Published: 2 hours ago by Jamie Toolan | Last Updated: 8 hours ago by Jamie Toolan
Jamie has been covering the world of wrestling for four years and currently holds the position of Assistant Editor of WrestleTalk.com. During his time working for WrestleTalk.com he has written and published over 4,000 news and feature articles covering events and happenings from WWE, AEW, TNA and a variety of international and independent wrestling promotions.
WWE
The September 28 episode of WWE Raw saw two brand new additions to the Money in the Bank event on October 10.
Stephanie Vaquer will defend her WWE Women’s World Championship against the winner of next week’s number once contender’s match between Liv Morgan and Becky Lynch and Oba Femi will take on The Vision’s Bronson Reed one-on-one for the very first time.
While there are SmackDown stars featured in the two Money in the Bank ladder matches, the blue brand is massively underrepresented overall on the PLE’s card, and that is something WWE should aim to correct before they get to New Orleans.
Here are three potential final matches on the SmackDown side for Money in the Bank 2026:
WWE Women’s Championship – Chelsea Green (c) vs. Nikki Bella
It wasn’t long after knocking off Nia Jax on the September 11 WWE SmackDown that Chelsea Green was greeted with another veteran out to dethrone her for the WWE Women’s Championship: Nikki Bella.
Rather than pose any real threat of dethroning the champion, the WWE Hall of Famer is a top name that can further boost Green’s credibility as champion before moving onto other top contenders on SmackDown.
Having Green wrestle on the Money in the Bank card would also provide whoever wins Money in the Bank an opportunity to potentially cash-in their prize; making this addition to the card a winner on several different levels.
WWE Tag Team Championships – MFT (Tama & Talla Tonga) (c) vs. Bakusai (Shinsuke Nakamura & Kyoki)
The WWE tag team division across all brands is about as bad as it’s ever been, but at the very least SmackDown has champions that have actually defended their titles, unlike Bron Breakker and Austin Theory of The Vision.
It may not be the most heated feud in the company but MFT vs. Bakusai has had enough build that it could warrant a place on the Money in the Bank card.
If the WWE tag team division is to be rebuilt, it needs to be featured on PLE cards on a consistent basis; something that has barely happened at all in recent years. Now is the time to start, so WWE should be looking at adding MFT vs. Bakusai to Money in the Bank.
Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton
The biggest new addition to the Money in the Bank card from SmackDown would be Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton wrapping up their 2026 trilogy of matches.
It may be a bit too big to add to the card at this stage, as it arguably doesn’t need it. But in terms of intrigue, this third instalment certainly has a lot more than their last meeting and wouldn’t get lost among the other matches.
The question of whether Cody will finally give in to his darker side and punt kick Randy Orton is one that most fans are invested in, as it truly feels like WWE can’t back out on this character direction for “The American Nightmare” now that they’ve teased it so heavily.
Rhodes kicking Orton’s “f**king head in” as he told Michael Cole he would do, is something that could potentially define Money in the Bank as an event, and for that, it should be considered for the final card.
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