Money in the Bank 2011
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Date	July 17, 2011
Venue	Allstate Arena
City	Chicago, Illinois
Attendance	14,815
Last Event	Capitol Punishment
Next Event	SummerSlam

Money in the Bank 2011 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE, which took place on July 17, 2011 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. It was the second annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view.

BackgroundEdit

Money in the Bank featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that will be played out on WWE's television programs. Wrestlers will portray heroes or villians as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a match or a series of matches.

The main event stemming from the Raw brand for the Money in the Bank event featured John Cena defending the WWE Championship against CM Punk. On the June 20 episode of Raw, Punk won a Triple Threat Falls Count Anywhere match over Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship. Also, after the match, Punk announced that his WWE contract expires the same day as Money in the Bank, and vowed to win the championship and take it with him. However, at the end of the June 27 episode of Raw, Punk delivered a worked shoot promo, berating WWE for not promoting him properly, and insulting several authority figures, such as McMahon family members (Vince, Stephanie and Triple H) and WWE executive John Laurinaitis. Additionally, he proposed that, upon winning the WWE Championship, he might defend the belt in Ring of Honor and/or New Japan Pro Wrestling. As a result of his actions during the promo, Punk was indefinitely suspended within the WWE storyline, thereby removing his match with Cena from the Money in the Bank card. After some intervention from John Cena, Mr. McMahon agreed to reinstate Punk and to bring the match back. However, the stipulation was added that if CM Punk left with the title, Cena would be fired from the company. The following week on Raw, Punk returned and revealed that Mr. McMahon desperately wanted to sign him to a contract to ensure that the WWE Championship would stay in the WWE. Punk made a list of nearly insurmountable demands to McMahon, but McMahon still wanted to sign the contract. John Cena interrupted the proceedings, and after Punk referred to Cena as a "dynasty" that rivaled the New York Yankees, Cena punched Punk in the face. The distraught Punk then ripped up the contract that would have kept him in the WWE.

SmackDown's main event was between Christian and Randy Orton. At Capitol Punishment, Christian's foot was under the bottom rope while he was being pinned. The referee failed to notice this, and Christian felt as though he was cheated out of the victory. As a result, Christian demanded that he be given another chance. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long gave Christian the chance by putting him in a match against Sheamus. The match turned into a tag team match after some interference, and Christian's tag team partner for the night Mark Henry pinned Randy Orton. Teddy Long decided to give Mark Henry a shot at earning the right to face Orton at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, but Christian used The Big Show's music to distract Henry and allow Randy to win the match, keeping Christian in line for a title match. During the contract signing for the match, Sheamus, who had been kicked in the head by Randy Orton weeks earlier, returned and attacked both Christian and Ortoon. Christian used this opportunity to have his lawyers write up a new contract. The terms of this new contract stated that Christian could win the belt via disqualification or if there was a case of "bad officiating". Christian then started to taunt Orton the next week by stealing his wallet, betting an absurd amount of money, and interfering in his main event match against Kane on SmackDown.

The Raw Money in the Bank competitors were placed in the match based on their recent performance. Alberto Del Rio, R-Truth, and Rey Mysterio were all given an opportunity to simply become the #1 Contender's for the WWE Championship following CM Punk's suspension by facing off in a Triple Threat Match. Del Rio won the match, but when Punk was reinstated later that night, Del Rio's #1 Contendership was abandoned. Del Rio was then reinserted into the match. All the Raw competitors then spoke about their anticipation for the match on Raw, but this ended in a large brawl. Alberto Del Rio broke up the brawl by attacking his future opponents with a steel ladder, and then revealed his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez had returned from the injuries he sustained from The Big Show. Other feuds were contained within the match, including the feud between Alex Riley and Miz, which picked up steam after Riley beat Miz yet again on Raw. Miz got revenge by brutally attacking Riley on the outside of the ring.

