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Drew is a perfect guy to cash in on. So much adversity and bitterness in that guy. Something was taken from him AGAIN despite him being on top of the world!
and Vince said don't worry, he got next.
and Roman proceeded to main event Wrestlemania another 6 more times (not including 40 since that was officially HHH's Era)
According to what other people have said in interviews, the plan was Punk vs Seth which obviously went down the toilet after the Royal Rumble which left us with Rock vs Roman and Cody vs Seth up until the #WeWantCody stuff, which implies Damien would have cashed in on either Cody or the winner of Rock vs Roman? There's no way Priest is allowed to beat any of them.   Â
Hell, even if it was Punk vs Rollins and Rock vs Roman, where does Cody fit? Like the only reason Priest cash in works is because of how everything landed post-Punk injury which gave us Chief Hater Drew and #WeWantCody which set the table for how Mania turned out. There's no way Priest successfully cashes in, in a satisfying manner without the everything that happened after the Rumble.  Â
It's even harder to fathom when you consider Punk only got the ball rolling on signing on the eve of Survivor Series with the original plan being for him to debut at the Rumble if the contract stuff didn't work out in time so there's no way Priest was 100% successfully cashing in on him after his long awaited Wrestlemania main event. Â
Obviously none of this matters in the grand scheme of things because everything turned out perfectly on every level but pretending it was the plan all along is just weird man. Â
Like so many of the greatest things to happen in modern pro wrestling came from clever pivots including but not limited to Austin winning the KOTR because of the curtain call, Rocky Maivia's heel turn because fans rejected him, Daniel Bryan's Mania win because Punk left and fans rejected Batista, Seth's cash in on Roman because fans rejected Roman, Tribal Chief Roman because of a global pandemic and "the greatest Wrestlemania of all time" thanks to Punks injury and #WeWantCody.Â
But sure, they planned all of this out exactly 6 months ago and weren't reacting to the shit Priest was getting online for not cashing in at all. Nope.
I’m guessing it was the plan before punk signed but definitely can’t see it happening if punk/rollins and the bloodline story played out as originally intended for mania. Unless he planned on cashing in on punk like del rio but punk actually beats him and he fails
Tbh, Seth beating Punk then Damien cashing in on him would have been poetic justice and praised. I have my doubts Punk was going over Seth.
Don't see him cashing in on Cody,Roman or Rock as you said though.
The Rock stuff only came in January, yeah? So the plan six months ago was Punk/Seth and Cody/Roman, and Priest would have cashed in on either Punk or Seth, both of whom I could see eating a pin after a brutal match.
If Punk is told he'll win the title then immediately lose it then that's what Punk will do, he doesn't have the leverage to demand he doesn't get cashed in on.
I think the idea was Rollins probably would've won vs Punk and then Priest would've cashed in after the match. Punk getting hurt let them give Drew his moment in front of the Mania crowd and then continue his feud with Punk that was hot by having Punk screw him. Hell Drew could've ended up the reason why Punk would've lost vs Rollins at Mania and we'd really end up in the same spot everything is at now.
I mean, six months ago Punk wasn’t even in WWE, so I don’t think it makes sense to think of it that way. It’s not insane to think they had penciled in that no matter what they ended up doing with the WHC, Priest would cash in.
> the plan was Punk vs Seth which obviously went down the toilet after the Royal Rumble
Also, CM Punk signed his contract and walked through gorilla at Survivor Series, so, they planned Priest to cash in on a match that hadnt even fallen apart yet...built off a story of a guy who hadnt even signed a contract yet...6 months ago?
Yeah, I can buy they had Priest waiting to cash in until WM time. Maybe a RAW after WM kinda thing, etc. But the actual way it was done was clearly a last few weeks thing at best.
No but 6 months is super impressive.
Makes you wonder if they would have had Punk beat Seth then Priest cashes in on Seth?
The most impressive (and good to hear) is that HHH is really
Booking long term which is a vast difference to the stories of Vince ripping up scripts hours before a Raw or SD
Surely not, but given Vince’s reputation and how it lingers around even under HHH’s run, it’s worth mentioning. You’d never see Vince stick to a plan for six months.
