Who Walks Out with the Briefcase After the 2026 Men’s Money in the Bank Match?
This past episode of SmackDown finalized the men’s and women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Matches for the upcoming premium live event. Both matches show that WWE is willing to push newer talent up the card. The six participants in the men’s MITB Ladder Match are Pénta, Bron Breakker, Je’Von Evans, CM Punk, Kevin Owens, and Trick Williams. This men’s MITB Ladder Match features younger, less experienced WWE main roster talent who can work wonders under the stipulation, alongside main roster veterans Punk and Owens, who have participated in their fair share of WWE ladder matches. Who’s going to walk out of New Orleans with the coveted briefcase this year? Here are the two most likely candidates to win the MITB briefcase in 2026.
Pénta
WWE seems fascinated with Pénta since his debut last year. They’ve treated ‘El Zero Miedo’ with care and caution, protecting his upper mid-card status. Pénta beat Dominik Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship in March of this year, and the masked luchador had a competitive five-month reign with the workhorse title. He lost the belt to a revitalized Chad Gable at SummerSlam, but not before showing that he has the skills to be a future world champion. ‘El Zero Miedo’ has showcased most, if not all, of his abilities even against the biggest WWE names. The most recent, solid example is his match with Roman Reigns on Raw in Mexico City for the World Heavyweight Championship. The former Intercontinental Champion hit all his moves effectively on Reigns. Most fans thought that there was little to no jeopardy in the bout before it occurred, but both competitors showed that Pénta could be a serious threat to any main event champion in WWE. The challenger hit a Springboard Mexican Destroyer that got one of the closest near-falls in WWE this year. ‘The OTC’ sold his arm and hand when the luchador hit The Sacrifice. A strong showing against Reigns immediately puts someone in main-event status. Rumors suggest WWE executives were pleasantly surprised by the crowd reaction and in-ring ability of ‘El Zero Miedo’, and if true, it makes sense for the former Intercontinental Champion to win the coveted briefcase. It also helps that Pénta’s high-flying offense works perfectly in a Ladder Match; wrestling fans are excited to see just how creative and crazy he’s going to get during the bout.
Another thing to note is Pénta’s relationship to PAC. The Englishman unexpectedly passed away last weekend. The two, alongside Rey Fénix, made up the Death Triangle faction in AEW. They were the second-ever AEW World Trios Champions and were together for over four years. PAC’s passing sent shockwaves all over the wrestling world, even bleeding into WWE despite the company’s limited tributes to him. Wrestlers on the current roster who worked alongside PAC, in and out of WWE, wore gear in his honor and posted tributes on social media, Pénta included. WWE has positioned and even mentioned the former Intercontinental Champion as this generation’s Rey Mysterio. They could keep those ties strong by repeating history from 20 years ago. Mysterio was one of many wrestlers impacted by the death of Eddie Guerrero. The two had been real-life friends long before either man gained worldwide popularity. The Hall of Famer went on a main event run in honor of his fallen friend. It started after winning the 2006 Royal Rumble as the second entrant in the match, lasting over 62 minutes to earn a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22. ‘The Master of the 619’ went on to defeat Randy Orton and Kurt Angle in their legendary Triple Threat Match. ‘The Bastard’s’ passing has impacted the wrestling universe similarly, if not identically, to how Guerrero’s passing did in 2005. WWE could follow a similar path and push Pénta as a main event champion in honor of his recently fallen friend.
Bron Breakker
This is the most likely outcome if Pénta doesn’t walk out of New Orleans with the briefcase. Breakker winning the MITB briefcase makes a lot of long-term sense. ‘The Unpredictable Badass’ is currently with Maxxine Dupree, Austin Theory, Logan Paul, and Bronson Reed as a member of The Vision. The stable's early iteration, led by Paul Heyman and Seth Rollins, highlighted Breakker as a future WWE Champion. Since Theory, Dupri, and Paul joined, Rollins' departure from the stable, and the complicated relationship with Heyman, the former Intercontinental Champion has been portrayed more as a background character than a main event champion. That all changed after WWE booked him against Oba Femi in last month’s Sunday Night Main Event. Their feud has pushed Breakker back up to the main event scene. Femi has been booked so strongly and is bound to win main event gold by WrestleMania 43. WWE creative would be dropping the ball if they don’t. ‘The Ruler’ went out of his way to retain his feud with The Vision, forfeiting his guaranteed championship match after winning this year’s King of the Ring Tournament. It seems like he’s going to take the stable on his way to becoming a main-event WWE champion. One thing WWE could do is have ‘The Unpredictable Badass’ win the men’s MITB briefcase to screw Femi over when ‘The Ruler’ wins his first main-event championship. This could fuel a long-time rivalry between the two brightest young superstars on WWE’s main roster. WWE has been keen on preparing the future of WWE, and this would solidify a future where Femi and Breakker are bitter rivals who will stop at nothing to beat each other up.
Breakker also has a history with Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn. ‘The Unpredictable Badass’ beat Zayn to win his first Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam back in 2024. He’s proven he can beat ‘The Last Real Good Guy’, and he could be a singles threat on SmackDown if he breaks away from The Vision. This would add even more pressure to Zayn’s plate, as most of the SmackDown roster are after his championship.
It’s unlikely anyone else wins the MITB briefcase. Williams is currently the United States Champion, and most people don’t hold a title and the briefcase at the same time. WWE creative could make him an exception if they see him as a long-term, main event-level talent like Femi or Breakker. It seems likely that Carmelo Hayes or Lil Yachty will screw him over in some capacity. Hayes hasn’t been on television in almost two months; the last time he was, he was in the hunt for the United States Championship. Yachty has backed ‘The Anointed One’ on many occasions, taking beatings for his friend while getting little to no help in return.
It doesn’t make sense for Punk or Evans to win the MITB briefcase. ‘The Best in the World’ has held both the World Heavyweight Championship and the Undisputed WWE Championship this year, and he’s a former two-time MITB Ladder Match winner. Another wrestler would benefit more from winning their first MITB briefcase than Punk would from winning it a third time. The ‘Young OG’ is the youngest WWE superstar on the main roster. The sky is the ceiling for him, and his improvements throughout 2026 have given wrestling fans hope that he’ll one day crack into the main event picture and be a future WWE main event champion. It just seems like WWE is focused on pushing other people before him right now. WWE creative could bank on that hope and wait a bit longer before pushing Evans to the moon.
Owens is the wildcard of the match. It makes a little more sense for him to win since he’s never held the briefcase, but he’s also a former Universal Champion and is considered a Grand Slam Champion. It’s also likely that Zayn is going to find a way to weasel himself into the match to screw his best frenemy and ‘The Best in the World’ over so they have no "legitimate" reason to challenge for the Undisputed WWE Championship. ‘The Prizefighter’ is one of the veterans in the match, and who knows how much time he has left in his in-ring career. He just returned after being sidelined for 18 months due to neck problems. Owens is respected backstage enough to warrant winning the MITB briefcase at least one time before he retires. Wrestling fans would be happy for him if he wins the coveted briefcase. It just seems like WWE will find a way to keep the main event scene on SmackDown chaotic and open for any main event talent to win the belt from Zayn.
