The ninth annual WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event will take center stage Sunday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. The winner of a Money in the Bank ladder match earns a contract for a world title match at the time of his or her choosing within the next calendar year. The first Money in the Bank ladder match took place at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, and it was won by Edge, and the popularity of the match grew to the point where it became its own annual event in 2010.
With so many performers in play, as well as a significant number of editions of what's become one of WWE's signature matches, Money in the Bank lends itself well to a statistical breakdown -- and we've got some interesting stats to keep an eye on ahead of a few of Sunday's featured bouts.
Men's Money in the Bank ladder match
• Of the 18 men's Money in the Bank ladder match winners to date, 14 went on to cash in their contracts and become world champions (78 percent).
Here are the four who didn't:
Mr. Kennedy won Money in the Bank at WrestleMania 23 in 2007. However, he lost his guaranteed world title match contract in a bout against Edge just over a month later on Monday Night Raw. Edge would cash in his contract the very next night on SmackDown and defeat The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship.
John Cena won Money in the Bank in 2012 and publicly announced that he would be cashing in eight days later at Raw 1000 against CM Punk. During that title match, Big Show interfered and attacked Cena, who was declared the winner by disqualification. However, because a title can't change hands via DQ, Cena became the first superstar to cash in Money in the Bank and fail to win a world title.
After winning Money in the Bank in 2013, Damien Sandow cashed in 106 days later on Monday Night Raw against Cena. However, Cena would defeat Sandow to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Sandow became the first superstar to cash in Money and the Bank and lose the resulting title match.
Baron Corbin won Money in the Bank in 2017, and he held on to his briefcase for just 58 days before attempting to cash in on WWE champion Jinder Mahal. However, thanks to a distraction from Cena, Corbin lost to Mahal in just seven seconds -- tying the shortest Money in the Bank cash-in match ever (Daniel Bryan defeated Big Show in seven seconds in 2011).
• Braun Strowman looks to become the sixth superstar to win both a Royal Rumble Match and a Money in the Bank ladder match in his career. He would join Alberto Del Rio as the only superstars to win both in the same calendar year.
• The Miz is the lone former Money in the Bank winner in this year's match, and he looks to join CM Punk as the only male superstars to win multiple Money in the Bank ladder matches; CM Punk did so in consecutive years -- at WrestleMania XXIV and XXV -- in 2008 and 2009. The Miz won his Money in the Bank briefcase at this event in 2010, and he hung on to his title shot for 127 days before cashing in on Randy Orton on Monday Night Raw to become WWE champion.
• Strowman, Finn Balor, Rusev, Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe will all be competing in their first career Money in the Bank ladder match. Additionally, The New Day has yet to announce which member will participate in the match; neither Big E nor Xavier Woods have ever competed in a Money in the Bank ladder match, while Kofi Kingston is tied for the second-most Money in the Bank appearances in history at six with Dolph Ziggler and Christian. If he's in this year's men's match, he'd tie Kane for most all-time MITB appearances.
If Big E or Woods represents the New Day, six of the match's eight superstars will be making their Money in the Bank ladder match debut, tied for the most ever in a single match. The original match at WrestleMania 21 in 2005 had six participants, and six of the eight competitors in the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match in 2011 were first-time competitors, including eventual winner Daniel Bryan.
• Surprisingly, 11 of the 20 total Money in the Bank ladder match winners were making their debut in that match format, including both Baron Corbin and Carmella at last year's event.
Last Man Standing match for the WWE championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
• Money in the Bank is the fourth straight major WWE event at which AJ Styles will defend his WWE championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. It will be just the fourth time in WWE history that the same two superstars compete one-on-one for the WWE championship over such a stretch. After Styles defeated Nakamura at WrestleMania 34, they fought to a double count-out at the Greatest Royal Rumble and a double TKO at Backlash.
• This will be the 23rd Last Man Standing match in WWE pay-per-view history and the first to occur at Money in the Bank. The first Last Man Standing match took place at St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1999, when Mankind successfully defended the WWE championship against The Rock after neither could answer the referee's 10-count as the match ended in a draw.
• In fact, if Nakamura is victorious on Sunday, he would join Randy Orton as the only superstars to win the WWE championship in a Last Man Standing match. Orton defeated Triple H at No Mercy in 2007 to win the title.
• Styles actually competed in a handful of Last Man Standing matches during his time in TNA. Nakamura, who chose this stipulation, has never participated in one.
• At Backlash, Styles will have been WWE champion for 222 days -- the longest reign with the WWE championship since Brock Lesnar's 224-day run in 2014-15.
• If this match closes this show, it will be the 10th time that Styles competes in a pay-per-view main event match since he debuted at the Royal Rumble in 2016. Only Roman Reigns has had more such matches in that span.
• Nakamura gets yet another opportunity to become the first-ever Japanese-born WWE champion, though Antonio Inoki won the WWE championship in 1979, but he immediately vacated the title and his reign is not officially recognized by WWE.
Raw Women's Championship: Nia Jax (c) vs. Ronda Rousey
• Sunday will be Ronda Rousey's first championship match since joining WWE. She looks to join Ken Shamrock and Brock Lesnar as the only athletes to win titles in both UFC and WWE. Rousey became the first-ever UFC women's bantamweight champion in 2012, and she went on to hold that title for nearly three years.
• Sunday's title bout also will be Rousey's first career singles match in the WWE. While it wouldn't be unprecedented, it is certainly rare for a superstar to win gold in his/her first WWE one-on-one bout. Some notable examples of others who achieved that feat:
Christian made his WWE in-ring debut at Breakdown: In Your House in 1998 and defeated Taka Michinoku to win the light heavyweight championship. Christian would go on to become a two-time world heavyweight champion, four-time Intercontinental champion and nine-time tag team champion.
In 2007 on Monday Night Raw in Milan, Italy, Santino Marella made his in-ring debut after he was selected from the audience by Vince McMahon to compete against Umaga for the Intercontinental title. Marella earned the upset victory with an assist from Bobby Lashley -- a win that would eventually be dubbed the "Milan Miracle."
Paige made her WWE television debut the night after WrestleMania 30 in 2014. The NXT women's champion at the time, Paige was challenged to a match by then-Divas champion AJ Lee. Paige would get the victory and become the youngest Divas champion in history at the age of 21; she's also the only woman to hold NXT and a WWE women's title simultaneously.
• In Rousey's WWE in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34, she and Kurt Angle defeated Stephanie McMahon and Triple H in a tag team match after McMahon submitted to Rousey's arm bar. Nia Jax has claimed there is no way Rousey will be able to catch her in her arm bar, and even if Rousey is able to lock it in, making Jax tap out will be a tall task. Jax has only four submission losses in her WWE career -- and none were via arm bar.
• This will be the seventh women's championship match at a Money in the Bank pay-per-view. Bad news for Rousey fans: The champion successfully defended her title in each of the previous six such matches, including Nikki Bella over Paige in 2015.
Women's championship matches -- Money in the Bank history
2015: Nikki Bella (c) def. Paige
2014: Paige (c) def. Naomi
2013: AJ Lee (c) def. Kaitlyn
2011: Kelly Kelly (c) def. Brie Bella
2010: Layla (c) def. Kelly Kelly
2010: Alicia Fox (c) def. Eve Torres