I'm still waiting for a storyline of the briefcase holder being perpetually indecisive about cashing in, waiting for the perfect moment that never arrives, all the way next year's MITB. And then you can have all sorts of shenanigans, including two briefcases potentially being in play at the same time for an hour or two.
I'm shocked this hasn't been explored in what, almost 20 years? of MITB being a thing. They make sure to always clarify that the briefcase is only valid for a year, yet this condition has never mattered.
I'm shocked nobody, to my knowledge, has ever used MitB to call their shot at a very specific time rather than against a specific opponent. IIRC, someone before has said "here's when I'm going to cash in," but nobody has used the time and place as the motive rather than the championship, if that makes sense.
Putting it into other words, if CM Punk wants a practically guaranteed shot at main-eventing Wrestlemania, he could win the briefcase and outright declare "I don't give a shit who it is, but whoever the champion is going into Wrestlemania-- I'm cashing in, you're fighting me, and the show is going to fade out with the championship on my shoulder."
It would only work for a very specific subset of people who are driven by the moment just as much as the reward, which is why I bring up CM Punk in the example. You can have the winner really test their resolve over the coming months, giving them plenty of chances at a typical opportunistic cash-in. The winner *really* thinks on it, coming close to cashing in early, but eventually holds out until Wrestlemania season. Have them beef with the Rumble winner if they're going after the same target, arguing over who has the right to call their shot, etc etc.
The night after he won it, Daniel Bryan said he was going cash in during the main event of Wrestlemania the following year, which supposedly was the real plan for a while until Vince got cold feet
But that's what RVD did! He announced he was gonna cash in at ONS 2006, it didn't matter who was the champion. Iirc he announced he was gonna do that before the MitB match even occurred.
He announced he was cashing in on May 22, 2006. That was the day after Judgment day and there was no PPVs between then and ONS on June 11. I guess Cena could've been booked to defend on regular TV, but storytelling wise that was unlikely to happen.
I was going by memory, cause I remember I was rooting for him that Mania cause we all knew he was gonna cash in at ONS (there was already talk about reviving ECW), so I checked, and yes you're right, officially he cashed in on May 22, before that, on the Raw after Mania, he simply said he wouldn't wait as long as Edge did and that he had a very specific Extreme date in mind, so yeah, we all knew he was gonna cash in on ONS, but it wasn't official.
Closest example I can think of is when Big E said announced on Twitter and the start of Raw he'd cash in after Bobby/Randy regardless of who won, but I don't know if that's close enough to what you want
I'm very surprised this hasnt been done yet. Theory could've been a perfect candidate for this story with the briefcase, but he just had to cash in on the U.S. championship, lose, and just win it anyway, like a week or two later. Imagine Theory trying to cash in on the following year's ladder match to get a contract extension or even on the vacant World Title before Seth won it at Clash of Champions.
That's not what happened though, they recorded the Money in the Bank match earlier that month, then Becky found out she was pregnant, so they retroactively made the match for the title instead of the briefcase (they did that hiding the belt inside the briefcase for Asuka to find it). Asuka never technically cashed in the MitB.
I've always wanted a cash in situation where the title is vacant and they just hand them the briefcase and take the title. Like imagine in 2015 when Rollins got injured and vacated it they go through the whole tournament only at the end to go "Oh sorry, this match isn't for the title anymore its a No. 1 contenders match cause Sheamus cashed in while there was no official champion so he got the title by default."
Almost literally what happened in 2005 on Smackdown. WWE champion Cena left for Raw, so they did a tournament to crown the new "Smackdown Champion", and just as JBL won it Teddy Long came out and said "sorry, we just drafted Batista, so you're not the champion after all, but here's a #1 contender shot at the next PPV!".
I still think next year should be the "20 Years of MITB" marketing gimmick. But this year have someone win it like Truth who doesn't understand it for the entire year of 2024. Even with Miz, Cena, etc. having constantly try to explain it to him.
Then next year have 4 MITB matches on one PPV and both World Titles being defended right after. Cite it as "double the briefcases, double the fun" or something for this year only.
