The 2022 Money in the Bank pay-per-view was suddenly moved by WWE to a much smaller venue, which is a bad sign for the event's success. Since its debut at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, the Money in the Bank ladder match has been an exciting yearly event in WWE. The winner of the match leaves with a contract entitling them to a world championship match at any time within the next year, and the vast majority of winners have indeed emerged with the big gold around their waist after cashing in.
In 2010, the Money in the Bank match received its own yearly pay-per-view event, usually featuring at least two of the titular ladder matches. Each match offers a contract for a different world title, and since 2017, WWE's female wrestlers have competed in their own Money in the Bank matches. The 2021 Money in the Bank show also saw the surprise return of John Cena take place. Mostly involving 6-8 performers, each Money in the Bank match plays host to a cavalcade of death-defying and thrilling stunts, so it's not hard to see why so many WWE fans love and look forward to them.
For 2022, WWE intended to try and establish Money in the Bank as a pay-per-view on the same level as WrestleMania or Summerslam by holding it at the massive Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. That is until WWE's sudden recent announcement that Money in the Bank was being moved to Las Vegas' much smaller MGM Grand Garden Arena. While WWE boss Vince McMahon has yet to outline a reason for the move, multiple reports point to a sad explanation: ticket sales were performing so poorly that there was basically no chance of selling out Allegiant Stadium.
This represents a huge blow to WWE's ongoing push for more stadium events, with it having become the norm in the last few years to have not only WrestleMania but also Royal Rumble and SummerSlam take place in huge venues. These big shows help WWE maximize their profit margins, but it would appear that perhaps WWE should pump the brakes a bit on this plan. Of course, that does beg the question as to why WWE devotees don't feel Money in the Bank is as hot a ticket as WWE would like it to be. Sadly, WWE really only has itself to blame in that regard.
Outside of particular worthy winners like Big E in 2021 or the ever-popular Asuka in 2020, the Money in the Bank stipulation has been steadily devalued in recent years, to the point where the event doesn't feel nearly as important as it once did. The 2021 women's Money in the Bank winner was Nikki ASH, a floundering superhero character that the audience shrugged at. She used the briefcase to win a title but lost it not long after, following an uneventful reign. The 2020 men's Money in the Bank winner was Otis, who WWE proceeded to treat like an afterthought before having him drop the briefcase to The Miz. Then there's 2019 men's winner - and WrestleMania 38 main eventer - Brock Lesnar, who was inexplicably allowed to enter the match at the last minute and win, despite not even being an announced participant. Or 2017 men's winner Baron Corbin, who drew crowd apathy and didn't even win his cash-in attempt. That's not even mentioning the fact that the first women's Money in the Bank match was technically won by a man. WWE has really damaged the legitimacy of the Money in the Bank concept, and if they ever expect to fill up a stadium to see it play out, they need to start rebuilding its image immediately.