This year's Money in the Bank PPVs is very different. Due mostly due to the lack of an audience, WWE decided to make this a more cinematic styled match and are sending six men and six women to corporate headquarters to fight their way to the roof in hopes of winning the coveted Money in the Bank briefcase.
The men and women will fight at the same time, and WWE already locked in the six women involved, big-name talents such as Asuka, Nia Jax and Lacey Evans. But there is a clear favorite standing out: former NXT Champion Shayna Baszler.
There is also a good chance that WWE wants to have Baszler win the match to show how dominant she is in the company. Remember, at the Elimination Chamber PPV, the company had her run through everyone, only to lose at WrestleMania to Becky Lynch.
Winning the Money in the Bank contract would give Baszler another shot at Becky Lynch. However, it might be a mistake unless WWE plays its cards right.
At its heart, the Money in the Bank briefcase is typically best held by cowardly heels. This is because the heels can hold that briefcase for up to a year and use it whenever they feel a heroic champion is at his weakest. The best Money in the Bank cash-ins occurred when Edge came out with John Cena exhausted after a win. Edge became known as the Ultimate Opportunist.
There are also cases where babyface was great Money in the Bank briefcase holders. However, they usually came with ultimate opportunities. An example was when CM Punk held the briefcase. Edge came out as the champion on Monday Night Raw and threatened to take the title to SmackDown with him and began to insult Jim Ross. Batista ran out and destroyed Edge. Punk came out and won the title from Edge after this. It worked because Edge was a hated heel.
There have been rare occasions where someone wins the contract and then sets up an official match, but this is the most uninteresting result concerning Money in the Bank. It ruins all the surprises and intrigue.
In the case of Shayna Baszler, none of those scenarios work. The majority of fans would have to turn on Becky Lynch for a cash-in to pay off for Baszler. There is no way Baszler turns babyface anytime soon, either. That leaves the ultimate opportunist cash-in. Shayna Baszler's entire gimmick is that she is the ultimate butt-kicking machine. Yes, she used her Horsewomen cohorts to help her win matches in NXT, but she never once went into a match, acting like she needed help to win.
On the main roster, if Baszler immediately goes to her friends for help in winning, it destroys her appearance of being a dominant killer that the other women should fear. If she wins Money in the Bank, she will prove her mettle in that match, but then what? If she waits for Lynch to get beaten up and then cashes in for an easy win, her first title reign ends up as a fluke. She isn't Edge. Baszler is Brock Lesnar. She needs to win cleanly in the ring by just beating up Lynch until the champion can't get back up.
WWE already proved with Asuka that they struggle with delivering a dominant and powerful female wrestler. At the moment, they are positioning both Nia Jax and Tamina in that role. However, the one woman that deserves the "Beast" treatment that Lesnar receives is Shayna Baszler and winning, and cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase for an easy title win is not the way to do it.
The best thing that WWE could do is have someone else win the briefcase, possibly Lacey Evans, where she can beat the hated Bayley and receive the pop that CM Punk did when he cashed in on Edge. However, for Baszler, she needs to keep her course and work her way to possibly SummerSlam, where she can finally beat Becky Lynch in the middle of the ring to prove she is ready to headline the women's division on Monday Night Raw.