Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, Tiffany Stratton Set for Money in the Bank Qualifiers

WWE has lined up the final qualifying matches for this year’s Money in the Bank ladder matches, and the October 2 episode of SmackDown will decide who claims the last two spots in the men’s and women’s fields.

On the men’s side, Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens and Johnny Gargano will collide for the remaining slot in the ladder match. It’s a stacked three-way that could go a number of directions — Rhodes remains one of the most prominent faces of the brand, Owens is never shy about inserting chaos into a multi-man scramble, and Gargano has quietly built himself into a credible threat since arriving on SmackDown. Whoever wins earns the right to climb the ladder in pursuit of a guaranteed future title opportunity, arguably the most valuable prize in WWE outside of the championships themselves.

The women’s division will settle its final berth in a triple threat between Tiffany Stratton, Tatum Paxley and Candice LeRae. Stratton has spent much of the year positioned near the top of the women’s SmackDown roster, while Paxley continues to develop as one of the newer stars getting a real spotlight. LeRae, a veteran of high-stakes ladder and gimmick matches throughout her career, gives the bout an added layer of unpredictability.

Money in the Bank remains one of WWE’s signature gimmick events, built entirely around the chaos of grown adults climbing a ladder to retrieve a briefcase that guarantees a title shot whenever the holder chooses to cash it in. The contract has become one of the most reliable tools in WWE’s booking arsenal, capable of launching new stars to the main event or providing a twist finish to a title feud out of nowhere. That unpredictability is exactly why the qualifying matches matter as much as they do — landing a spot in the ladder match itself can be a career-altering moment, regardless of whether the participant ultimately walks away with the briefcase.

With six competitors set to battle it out in Rhodes, Owens and Gargano on the men’s side, and Stratton, Paxley and LeRae on the women’s side, next week’s SmackDown qualifiers should go a long way toward setting the final tone for both ladder matches. Expect each of these names to be pushed as legitimate threats once the field is complete, with WWE creative likely to use the lead-up weeks to plant seeds for cash-in scenarios down the road.

All eyes will be on Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens given their shared history, but nothing about a three-way or triple threat qualifier is ever simple. However the October 2 matches shake out, Money in the Bank’s field is about to come into full focus.