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Seth Rollins currently holds the longest reign as Champ thanks to his MITB win, but here are 5 wrestlers who suffered very different fates...

A lot of folks have been talking about Seth Rollins’ most recent record-breaking accomplishment, which has less to do with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt around his waist and more to do with the way in which he won it.

As some of you may remember, Rollins beat Brock Lesnar (who was actually in the middle of a main event match against Roman Reigns at the time) to win the belt this past March at WrestleMania 31.

Rollins was able to pull off that win because he cashed in his Money in the Bank (MITB) briefcase after winning it the previous June at the, duh, Money in the Bank PPV event.

For those of you who have no idea what the fuck I’m talking about, I’ll try and break it down for you in the simplest of terms.

Once a year, the WWE holds a MITB ladder match. A metal briefcase is hung high above the ring, and the first person to climb a ladder and bring the briefcase down is the winner of—again, duh—the briefcase. At any time during the next year, this person can trade in said briefcase for a Championship match against the current belt holder.

Man, even at its most simple that’s still pretty convoluted, huh?

Anyway, the winner of the briefcase almost always goes on to win the belt. In fact, since its debut in 2006, only two of the fifteen MITB winners have failed to turn that victory into a Championship. You got robbed, Sandow!

Recently, Rollins became the longest reigning Champion—today marks 186 days as Champ—to get there thanks to his MITB win. The previous record holder was The Miz who held the title for 160 days, and the third spot belongs to Kane who held the belt for 154 days.

But honestly, who cares about the top three? Instead, let’s take a look at the bottom five. Here are five MITB winners who went on to win the belt... only to lose it soon after.

CM Punk, 2009: 49 Days

CM Punk won the briefcase twice while in the WWE. In 2008, Punk cashed in his first case to defeat Edge—who had just been attacked by Batista—to win the belt on an episode of Raw. He’d hold the belt for just 69 days, but Punk’s reign in 2009 would be even shorter lived. At Extreme Rules that June, Jeff Hardy defeated Edge in a ladder match to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Hardy would hold onto the belt for one minute and one second, because that’s exactly how long Hardy’s next match lasted after Punk cashed in his case. But Hardy got his revenge just seven weeks later when he won the belt back at Night of Champions.

Alberto Del Rio, 2011: 35 Days

Alberto Del Rio became Champ twice in 2011. After winning the MITB match against a handful of formidable opponents—The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger, R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, and Alex Riley—Del Rio held onto the briefcase for just four weeks before cashing it in and defeating CM Punk (who, of course, had literally just won the belt against John Cena minutes earlier). Del Rio would hold onto the belt for just one week longer than it took him to cash in the case before finally being defeated by Cena at Night of Champions. Two weeks later at Hell in a Cell, Del Rio won the belt back from Cena for his second Championship of 2011. Man, that belt is like herpes! Once one person gets it, everyone gets it!

Randy Orton, 2013: 28 Days

Fan favorite Daniel Bryan won his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Cena at SummerSlam in 2013. And then Triple H—who had been a guest referee—kicked the ever-living shit out of him, which caused Orton to cash in his case and defeat Bryan for the win in a “match” that lasted eight whole seconds. To be read: Fans instantly hated Triple H, Orton, Cena, and pretty much the entire company overnight. Orton would go on to be defeated by Bryan just four weeks later at Night of Champions. And then, literally one day later, the title was vacated after the match’s controversial finish was contested. And then Orton won it back. And then Bryan won it back. And then it was vacated again because.... FUCK! Why do I watch wrestling again?!? It’s like a soap opera with more nudity!

Rob Van Dam, 2006: 22 Days

ROB! VAN! DAM! (high-five to anyone who gets that) held onto his case for 70 days after winning it at WrestleMania 22. In June, he cashed it in at the ECW One Night Stand PPV to fight/defeat Cena in an Extreme Rules match. Twenty-two days later, he’d lose his first—and only—WWE Championship to Edge on an episode of Raw. But while it’s sad that a dedicated lifer like Van Dam would only be allowed to hold a WWE title for such a short amount of time, a cool outcome of his win was that, for those 22 days, the title officially became the property of the ECW brand.

Edge, 2006: 21 Days

On one end, you’ve got Seth Rollins with his longest reign. Here on the opposite end, you’ve got Edge with his shortest. But here’s the irony: In April 2005, at WrestleMania 21, Edge became the first-ever person to win a briefcase in a MITB ladder match. He would hold onto that case for longer than any other person: 280 days. In January 2006, he’d cash in his case at New Year’s Revolution and go on to defeat Cena to win his first Championship. Three weeks later, at Royal Rumble, Cena won the belt back, marking the start of his second Championship run. And I would argue that it was also on this day that the very first Cena-hater seeds were sown.

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