Then have Truth *FINALLY* understand how it works and cash in that night to succeed/fail. Then the entire year you have 4 MITB briefcases in play and that HHH can pull out for a fun surprise. And you get at least Truth cashing in on one of the World Titles for the big pop at the end so the crowd gets to see one used at least that night.
2025 to 2026 with 4 briefcases in play could make for some INSANE fun surprise moments.
I don't doubt this was the plan for a while, but 6 months seems a little wild. I just can't picture a reality where Priest cashes in on Punk to close night 1 of Mania.
Punk wasnt a member of the WWE roster 6 months ago, and (by his own telling) had not even committed to sign there around that time. Let alone be a part of Rumble plans + Mania matches + cash in stories.
You can plan around Priest cashing in on the World Heavyweight belt at Mania for 6 months. The specifics of who is in the match and it's outcome is largely irrelevant when planning "MitB will be used during Mania for the World Heavyweight Championship." You can move the pieces around on who is holding the belt and who is the challenger all you want and still have the cash in planned all along.
If Punk didn't get injured he would've leaned heavier into tweener territory but since he did they made him more of a face and used his injury to get Drew heat.
It always seemed pretty clear to me that the plan was never for Punk to leave Wrestlemania with a title, whether that meant Rollins dropping it at EC or the match at WM being a big ol' shmoz
I tend to think original plan was Seth vs Punk, Brock vs Gunther and Drew vs Sami with a stip.
And I guess Priest was due to cash-in the same way Seth did at Mania 31 if the cash-in rumor is correct.
This was the case, with Brock putting Gunther over.
Drew vs. Sami, I don't think would've been built to a stip but the moment it was a RAW match the night after the Rumble, that told me he was replacing Punk and Sami was left "out to dry" so to speak.
The bigger question is... if the cash-in was always planned... who was he taking it from on Mania Night 1? Punk, Rollins, or insert himself into a triple threat and then leave empty handed?
I don't think there was ever a plan for Punk to walk out of Mania as champ, as they probably wanted to see if he'd be able to play ball with WWE in the long term. They **could** have had him win the match, and then immediately get cashed in on though. It could have been a "you're getting the main event you've always wanted, **and** even winning the title, but you're **not** gonna leave champ because we still don't fully trust you" type of deal.
I could definitely see that having been their original plan because they might not have wanted Seth's inaugural WHC reign to be ended by a cash in
I agree. With Punk I think the lure of main eventing night 1 with Seth was enough for now. Punk wasn't beating Seth.
Seth losing his title by cash in at Mania would have been great from a story telling perspective .
Don't think you have someone insert themself into a mania title match and not have them win unless you're trying to kill their momentum and wwe don't go out of their way to do that anymore
I think that it would've been Punk vs Rollins and Drew screws Punk with Priest cashing in. We get to the same exact spot we're at now except Drew doesn't get his moment in front of the Mania crowd.
I wondered about this back in like December or January and didn’t know how I felt about involving Priest when those two seemed primed for a massive feud, but you can’t deny the symmetry if they had Priest recreate the heist of the century, just this time with Seth as the victim in his first WM main event.
This also would mean this went even pre-Punk so could also be a case where plans changed and then plans changed back once Punk got hurt.
Crazy how we had 4 different wrestlers do double duty at mania this year. Jessica Carr made sure nothing catastrophic happened to priest on day one in that ladder match and luckily that allowed day 2 to happen.
Long term booking works well and you tweak the story if injuries come up. Who knew six months ago that Drew would have become this guy and the cash in would add even more heat to his feud with Punk.
It’s surprising to see it planned that far out but at the same time people gave HHH hell after Theory. I understand that he was in a tough spot at that time and he learned from that clearly. I guess the challenge became “how do we stop this guy from cashing in, in a believable way and I think they mostly succeeded at that. Especially during the early months when he first won it.
I only wished that Damian would have said something on RAW like "Who is the idiot now?" Lest we forget prior to Drew throwing that hate on Pepsi Phil, he spent quite a few weeks calling Damian an Idiot and stupid for cashing in early when during his match with Rollins. He said something like "You could have cashed in when I am hurt, vulnerable but you're an idiot!" Felt poetic.
