately after/during winning the title

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I think it depends on who is actually holding the briefcase that makes the difference. If it's someone the fans like they enjoy being teased with the cash-ins but lets be honest who really wants to see Sheamus as champion again? Infact ever since he won MITB he's been falling down the card. Also with an unnecessary pair up with Barrett simply because there's fuck all else for him to do until they decide when they want him to cash-in.

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I hate it. It makes the title win worthless. It was OK originally as a heat generator but it's lost it's lustre. I'd retire it (or change it slightly) after WM. They've done everything with it now.

 

It also seems to make the writing team completely blase about the person who holds the case. They don't have to make any effort to build them because they're just going to cash in, take the meaningless title win and play chicken shit for a month or two.

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I hate it. It makes the title win worthless. It was OK originally as a heat generator but it's lost it's lustre. I'd retire it (or change it slightly) after WM. They've done everything with it now.

 

It also seems to make the writing team completely blase about the person who holds the case. They don't have to make any effort to build them because they're just going to cash in, take the meaningless title win and play chicken shit for a month or two.

 

I'd go beyond that and say they actually knock them down before they cash in, presumably in an attempt to make it more shocking when they cash in, which never really works

 

Punk lost loads before he cashed in on Edge, Bryan the same, Sandow (who obviously didn't even get the belt), Edge wasn't winning many big matches before he cashed in on Cena, Sheamus now, it's just lazy like a lot of what they do and doesn't do anything for the briefcase holder

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It is tired and I would like to see the back of it now but really it depends on who has the briefcase.

 

Rollins was a great example of how to use the briefcase well. He used it to solidify his heel turn and justify joining the authority (by climbing the ladder with Kane’s help), he had a fun feud with Ambrose wherein he would foil any plans Seth had to cash in, used it as a weapon to help get the curb stomp over, elevated himself gradually into the main event and finally cashed in at Wrestlemania which was the first time that had been done. When he returns they can easily slot him back into the main event either as a face or heel.

 

The problem is when the yearly PPV comes around and there is no obvious choice to win the case and someone holds it just for the sake of it, isn’t elevated and isn’t treated like a threat. For whatever reason, WWE has a tradition of booking the holder weak and Sheamus is the prime example of that. Nobody has a reason to want to see Sheamus cash in or be champion, they just hope it happens to get the inevitable out of the way. Now some guys, like Punk or Edge are so good that it doesn’t hold them back but not everyone is that lucky.

 

I think they would be better to either move away from the yearly cycle or plan a logical story of how the wrestler is going to cash in before they book the guy to win it. Otherwise, what’s the point?

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Give it Ryback next year. Let him go back to his squash days, absolutely decimating anything in his path. Let him just look strong and have a chicken shit heel authority figure do exactly what Rollins has been doing, which should make people foam at the mouth waiting for Ryback to cash in. Let the heel champ get cocky and just do something heelish, such as Slapping Lawler or Cole about to the point where the fans are begging for someone to make the save. Enter Ryback to a massive pop, cash in, title win.

 

That is pretty simple, but would work in my opinion. Heel loses his title, goes away to lick his wounds for a while comes back and we have a ready made feud and assuming the heel and Ryback have been kept apart, then it would be a fresh feud too.

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I'm going to say that it isn't tired or its shelf-life expired, for me, purely off the fact I thought the very last cash-in (Rollins) was fabulously executed.

 

I still think there's a few things they haven't done which I've gone into before, I can only remember a couple of them. For years I thought someone should just interrupt an on-going match, then Rollins did it this year. Although in my head it always involves the existing match becoming a no-contest and then the cash-in match occuring immediately, and never dreamed that the match would be permitted to become triple threat and the briefcase wanker being able to take the belt by pinning the challenger.

 

Another would be where the briefcase holder is a babyface and he twats a heel on his way to the ring for a scheduled title shot, then takes his cash-in face to face with the champion. So it's straight up in a sense (he's not taking advantage of a beaten champion) but he kind of has an advantage in that the champion prepared for someone else. It's ballsy by the briefcase holder and he HAS TO WIN otherwise he looks a dick compared to all the guys that cashed in on a vulnerable champion, but it's something a bit different.

 

Or do what Edge should have done when he won Gold Rush. Have the briefcase, acquire a title shot through other means. Batter fuck out of the champion with a chair and get disqualified, but then cash in and win anyway.

 

I like it but the one thing that annoys me about it is the teased cash-ins. They were interesting and new at first but now it seems as if they do it all the time. A cash-in on RAW would be good to see again - when is the last time we had a WWE World Championship change on RAW? Must be a while now - those were always the best title changes as they were so surprising.

 

The WWE title, you probably have to go back to 2011 and Rey winning the "Punk's fucked off" tournament at the start of Raw, then losing it to Cena like a pathetic loser at the end of the same show. At which point Punk came back.

 

What a fucking farce those 8 days were.

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Drax is right in that it could be freshened up but in reality it's probably had its time now, at least as a main event gimmick. Agree with air_raid though, Seth's cash in was fantastic.

 

I'd open it open and allow it to be cashed in for mid card belts and even the tag belts. I could imagine a team like New Day having great fun with it or another team arguing over whether or not to cash it in. 

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Drax is right in that it could be freshened up but in reality it's probably had its time now, at least as a main event gimmick. Agree with air_raid though, Seth's cash in was fantastic.

 

I'd open it open and allow it to be cashed in for mid card belts and even the tag belts. I could imagine a team like New Day having great fun with it or another team arguing over whether or not to cash it in. 

 

If they tease a cash in for the IC or US tiles it's not really going to generate a buzz.  Nobody really cares who holds those belts these days.

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