The 2020 Money in the Bank was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 11th annual Money in the Bank event and it aired on May 10, 2020. While the majority of the event aired live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, the dual main event was pre-recorded on April 15 at WWE's global headquarters at the time, Titan Towers in Stamford, Connecticut. The event centered on the Money in the Bank ladder match, a multi-person ladder match where the wrestlers compete to retrieve a briefcase hanging above the ring which contains a contract for a guaranteed world championship match at any time within the next year.

The event was originally scheduled to take place at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, but the venue cancelled all shows that were to be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, WWE took advantage of the situation and moved the two titular ladder matches to Titan Towers with a new "Corporate Ladder" gimmick where the match's titular briefcases were suspended above a ring on the building's roof, and they were produced as cinematic matches. The men's and women's matches occurred simultaneously where the wrestlers began on the ground floor and fought their way to the roof. This would also be the final Money in the Bank to livestream on the American version of the WWE Network, which merged under Peacock in April 2021.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, SmackDown's Otis and Raw's Asuka won the respective men's and women's Money in the Bank ladder matches, which were contested simultaneously, but with the women's ending first. On the following night's episode of Raw, it was revealed that the women's match was actually for the Raw Women's Championship, which was placed inside the briefcase, due to reigning champion Becky Lynch going on maternity leave, thus Asuka became the new champion, marking the first and only time a Money in the Bank ladder match directly awarded a championship instead of a championship match contract. This in turn made Asuka WWE's second Women's Grand Slam Champion and third Women's Triple Crown Champion. In the penultimate match, Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins to retain Raw's WWE Championship. In other prominent matches, Braun Strowman defeated Bray Wyatt to retain SmackDown's Universal Championship and Bayley defeated Tamina to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship.

Production

Background Money in the Bank is an annual professional wrestling event produced by WWE since 2010, generally held between May and July. It was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simultaneously livestreaming on the WWE Network in 2014. The concept of the event comes from WWE's established Money in the Bank ladder match, in which multiple wrestlers use ladders to retrieve a briefcase hanging above the ring. The briefcase contains a contract that guarantees the winner a match for a world championship of their choosing at any time within the next year.

Announced on March 2, 2020, the 11th Money in the Bank event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions; male wrestlers competed for a contract to grant them a match for either Raw's WWE Championship or SmackDown's Universal Championship, while female wrestlers competed for a Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship match contract—though the day after the event, it was revealed that the women's match was actually for the Raw Women's Championship instead of a title match contract due to the unexpected circumstances that forced the then-Raw Women's Champion to go on hiatus.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic As with WWE's other programming since March 13, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated changes to the PPV and livestreaming event; on March 2, 2020, Money in the Bank was originally announced to be held on May 10, 2020, at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, with tickets going on sale on March 13 through Ticketmaster. However, on March 30, one week before WrestleMania 36, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan issued a stay at home order. An advertisement promoting Money in the Bank for May 10 aired during WrestleMania 36 Part 2 on April 5, but with no reference to a city or venue. Subsequently, Royal Farms Arena cancelled all events due to the pandemic and began issuing refunds.

WWE initially did not announce whether the event would still go on from a different location (such as the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida where most WWE shows for Raw and SmackDown had been held since March 13), but on the April 17 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that the two Money in the Bank ladder matches would take place at WWE's global headquarters at the time, Titan Towers in Stamford, Connecticut. A new "Corporate Ladder" gimmick was also added to the matches, in which the participants had to travel from the ground floor of the building to the roof in order to locate the briefcases, which were suspended above a ring on the roof. It was also announced that the men's and women's matches would take place at the same time. With the changes in format, the number of participants in each match was also reduced to six; since the 2018 event, both the men's and women's ladder matches featured eight wrestlers that were evenly divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands. While the ladder matches were pre-recorded on April 15 as cinematic matches, it was confirmed on the day of the event that all of the other matches would take place live from the WWE Performance Center with no fans in attendance.

Storylines The event comprised eight matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, which resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

At Super ShowDown, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt lost the Universal Championship to Goldberg, who in turn lost the title to Braun Strowman during WrestleMania 36 Part 1. On the following episode of SmackDown, Wyatt interrupted Strowman after his match and reminded Strowman that it was he who brought him to WWE with his old Wyatt Family stable. He then stated he wanted his title back and Strowman accepted the challenge, which was scheduled for Money in the Bank, though against Wyatt's normal self instead of The Fiend.