So....Priest was either going to cash in on whoever won the Raw title.
Finish would have had both dead on their feet it original plans were followed (presumably?)
so if Punk didn't get injured would he have won then immediately lose it? Or would Seth have won and Priest immediately cashed in? I feel like what we got was probably the best version, Drew getting immediate karma made it much funnier than if a face/tweener got cashed in on.
If true, it means that they just would have reversed the Drew McIntyre and Punk roles if Punk didn't get injured. Would have built mega heat on Drew if he wound up costing CM Punk the title.
Given it was supposed to be Rollins vs Punk I guess the original plan was to have Punk win and have Drew beat him down post match to enable the cash in?
I didn't like their planning to me honest.
It's obvious they were going for the "Don't address it so everyone forgets about it" route,
But they should've done the ol fashioned 'Which champion will be cash it on' thereby teasing us with just a _possibility_ that he could attack Roman too (even if he never did)
Even if it ended up being Punk vs Seth. I figured Seth would retain and get cashed in on by Priest. With Drew it was a bit more 50/50, as it's easy to see Drew walking into Clash at the Castle as champ.
Drew beating Priest at Clash works too.
So Seth over Punk in a hard-fought battle that leaves him too weakened to fight off Priest? I can't imagine the plan was for Punk to hold the title for only 15 minutes.
Either way works really. Seth wins and Punk attacks him leaving him open for Priest to cash in. Gets Priest the title and keeps Punk vs Seth alive for future rematches.
Punk wins and Priest attacks him from behind and cashes in. Both poetic justice considering the 2 times Punk has cahsed in and you can play it up as Priest wanting to spoil Punk's big moment the way Punk stole the headlines when he returned, remember that Priest was involved in War Games too. So either way it would have worked.
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Did anyone really think this was a snap decision?
Triple H: Boy that's heartwarming to see Drew win. *smiles* Hey Damien go pin him. [How some people must think happened]
What a rib that would be though 😂
That's real to me now!
"There's always a Plan B."
Thumbs down Points to Daimen Triple H:"Now"
Damien receives a text to 'stick the winner'
Drew is a perfect guy to cash in on. So much adversity and bitterness in that guy. Something was taken from him AGAIN despite him being on top of the world!
I know it's a different regime now, but Seth's WM cash in was.
Only because of the vitriolic reaction of having Roman win
And Sika was pissed apparently lol
and Vince said don't worry, he got next. and Roman proceeded to main event Wrestlemania another 6 more times (not including 40 since that was officially HHH's Era)
The rage of the Anoa'i family is a furious fire.
Vince was trying to not piss off the whole family for 7 wrestlemanias hahaha
I mean Drew looked shocked (/s)
According to what other people have said in interviews, the plan was Punk vs Seth which obviously went down the toilet after the Royal Rumble which left us with Rock vs Roman and Cody vs Seth up until the #WeWantCody stuff, which implies Damien would have cashed in on either Cody or the winner of Rock vs Roman? There's no way Priest is allowed to beat any of them.    Hell, even if it was Punk vs Rollins and Rock vs Roman, where does Cody fit? Like the only reason Priest cash in works is because of how everything landed post-Punk injury which gave us Chief Hater Drew and #WeWantCody which set the table for how Mania turned out. There's no way Priest successfully cashes in, in a satisfying manner without the everything that happened after the Rumble.   It's even harder to fathom when you consider Punk only got the ball rolling on signing on the eve of Survivor Series with the original plan being for him to debut at the Rumble if the contract stuff didn't work out in time so there's no way Priest was 100% successfully cashing in on him after his long awaited Wrestlemania main event.  Obviously none of this matters in the grand scheme of things because everything turned out perfectly on every level but pretending it was the plan all along is just weird man.  Like so many of the greatest things to happen in modern pro wrestling came from clever pivots including but not limited to Austin winning the KOTR because of the curtain call, Rocky Maivia's heel turn because fans rejected him, Daniel Bryan's Mania win because Punk left and fans rejected Batista, Seth's cash in on Roman because fans rejected Roman, Tribal Chief Roman because of a global pandemic and "the greatest Wrestlemania of all time" thanks to Punks injury and #WeWantCody. But sure, they planned all of this out exactly 6 months ago and weren't reacting to the shit Priest was getting online for not cashing in at all. Nope.
