WWE The men's and women's Money in the Bank participants are set. After Raw revealed its half of the respective fields Monday, SmackDown finalized the 2019 ladder match participants during Tuesday's broadcast. Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman and Ricochet will represent Raw for the men, while Finn Balor, Ali, Andrade and Randy Orton comprise SmackDown's representatives: The women's side will feature Raw's Natalya, Dana Brooke, Naomi and Alexa Bliss and SmackDown's Bayley, Mandy Rose, Ember Moon and Carmella. Neither the women's match nor the men's has an obvious winner, but you can see where the decks are stacked on each side. The men's winner seems likely to come from Raw, with McIntyre and Strowman being the two most obvious choices. McIntyre should be one of the top heels in the company but has been taking so many losses in feuds that he needs something to vault him into the title picture. Strowman could simply win it so that WWE can retcon its awful booking of The Monster Among Men after winning last year's MITB. Ricochet will be filling the role of "do awesome Ricochet things," while literally no one wants to see Corbin hold the briefcase again. Andrade is SmackDown's best bet among the men. Balor is propping up the intercontinental championship, Ali is the "SmackDown Ricochet" and Orton is filling the role of the underwhelming Corbin choice. Andrade, like McIntyre, needs a push into the main event scene and has Zelina Vega at his side to pull off some opportunistic shenanigans. The women's winner will almost certainly come from SmackDown given the chasm between the respective fields. Bliss and Naomi are the only viable options from the Raw field. Bliss won last year and still isn't wrestling full time, and Naomi seems to be in these types of matches for her ability to pull off cool spots. Video Play Button Videos you might like The SmackDown side is rich with possibilities. Bayley's "Hugger in the Bank" t-shirts print themselves. Mandy Rose has improved her character work and has Sonya Deville on her side to potentially interfere. Carmella has already won the briefcase once, so she's probably out, but this could be the time to pull the trigger on Ember Moon hitting the main event scene. Between Bayley, Mandy and Ember, there are three good choices on SmackDown's roster.<doc-sep>This really feels like Bayley’s match to lose. On Monday night, Raw announced which four women would represent the red brand in the 2019 women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Tonight (Apr. 30) on SmackDown, the blue brand sent four women into WWE’s biggest ladder match of the year. Fighting for the right to be called Ms. Money in the Bank this year will be Bayley, Mandy Rose, Ember Moon, and Carmella, who join Natalya, Dana Brooke, Naomi, and Alexa Bliss in the match. The Money in the Bank pay-per-view (PPV) takes place on Sun., May 19, 2019, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. With all eight participants in the field accounted for, which woman needs to win the briefcase the most this year? Get complete SmackDown results and coverage here.<doc-sep>Credit: WWE.com With the aid of Alexa Bliss, Raw laid out its representatives for the two Money in the Bank matches at the pay-per-view of the same name May 19. On the men's side, Braun Strowman, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin will be vying for the MITB briefcase. Bliss, Dana Brooke, Natalya and Naomi will carry the flag for WWE's flagship show in the women's bout. Now, the ball is in SmackDown Live's court to fill out the remaining eight spots. So far, the Money in the Bank matches feature a nice mix of former winners (Corbin, Strowman and Bliss) and stars looking to break through. The match arguably works best when it sets the stage for a fresh wrestler to enter the world title scene. It's not as if the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton needed another championship reign or the structural advantage the MITB briefcase provides. Right now, there isn't a clear favorite in the men's or women's fields, so it's anybody's guess as to how the PPV shakes out next month.<doc-sep>No, it's not just because of the fact that it's an hour short, guys. There's something about the blue brand where the pace is frenzied and the action is non-stop from start to finish. Everything just feels like there's a sense of purpose to it. That's not the case with RAW, except on select occasions. And this is why this week's episode of SmackDown Live was clearly the better brand of the two. The WWE roster knew that they had a point to prove after RAW's dismal viewership and prove a point they did! It was a fantastic show in every single respect. Here is my assessment of this week's episode, which I thought was pretty great. So overall, I'd say there were far more positives than negatives. But that said, I'd like to hear your thoughts and comments as well. #1 Best: Bayley impresses again Bayley has just been one of those overlooked individuals on the roster who's just not been given her due credit. She was great in NXT but ever since she got called up to RAW, it just seemed like she got a little lost in the shuffle, and the WWE Universe turned on her as well, not realizing her potential. But I have to admit that she has just turned her fortunes around on SmackDown Live and the blue brand seems like it's a much better fit for her. Even though she lost her match on this week's show, she reminded us how good she is again. And she had done much the same last week as well. I daresay that she is looking much better now even compared to when she was the Women's Tag Team Champion. Maybe a stint in the blue brand just freshens you up significantly. 1 / 7 NEXT<doc-sep>
With Money in the Bank only a few weeks away, the WWE began setting up both the men's and women's ladder matches this week. Last night, Alexa Bliss revealed the first four participants in the women's match. Along with Natalya, Dana Brooke, and Naomi, the Goddess herself has been added to the contest, looking to become the first ever two-time Ms. Money in the Bank. With Raw's four superstars revealed, SmackDown was left to fill out the rest of the slots. With Charlotte Flair busy with Becky Lynch at the PPV, this gave the rest of the women on the Blue Brand an opportunity to leap into the title picture, including some recent arrivals. Ember Moon, Kairi Sane, Mickie James, and Liv Morgan joined an already stacked division that included Asuka, Mandy Rose, and the IIconics. SmackDown's first pick for the match was revealed early in the night, when Becky Lynch faced off against another member of the Four Horsewomen, Bayley, in a one-on-one matchup. While the Hugger made her entrance, it was revealed that she would be added to the women's MITB ladder match. With that, this year's match already features four former Women's Champions and a combined ten title runs between the competitors, five of those belonging to the Goddess herself, Alexa Bliss. Bayley only has one singles title on the main roster, but with a win at Money in the Bank, a contract all but guarantees her another reign, as the winners of both women's MITB matches were successful in their cash ins. SmackDown Live has several top talents worthy of the opportunity at Money in the Bank. If the choices so far have revealed anything, we should expect to see more former champions in the mix-up, which means we may very well see Asuka or Carmella added to the match.