Qualifying matches for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match began on the April 13 episode of Raw. Asuka, Shayna Baszler, and the returning Nia Jax qualified for the match by defeating Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Kairi Sane, respectively. Dana Brooke then qualified by defeating Naomi on the April 17 episode of SmackDown. On the following week's SmackDown, Lacey Evans defeated Sasha Banks to qualify for the match. Carmella won the final spot by defeating Mandy Rose on the May 1 episode of SmackDown.

Qualifying matches for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match began on the April 17 episode of SmackDown where Daniel Bryan defeated Cesaro to qualify. On the following Raw, Aleister Black, Apollo Crews, and Rey Mysterio qualified for the match by defeating Austin Theory, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), and Murphy, respectively. King Corbin then qualified by defeating Drew Gulak on the April 24 episode of SmackDown. On the April 27 episode of Raw, Crews injured his left knee during his United States Championship match against Andrade, pulling him from the ladder match. Otis was the next to qualify by defeating Dolph Ziggler on the May 1 episode of SmackDown. On the May 4 episode of Raw, AJ Styles—in his first appearance since being buried alive by The Undertaker at WrestleMania—won a Last Chance gauntlet match to take the final spot vacated by Crews.

During WrestleMania 36 Part 2, Tamina was eliminated first in the fatal five-way elimination match for the SmackDown Women's Championship due to all of the other competitors piling on top of her for the pin; Bayley subsequently retained the title. On the following SmackDown, Tamina pointed out the fact that Bayley nor any other competitor in that match actually beat her and challenged Bayley to a singles match for the championship. Bayley agreed if Tamina could defeat her friend Sasha Banks, which she did the following week to earn the title match at Money in the Bank.

During WrestleMania 36 Part 1, Seth Rollins lost to Kevin Owens, while in the main event of Part 2, Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship. On the April 13 episode of Raw, Rollins stated that by losing to Owens, he had been crucified and now had truly risen (buying into his "Monday Night Messiah" gimmick). He later attacked McIntyre following the latter's match and performed two Stomps on him. The following week, McIntyre challenged Rollins to a match at Money in the Bank with his title on the line, stating that as champion, he needed to face the best. Rollins responded, noting their similarities, such as both being former NXT Champions, as well as both defeating Lesnar to win a world championship at WrestleMania (which Rollins did twice, first at WrestleMania 31 for the WWE Championship—at that time called the WWE World Heavyweight Championship—and again at WrestleMania 35 for the Universal Championship). Rollins then accepted McIntyre's challenge.

On the April 17 episode of SmackDown, The New Day's Big E defeated Jey Uso (representing The Usos) and defending co-champion The Miz (representing himself and John Morrison) in a triple threat match to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship for The New Day. The following week, Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik) came out to challenge New Day but were interrupted by Miz and John Morrison, who also challenged The New Day. The Forgotten Sons (Steve Cutler, Jaxson Ryker, and Wesley Blake) then made their SmackDown debut, stating they would be taking over the brand's tag team division before attacking New Day. The following week, The Forgotten Sons (Cutler and Blake) defeated The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) in a non-title match where Miz and Morrison were on commentary. The New Day were then scheduled to defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Forgotten Sons, Miz and Morrison, and Lucha House Party in a fatal four-way tag team match at Money in the Bank.

Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael Cole Corey Graves Tom Phillips Samoa Joe Byron Saxton Spanish commentatorMarcelo RodríguezRing announcersGreg Hamilton Mike Rome RefereesDanilo AnfibioShawn BennettJessika CarrJohn ConeDan EnglerDarrick MooreChad PattonRod ZapataInterviewersCharly CarusoKayla BraxtonAlyse AshtonPre-show panelScott StanfordPeter RosenbergPre-show correspondentsRenee YoungBooker TJohn "Bradshaw" Layfield

Pre-show During the Money in the Bank Kickoff pre-show, Jeff Hardy faced Cesaro. In the end, Hardy performed a Swanton Bomb on Cesaro to win the match.

Preliminary matches The actual pay-per-view opened with The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) defending the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Miz and John Morrison, Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik), and The Forgotten Sons (Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake) (accompanied by Jaxson Ryker). During the match, Ryker was ejected from ringside for interference. In the climax, Big E performed the Big Ending on Metalik to retain the titles.

Next, R-Truth was scheduled to face MVP. Truth began to insult MVP, who was offended. Bobby Lashley then interrupted and decided that he would be the one to face Truth and MVP agreed. In the end, Lashley performed a Spear on Truth to win the match.