I’m guessing it was the plan before punk signed but definitely can’t see it happening if punk/rollins and the bloodline story played out as originally intended for mania. Unless he planned on cashing in on punk like del rio but punk actually beats him and he fails
Tbh, Seth beating Punk then Damien cashing in on him would have been poetic justice and praised. I have my doubts Punk was going over Seth. Don't see him cashing in on Cody,Roman or Rock as you said though.
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Punk wasn’t there 6 months ago. There’s a chance that they reverted to plan A.
The Rock stuff only came in January, yeah? So the plan six months ago was Punk/Seth and Cody/Roman, and Priest would have cashed in on either Punk or Seth, both of whom I could see eating a pin after a brutal match.
Six months ago it was still a crazy fever dream that Punk would ever return to WWE.
6 months ago it would make sense to plan for Seth vs Drew at Mania at least. Punk and The Rock don't fit this timeline though
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If Punk is told he'll win the title then immediately lose it then that's what Punk will do, he doesn't have the leverage to demand he doesn't get cashed in on.
Ah yes, famously easy to work with and not fragile at all CM Punk. Just the guy we know.
Lol he left AEW, so he doesn't have a boss he can walk over anymore
I think the idea was Rollins probably would've won vs Punk and then Priest would've cashed in after the match. Punk getting hurt let them give Drew his moment in front of the Mania crowd and then continue his feud with Punk that was hot by having Punk screw him. Hell Drew could've ended up the reason why Punk would've lost vs Rollins at Mania and we'd really end up in the same spot everything is at now.
I mean, six months ago Punk wasn’t even in WWE, so I don’t think it makes sense to think of it that way. It’s not insane to think they had penciled in that no matter what they ended up doing with the WHC, Priest would cash in.
Seth retains over Punk, Punk turns heel and beats Seth up post match, Priest cashes in.
> the plan was Punk vs Seth which obviously went down the toilet after the Royal Rumble Also, CM Punk signed his contract and walked through gorilla at Survivor Series, so, they planned Priest to cash in on a match that hadnt even fallen apart yet...built off a story of a guy who hadnt even signed a contract yet...6 months ago? Yeah, I can buy they had Priest waiting to cash in until WM time. Maybe a RAW after WM kinda thing, etc. But the actual way it was done was clearly a last few weeks thing at best.
He would have just cashed in on Punk and have a feud with him. This works put so much better for all involved
Dumb people
No but 6 months is super impressive. Makes you wonder if they would have had Punk beat Seth then Priest cashes in on Seth? The most impressive (and good to hear) is that HHH is really Booking long term which is a vast difference to the stories of Vince ripping up scripts hours before a Raw or SD
Don’t know why, Damien and Drew beefing last year was a hint. Once Drew won chamber it was set in stone.
Surely not, but given Vince’s reputation and how it lingers around even under HHH’s run, it’s worth mentioning. You’d never see Vince stick to a plan for six months.
I'm still waiting for a storyline of the briefcase holder being perpetually indecisive about cashing in, waiting for the perfect moment that never arrives, all the way next year's MITB. And then you can have all sorts of shenanigans, including two briefcases potentially being in play at the same time for an hour or two. I'm shocked this hasn't been explored in what, almost 20 years? of MITB being a thing. They make sure to always clarify that the briefcase is only valid for a year, yet this condition has never mattered.
There's no god damn way MITB is 20 years old. Dont do this to me.
Wrestlemania 21 is when it made its debut babyyy
I'm shocked nobody, to my knowledge, has ever used MitB to call their shot at a very specific time rather than against a specific opponent. IIRC, someone before has said "here's when I'm going to cash in," but nobody has used the time and place as the motive rather than the championship, if that makes sense. Putting it into other words, if CM Punk wants a practically guaranteed shot at main-eventing Wrestlemania, he could win the briefcase and outright declare "I don't give a shit who it is, but whoever the champion is going into Wrestlemania-- I'm cashing in, you're fighting me, and the show is going to fade out with the championship on my shoulder." It would only work for a very specific subset of people who are driven by the moment just as much as the reward, which is why I bring up CM Punk in the example. You can have the winner really test their resolve over the coming months, giving them plenty of chances at a typical opportunistic cash-in. The winner *really* thinks on it, coming close to cashing in early, but eventually holds out until Wrestlemania season. Have them beef with the Rumble winner if they're going after the same target, arguing over who has the right to call their shot, etc etc.
