New Orleans, LA -- Money in the Bank is one of the most consequential PLE’s on the WWE calendar, as it gives one man and one woman a guaranteed title shot over the next year, and gives them a major push, whether they will be successful with the briefcase or not.
The 2026 edition, live from Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, had its ups and downs, but the beauty of the briefcase is that it may not make sense right away, it’s up to the story that is told in the following year.
With that being said, here are this year’s MITB winners:
Men’s: Penta
Women’s: Tiffany Stratton (2x)
Both of these matches were beautifully chaotic, but there was one thing about this card that was not at all beautiful, the ordering of the matches. Allow me to explain.
Part of the appeal of the Money in the Bank contract is that the winner can cash in on a world champion at any time, which leaves the possibility for a same-day cash in. Like when Liv Morgan cashed in on the night she won in 2022, or Kane did it on poor Rey Mysterio back in 2010.
In order for this to happen though, the MITB match has to come first. Tonight however, the WWE had Roman Reigns vs LA Knight, the World Heavyweight title match, open the show!
It was an incredible match, but it should have been the main event. This way, after he beat Knight, even if they weren’t going to have Penta cash in, (which absolutely could have happened and would have set the world on fire) you at least have the threat of him coming out and cashing in on the OTC. But that suspense was taken away, which takes from the excitement that comes with MITB. For the women’s match, the timing was perfect, or could have been at least, we’ll discuss that later. First, we’ll break down each match.
Men’s MITB: Penta def. Je’Von Evans, CM Punk, Kevin Owens, Trick Williams and Bron Breakker.
A highlight of both these MITB matches was the youth. Evans, Breakker, Williams, and the winner Penta, who isn’t the youngest, but is still relatively fresh in the WWE and certainly carries a youthful energy with him.
It didn’t feel like the match had as many crazy spots as other ladder matches, but the high-danger spots it did feature were wild enough to account for a lack in quantity.
Bron Breakker nearly killed Je’Von Evans twice. First, he hit a massive spear to an already-running Evans as he was attempting to leap over the barricade. Later on, after Evans was driven off in an ambulance and returned, Breakker pushed Evans off an obnoxiously tall ladder through the top of the ambulance, which genuinely looked terrifying.
Outside of these two, Punk and KO kept their promises to obliterate each other and keep one another from winning the briefcase, Trick Williams came close with the help of Lil Yachty, and Penta kept his eyes on the prize, hitting a devastating Mexican Destroyer to Knight on top of a ladder before climbing the ladder and grabbing the briefcase.
Because the Raw and SmackDown title scenes are so different right now, it seems like Penta would use his title opportunity on Roman as opposed to Sami Zayn. He did just lose to Roman a few weeks ago in Mexico City, which I feel does take a bit of the steam off, compared to if he cashed in and beat Roman before their first match.
Still though, Penta is one of the best performers the WWE has week in and week out, and certainly is a crowd favorite. He deserves this, and I’m certain he will have a generational moment when he eventually cashes in.
Women’s MITB: Tiffany Stratton def. Roxanne Perez, Lash Legend, Sol Ruca, Jacy Jayne and Lola Vice
Tiffany Stratton hit a moonsault outside of the ring onto her opponents a few minutes into the match, and hit her head on the ground as she landed. Thankfully she was okay, and was able to finish the match, which meant claiming her second Money in the Bank win, the first woman to do so.
Coming into this match, it seemed to me that Stratton was among the least predicted and cheered on superstars to win this match. Not only did she already have one, but there were others in the match who had more momentum going for them.
Her story with her best friend Chelsea Green, current Women’s Champion, seems to be the reason the WWE wanted to put the briefcase back on her. The first time she held the briefcase, she betrayed her best friend Nia Jax (given she treated her horribly) to win the title, so hopefully the WWE doesn’t run the exact same play this time around.
My biggest gripe with this match is that one person in particular didn’t win, and that is Roxanne Perez. I believe she had the best case of any woman to win. Literally a few minutes after this match, Perez’ Judgement Day partner Liv Morgan won back the Women’s World title. Why not have Perez, who by the way the crowd was absolutely electric for when she was threatening to win, claim the briefcase, and cash in on Liv the same night? The lob was there, and what better way to capitalize on the nickname ‘Prodigy’, than to have her beat her mentor of sorts Liv, creating an instantly hot feud between them, and room for the Judgement Day to finally split up.
Still Perez was amazing in this match, and so was everyone else. Ruca was flying around and hitting Sol-Snatchers off of ladders, Legend was dominating per usual, and Jayne was winning the crowd over as well.
It wasn’t the cleanest or best women’s MITB match ever, and the result was honestly a little less than desirable, but like I said earlier, it is what the creative team does now that makes or breaks this briefcase run.
We’ll see what happens on Raw and SmackDown, but from this point on, Penta and Stratton could become world champions at any moment, so be on the lookout.