The feud between Mark Henry and The Big Show started when Big Show viciously attacked Mark Henry on SmackDown, following the events with Alberto Del Rio from last month. Mark got revenge by using the World's Strongest Slam to send Show through the Spanish announce table at Capitol Punishment. Mrk then went on a violent streak, interfering in Big Show's Steel Cage Match with Alberto Del Rio by ripping off the cage door, allowing Del Rio to win, and then using the door to smash into Big Show, completely destroying a cage wall! This attack left Big Show out of action for weeks, but Mark continued to terrorize WWE officials by attacking a sound technician and throwing him off the stage. Big Show's return to Raw was marked by a Handicap Match against Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. This match was set up after Mr. McMahon overheard Ziggler, McIntyre, and Vickie Guerrero mocking him backstage. Big Show tried to Chokeslam Drew off the stage during the match due to his mounting frustrations with Alberto and Henry, but Mark tackled Big Show and Drew off the stage before this could take place.

Kelly Kelly won the WWE Divas Championship from Brie Bella on Raw during the Power to the People episode. The Bella Twins then focused on ridiculing Kelly for her small stature. Eve Torres, still bitter about losing the belt to Brie due to Bella trickery, joined Kelly's side to face off against The Bella Twins. Eve decided to be in Kelly's corner at Money in the Bank when she was forced to give Brie her obligatory rematch, to make sure Nikki didn't interfere.

The SmackDown Money in the Bank members also had a promo similar to the one given by the Raw superstars. However, instead of their promo being interrupted by Alberto Del Rio, it was interrupted by a chair-wielding Sheamus. Every competitor tasted Sheamus's steel, except for Sin Cara, who managed to dodge the attack and escape to the outside of the ring.

AftermathEdit

The next night on Monday Night Raw in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Mr. McMahon came out at the top of the program to address the WWE Championship issue. He ordered an immediate eight-man tournament for that night to declare a new WWE Champion, in effect stripping CM Punk of the championship. The tournament's first-round matches, in bracket order: Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler, winner to face winner of Jack Swagger vs. R-Truth. The bottom half of the bracket has Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio, winner to face winner of Alex Riley vs. The Miz.

The finals of this tournament will pit The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio in a match to take place at the July 25, 2011 Monday Night Raw in Hampton, Virginia.

Just afterward, in an announcement presumably to follow through on the announced main-event stipulation that John Cena would be fired by Mr. McMahon, the storyline took an unexpected twist as Triple H came out with an announcement of his own -- that Mr. McMahon was being given a vote of "no confidence" by the WWE Board of Directors, and that Triple H would take on day-to-day operations of WWE, effectively firing McMahon instead. At this point, Triple H refused to follow through with firing Cena, nullifying that stipulation.

ResultsEdit

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

(c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.

• Dark Match: Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov defeated David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty
• Daniel Bryan defeated Cody Rhodes, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Kane, Sheamus, Sin Cara & Wade Barrett in a Smackdown Money in the Bank ladder match (24:33)
• Kelly Kelly (w/ Eve Torres) (c) defeated Brie Bella (w/ Nikki Bella) to retain the WWE Divas Championship (4:48)
• Mark Henry defeated The Big Show (6:00)
• Alberto Del Rio defeated Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Alex Riley, Evan Bourne, R-Truth & Jack Swagger in a RAW Money in the Bank ladder match (15:56)
• Christian defeated Randy Orton (c) to win the World Heavyweight Championship (12:22)
• CM Punk defeated John Cena (c) to win the WWE Championship (33:45)

• Cena lost the title, so he is fired from WWE

Other on-screen talentEdit

Also SeeEdit

• List of WWE pay-per-view events
• World Wrestling Entertainment/Event history
• Money in the Bank
• Event gallery

DVD releaseEdit

• Money in the Bank 2011 on DVD

External linksEdit

• Money in the Bank 2011 Official Website
• Money in the Bank 2011 at CAGEMATCH.net
• Money in the Bank 2011 at Online World of Wrestling