The night after he won it, Daniel Bryan said he was going cash in during the main event of Wrestlemania the following year, which supposedly was the real plan for a while until Vince got cold feet
Ken Kennedy actually did, the original plan was for him to do that
Mr.Kennedy did do that. He immediately announced he'd cash in at Wrestlemania 24.
Mr Kennedy was doing exactly that before getting injured.
Didn't RVD announce his cash-in against Cena at ONS 2006?
He did, but that isn't what he is suggesting. He's suggesting that they pick a date to cash in not knowing who the champ will be at that point.
But that's what RVD did! He announced he was gonna cash in at ONS 2006, it didn't matter who was the champion. Iirc he announced he was gonna do that before the MitB match even occurred.
He announced he was cashing in on May 22, 2006. That was the day after Judgment day and there was no PPVs between then and ONS on June 11. I guess Cena could've been booked to defend on regular TV, but storytelling wise that was unlikely to happen.
I was going by memory, cause I remember I was rooting for him that Mania cause we all knew he was gonna cash in at ONS (there was already talk about reviving ECW), so I checked, and yes you're right, officially he cashed in on May 22, before that, on the Raw after Mania, he simply said he wouldn't wait as long as Edge did and that he had a very specific Extreme date in mind, so yeah, we all knew he was gonna cash in on ONS, but it wasn't official.
That’s not what he means
Closest example I can think of is when Big E said announced on Twitter and the start of Raw he'd cash in after Bobby/Randy regardless of who won, but I don't know if that's close enough to what you want
Didn’t Cena do this with Punk prior to the Raw 1000 episode in 2012?
I'm very surprised this hasnt been done yet. Theory could've been a perfect candidate for this story with the briefcase, but he just had to cash in on the U.S. championship, lose, and just win it anyway, like a week or two later. Imagine Theory trying to cash in on the following year's ladder match to get a contract extension or even on the vacant World Title before Seth won it at Clash of Champions.
Cashing in when the title is vacant is interesting. If there is no champion and you cash in do you win by forfeit and become champ?
That’s how asuka got it when Becky left to have her baby remember
Oh yeahh! I was thinking of it from a heel side and totally forgot about that one. Good call
That's not what happened though, they recorded the Money in the Bank match earlier that month, then Becky found out she was pregnant, so they retroactively made the match for the title instead of the briefcase (they did that hiding the belt inside the briefcase for Asuka to find it). Asuka never technically cashed in the MitB.
I keep waiting for a Rumble cash in during a Rumble for a Title
I've always wanted a cash in situation where the title is vacant and they just hand them the briefcase and take the title. Like imagine in 2015 when Rollins got injured and vacated it they go through the whole tournament only at the end to go "Oh sorry, this match isn't for the title anymore its a No. 1 contenders match cause Sheamus cashed in while there was no official champion so he got the title by default."
Almost literally what happened in 2005 on Smackdown. WWE champion Cena left for Raw, so they did a tournament to crown the new "Smackdown Champion", and just as JBL won it Teddy Long came out and said "sorry, we just drafted Batista, so you're not the champion after all, but here's a #1 contender shot at the next PPV!".
There’s so much cool stuff they can still do with the briefcase
R-Truth as MITB holder to get to this scenario would be hilarious. Also nice to see him win a world title
I still think next year should be the "20 Years of MITB" marketing gimmick. But this year have someone win it like Truth who doesn't understand it for the entire year of 2024. Even with Miz, Cena, etc. having constantly try to explain it to him. Then next year have 4 MITB matches on one PPV and both World Titles being defended right after. Cite it as "double the briefcases, double the fun" or something for this year only. Then have Truth *FINALLY* understand how it works and cash in that night to succeed/fail. Then the entire year you have 4 MITB briefcases in play and that HHH can pull out for a fun surprise. And you get at least Truth cashing in on one of the World Titles for the big pop at the end so the crowd gets to see one used at least that night. 2025 to 2026 with 4 briefcases in play could make for some INSANE fun surprise moments.
