Chris Jericho Reveals Vince McMahon's Demand When Pitching MITB Idea, Baron Corbin On His MITB Win
Mr. Money In The Bank 2017 Baron Corbin recently appeared on Talk Is Jericho, where he discussed many topics with one of the all-time greats, Chris Jericho. During the conversation, Jericho recalled coming up with the Money In The Bank concept, and Corbin talked about winning the briefcase this year.
According to Jericho, he and former WWE creative boss Brian Gewirtz came up with the idea for the Money In The Bank ladder match. As the story goes, many top stars were directionless around WrestleMania 21 and 'the office' wanted to put them all in a ladder match. The problem became WWE did not have a prize for the participants to fight over, not even a child's custody. Fortunately, 'The Inventor Of Everything' had the fix.
"it was for WrestleMania and there were a bunch of guys with nothing to do, and some pretty big names, Kane, Edge, Christian, [Chris] Benoit, like, Shelton Benjamin, who was getting a push at the time. And they didn't know what to do with us, so they were trying to come up with a bunch of ideas. Then they said, 'well, maybe a multi [person] ladder match' and Brian said, 'well, there's really nothing to go for.' And I said, 'well, what if we went for a piece of paper, like a contract, where you would get a title match the next night?'"
Notably, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was adamant that the Money In The Bank contract for a world title match be contained in a briefcase.
"[Gewirtz] went and talked to Vince about it and he came back and he said, 'well, Vince loves it, but it's going to be a title match for a year that you can cash it in.' And Vince's only demand was it had to be in a briefcase."
On the subject of Money In The Bank, Corbin said winning the blue briefcase was "amazing accomplishment" in his career was a sports entertainer. 'The Lone Wolf' indicated that he has started to use the briefcase as a carryon item.
"Now, it's my second carryon. It's replacing my carryon, so I actually have to use it to carry my iPad, or my headphones, or whatever I have in my little bag I take on the planes is now going to be in my briefcase." Corbin added, "they just said it goes everywhere with you and I'd be afraid to put it in my checked baggage if it'd come up missing, so it doesn't fit in any of the carryons I carry on, so now it is the carryon for me!"
Corbin professed that reaching up for the briefcase in the match was "terrifying" as the ladder was "very wobbly".
"It was really cool. It was a fun process with a lot of guys with a lot of skill in that match and I've never been part of a ladder match before. I really never climbed a ladder in a wrestling ring before. That alone is scary enough! I mean, you start going up, it starts wobbling and there [are] people moving, and you're 10 feet in the air. And then, when you're up there to take the briefcase off, you're 12, 14 feet in the air and you have no hands on the ladder. You just went 40 minutes in a grueling war of trying to be the best and you're up there, you're legs are shaking, you have no hands on [the ladder]. It's terrifying! I mean, it's flat-out terrifying to be reaching for that thing. And then, you're thinking, 'don't be that guy that takes five minutes to get up there and get it off the hook,' 'don't fall off,' 'it's a big moment – don't screw it up,' all of those things are going through your head and it's a sigh of relief when it finally comes off the hook. That's for sure."
Corbin continued, "[the ladder is very wobbly because the ring has little give] and a few people have probably landed on it or used it hit a few people with. Like, it's not in perfect condition either, so you're worrying as you're going up, 'I hope nothing breaks, the leg doesn't fall off,' whatever it is."
In Corbin's view, the WWE Universe is more interested in drama than moves. As such, the 2016 André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Winner was glad to make people angry by attacking Shinsuke Nakamura during his crowd-pleasing entrance.
"One of the coolest parts for me, aside from pulling down the briefcase, was? everybody's excited to see Nakamura's entrance and when I beat him up in the middle of the strobe lights and sent him to the back injured, the emotion that people let out, of hatred towards me, was amazing. Those moments you don't get back. It wasn't about doing a triple-indie onto something. It was about making people angry. I took away something they really wanted to see and that's what it's about."
Receive The Gift Of Jericho here. if you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Talk Is Jericho