The storylines of John Cena's personal life are currently being called into question by former coworker Kenneth Doane (Kenny Dykstra) but the storyline of his professional career should receive some clarity tonight on Raw.
Cena has been kept separate from the WWE Title Picture since losing the championship last fall. But after continuing to main event WWE PPVs, including Wrestlemania 28, Cena has been advertised to return to the hunt for gold at the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV.
Last year's MITB featured two separate ladder matches (one for each brand). This year, with the brand distinctions being almost entirely moot, the company is labeling the only confirmed match as the WWE Championship MITB. A World Title MITB is expected.
Big Show is being advertised for the WWE Title encounter and that will likely mean that Cena will follow suit as their feud does not appear to be quite over as of this writing.
Cena has yet to compete in the unique style of ladder match which was initially used at Wrestlemania as an innovative way to both involve a higher number of mid card stars in the PPV while helping to push the winner to the next level.
Cena, who had already risen to perennial main event status by the time the first MITB match took place in 2005, was never utilized for the event.
Reportedly, WWE is planning on booking first time winners to come out on top of the eight-man matches. Obviously, a victory would be Cena's first.
A victory would give Cena the right to challenge for the WWE Title at any time throughout the coming 365 days.
Cena was the victim of the first MITB match, when Edge cashed in his title shot after Cena had squeaked out a victory in a brutal title defense just moments earlier.
He was also the victim of the second MITB match the following summer when Rob Van Dam took home the right to challenge for a title. Van Dam was booked to win in order to hype the upcoming rebooting of ECW and would defeat Cena at One Night Stand. Van Dam had claimed via the storylines that he planned to convert the WWE Title to the new ECW Title. After walking away victorious, he instead became both the WWE Champion and the ECW Champion and carried both belts.
Due to an arrest for possession of marijuana, Van Dam was soon suspended and dropped both titles separately in back-to-back nights.
A favorite to win the second MITB match is Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler's much anticipated push seems to be in full force after he received an unexpected title shot against Sheamus at No Way Out. WWE reportedly plans to keep the World Title on Sheamus a bit longer, so a Ziggler victory could mean that he carries the briefcase for a few months. It may also be hard to maintain Ziggler a heel, despite the company's desperate need for more. Ziggler is quite over and they may wait for him to take down a heel champion like Alberto Del Rio, Chris Jericho, or Big Show.
Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy in WWE and now Mr. Anderson in TNA) is the only MITB winner to not eventually turn the victory into championship gold. Anderson, who would eventually see two major pushes (including this one) fall short thanks to injury and suspension, lost the right to a title match to Edge on an episode of Smackdown in 2007. Edge would then quickly win Undertaker's World Heavyweight Title so that "The Dead Man" could recuperate from nagging injuries. Because of the strict brand distinction at the time, the title win led to Edge leaving Raw and becoming a fixture on Smackdown in Undertaker's stead.