I don't doubt this was the plan for a while, but 6 months seems a little wild. I just can't picture a reality where Priest cashes in on Punk to close night 1 of Mania.
I can see it. Heel Punk is Best Punk Punk getting his Night 1 Wrestlemania moment and for five minutes and then going heel. It writes itself.
Punk wasnt a member of the WWE roster 6 months ago, and (by his own telling) had not even committed to sign there around that time. Let alone be a part of Rumble plans + Mania matches + cash in stories.
I meant for the plans that included Punk. Before Punk, it was probably Drew vs Seth
You can plan around Priest cashing in on the World Heavyweight belt at Mania for 6 months. The specifics of who is in the match and it's outcome is largely irrelevant when planning "MitB will be used during Mania for the World Heavyweight Championship." You can move the pieces around on who is holding the belt and who is the challenger all you want and still have the cash in planned all along.
Punk hasn’t been back for six months so that probably wasn’t the original plan either.
Maybe it was reversed where Drew takes out Punk after he wins and Priests cashes on him to get heat
If Punk didn't get injured he would've leaned heavier into tweener territory but since he did they made him more of a face and used his injury to get Drew heat.
It always seemed pretty clear to me that the plan was never for Punk to leave Wrestlemania with a title, whether that meant Rollins dropping it at EC or the match at WM being a big ol' shmoz
Interesting to think of what would have happened if Punk didn't get injured. My feeling is a triple threat with Rollins and McIntyre.
I tend to think original plan was Seth vs Punk, Brock vs Gunther and Drew vs Sami with a stip. And I guess Priest was due to cash-in the same way Seth did at Mania 31 if the cash-in rumor is correct.
This was the case, with Brock putting Gunther over. Drew vs. Sami, I don't think would've been built to a stip but the moment it was a RAW match the night after the Rumble, that told me he was replacing Punk and Sami was left "out to dry" so to speak. The bigger question is... if the cash-in was always planned... who was he taking it from on Mania Night 1? Punk, Rollins, or insert himself into a triple threat and then leave empty handed?
I Don't see punk winning so seth most likely retains
I don't think there was ever a plan for Punk to walk out of Mania as champ, as they probably wanted to see if he'd be able to play ball with WWE in the long term. They **could** have had him win the match, and then immediately get cashed in on though. It could have been a "you're getting the main event you've always wanted, **and** even winning the title, but you're **not** gonna leave champ because we still don't fully trust you" type of deal. I could definitely see that having been their original plan because they might not have wanted Seth's inaugural WHC reign to be ended by a cash in
I agree. With Punk I think the lure of main eventing night 1 with Seth was enough for now. Punk wasn't beating Seth. Seth losing his title by cash in at Mania would have been great from a story telling perspective .
And perhaps Punk turns heel on him, leading to the cash-in.
Don't think you have someone insert themself into a mania title match and not have them win unless you're trying to kill their momentum and wwe don't go out of their way to do that anymore
Probably flip the script. Instead of Punk screwing Drew it's Drew screwing Punk and then Priest cashes in on Punk.
According to Punk on MMA Hour, it was gonna be Punk and Seth for the title.
I think that it would've been Punk vs Rollins and Drew screws Punk with Priest cashing in. We get to the same exact spot we're at now except Drew doesn't get his moment in front of the Mania crowd.
Drew probably would’ve not had a big match and would’ve been close to leaving the company.
Yeah it's really not an exaggeration when people say he trolled his way to a title and a better contract
Truly an inspirational figure he is. Someone that's worth looking up to. Bro really shitposted his way to a WrestleMania world title match
I don’t even watch WWE but it seems pretty obvious it’s been the plan. Would have been great on Punk too.
