AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio Are Candidates To Become Next WWE Champion

AJ Styles showed up on the latest edition “Monday Night Raw,” making his first appearance since his match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 36. He qualified for Sunday’s Money in the Bank ladder match, joining five other contenders for the coveted briefcase.

Styles, Daniel Bryan and Rey Mysterio are the three former WWE champions that will be competing for a world title shot. Baron Corbin, Otis and Aleister Black are also in the match, looking to take one step closer toward winning their first-ever world championship.

The briefcase would allow the match’s winner to compete for either the WWE Championship or the Universal Championship at a moment of their choosing. WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and Universal Champion Braun Strowman will defend their titles in singles matches at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view Sunday.

Instead of a traditional ladder match in a ring, this year’s match will take place at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. The wrestlers will fight inside the building and look to retrieve a briefcase that’s located on the roof.

Bryan is the match’s only former Money in the Bank winner that successfully cashed in the briefcase. He won the ladder match in the summer of 2011 and used the briefcase to cash in on Mark Henry in November of that year.

Styles last held the WWE Championship in November 2018. He lost the belt to Bryan, who dropped the title to Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 35.

Mysterio hasn’t been a WWE world champion in nearly a decade. He lost the World Heavyweight Championship in 2010 when Kane cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Mysterio.

Corbin was the 2017 Money in the Bank winner. On the episode of “SmackDown” before SummerSlam, Corbin unsuccessfully tried to cash in on WWE Champion Jinder Mahal when he was distracted by John Cena.

Black hasn’t held a title in WWE since losing the NXT Championship two years ago. He’s among the favorites to win the ladder match.

Otis hasn’t been a champion in NXT or as part of the main roster.

WWE Money in the Bank 2020 is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT Sunday. The men’s and women’s ladder matches will both take place simultaneously at WWE headquarters.