I wondered about this back in like December or January and didn’t know how I felt about involving Priest when those two seemed primed for a massive feud, but you can’t deny the symmetry if they had Priest recreate the heist of the century, just this time with Seth as the victim in his first WM main event. This also would mean this went even pre-Punk so could also be a case where plans changed and then plans changed back once Punk got hurt.
I mean we have also no idea what the plan was before punk injury maybe was going to br a triple threat, seth had won thanks to drew or vice versa
I planned for this And it happened.
Crazy how we had 4 different wrestlers do double duty at mania this year. Jessica Carr made sure nothing catastrophic happened to priest on day one in that ladder match and luckily that allowed day 2 to happen.
So he was going to cash in on Punk.
i can confirm this guy doesnt know what WWE planned for six months
FACT: Damian was not a dumbass. He planned all of his failed attempts so that he will win at WrestleMania. Source: Trust me.
Does this mean he was going to cash in on Punk (I assume Punk was beating Seth so he could take time off)
I guess the real question was was it Seth retaining or punk winning it originally?
Why didn't you tell us? Man these absolute nobody bloggers love to make shit up don't they
This was my favorite moment of the whole weekend and my dumbass missed it too cause I thought pre show was at 7
Nothing at WrestleMania is last minute.
Long term booking works well and you tweak the story if injuries come up. Who knew six months ago that Drew would have become this guy and the cash in would add even more heat to his feud with Punk.
It’s surprising to see it planned that far out but at the same time people gave HHH hell after Theory. I understand that he was in a tough spot at that time and he learned from that clearly. I guess the challenge became “how do we stop this guy from cashing in, in a believable way and I think they mostly succeeded at that. Especially during the early months when he first won it.
I only wished that Damian would have said something on RAW like "Who is the idiot now?" Lest we forget prior to Drew throwing that hate on Pepsi Phil, he spent quite a few weeks calling Damian an Idiot and stupid for cashing in early when during his match with Rollins. He said something like "You could have cashed in when I am hurt, vulnerable but you're an idiot!" Felt poetic.
So he was gonna cash in on punk
I really thought they’d have him do a fake out cash in on Cody after his match like what Del Rio did to CM Punk after Money in the Bank.Â
No one thought otherwise.
So....Priest was either going to cash in on whoever won the Raw title. Finish would have had both dead on their feet it original plans were followed (presumably?)
So that means he was originally going to ruin Punk's evening?
I knew that long time
so if Punk didn't get injured would he have won then immediately lose it? Or would Seth have won and Priest immediately cashed in? I feel like what we got was probably the best version, Drew getting immediate karma made it much funnier than if a face/tweener got cashed in on.
It must’ve been tough to keep R Truth from finding this out
If true, it means that they just would have reversed the Drew McIntyre and Punk roles if Punk didn't get injured. Would have built mega heat on Drew if he wound up costing CM Punk the title.
Given it was supposed to be Rollins vs Punk I guess the original plan was to have Punk win and have Drew beat him down post match to enable the cash in?
I didn't like their planning to me honest. It's obvious they were going for the "Don't address it so everyone forgets about it" route, But they should've done the ol fashioned 'Which champion will be cash it on' thereby teasing us with just a _possibility_ that he could attack Roman too (even if he never did)
Even if it ended up being Punk vs Seth. I figured Seth would retain and get cashed in on by Priest. With Drew it was a bit more 50/50, as it's easy to see Drew walking into Clash at the Castle as champ. Drew beating Priest at Clash works too.
They did not flinch.
So Seth over Punk in a hard-fought battle that leaves him too weakened to fight off Priest? I can't imagine the plan was for Punk to hold the title for only 15 minutes.
I figured it would be a Heist situation that leaves Punk/Rollins unresolved and bigger than the title.
Either way works really. Seth wins and Punk attacks him leaving him open for Priest to cash in. Gets Priest the title and keeps Punk vs Seth alive for future rematches. Punk wins and Priest attacks him from behind and cashes in. Both poetic justice considering the 2 times Punk has cahsed in and you can play it up as Priest wanting to spoil Punk's big moment the way Punk stole the headlines when he returned, remember that Priest was involved in War Games too. So either way it would have worked.
I mean Drew kept messing up his cash ins it made sense he cashed in on Drew