2005
The idea for the Money in the Bank match was introduced in January 2005 by Chris Jericho. He announced the idea on an episode of the flagship show Raw. General manager Eric Bischoff signed it for Wrestlemania 21 naming Jericho, Christian, Chris Benoit, Edge, Kane, and Shelton Benjamin as the participants.

Edge won the match then carried and used the briefcase as a weapon for the next nine months — including once putting it on the line in a ladder match against Matt Hardy at WWE Homecoming in a match where the loser had to leave Raw. During his time in possession of the contract, he was known on-screen as “Mr. Money in the Bank”.

Edge cashed in his contract in January at New Year’s Revolution 2006, where he defeated WWE Champion John Cena in less than two minutes just after Cena had retained his title against five opponents in an Elimination Chamber match.

2006
The Money in the Bank idea was revived by Carlito on a February 2006 episode of Raw. Mr. McMahon approved the suggestion and set up “qualifying matches” for the match that would take place at WrestleMania 22. It was later announced that the match was to be “interpromotional,” and SmackDown!’s General Manager Theodore Long also set up “qualifying matches” to select three members of his roster to compete.

In the Raw brand qualifying matches, Rob Van Dam defeated Trevor Murdoch, Shelton Benjamin defeated Chavo Guerrero, and Ric Flair defeated Carlito. On SmackDown!, Finlay defeated Bobby Lashley, Matt Hardy defeated Road Warrior Animal, and Lashley won a “last chance battle royal.”

Rob Van Dam won the WrestleMania 22 Money in the Bank ladder match after pushing Benjamin and Hardy off a ladder, while he was on another ladder, and retrieving the briefcase. That April, he defended the contract and won the Intercontinental title in a “contract vs title” match against Shelton Benjamin at Backlash (2006)

Rob Van Dam cashed in his contract at One Night Stand 2006 and defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship. The match ended with Cena losing after Edge, the #1 contender to the title, interfered on behalf of Van Dam and speared Cena through a table. RVD then hit the Five-Star Frog Splash and Paul Heyman counted the pinfall.

2007
The third Money in the Bank ladder match was held at WrestleMania 23, and was the first to feature eight participants from Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW. Qualifying matches began on the February 19 episode of RAW.

On an edition of Raw the two former Money in the Bank winners, Edge and Rob Van Dam faced off, with Edge coming out on top to earn the first spot in the match. The next night on ECW another cross-brand match took place, with CM Punk defeating Johnny Nitro to qualify. On that week’s Smackdown King Booker defeated Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere match following interference from The Great Khali to become the third man to qualify.

On the next edition of Raw Jeff Hardy pinned Shelton Benjamin in a match to become the fourth man to qualify. The next night on ECW Mr. Kennedy defeated Sabu in an Extreme Rules match to earn the fifth spot. Two qualifying matches took place on the next SmackDown with Matt Hardy defeating Joey Mercury and Finlay coming out on top in a Triple Threat Match against Montel Vontavious Porter and Chris Benoit to qualify. What was to be the final qualifying match took place on Raw between Carlito and Ric Flair. The match was deemed a no contest when The Great Khali interfered and attacked both men. The match was rescheduled for the next week on Raw, with Randy Orton kayfabe bribing his way into the match up, which was to be an Elimination match. Orton pinned both Flair and Carlito after performing an RKO to each of them. Edge and Randy Orton had recently stopped teaming together and there was a lot of tension between them. They both attempted to get the other taken out of the Money in the Bank ladder match. Both failed, as Edge ultimately won a “last chance” Battle Royal after feigning injury to retain his slot. and Orton was forced to fight Bobby Lashley on ECW to retain his.

Mr. Kennedy won at WrestleMania 23, after ramming CM Punk off the ladder using another ladder. During the next few weeks, he kept declaring that he would cash in the briefcase at WrestleMania XXIV. However, Kennedy suffered an injury, and on the May 7, 2007 episode of Raw, he lost the Money in the Bank briefcase to Edge in quick time. Edge then moved to SmackDown, and cashed in the briefcase after World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker had been injured by Mark Henry. Edge then speared The Undertaker to win the World Heavyweight Title on the May 11, 2007 episode of SmackDown.

2008
The fourth Money in the Bank ladder match took place at WrestleMania XXIV, and was intended to be another eight-man matchup, consisting of wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. Qualifying matches began on the February 18 edition of Raw. On that episode, both Jeff Hardy and Mr. Kennedy qualified by defeating Snitsky and Val Venis, respectively, in singles matches. On the February 22 edition of SmackDown, Shelton Benjamin qualified by defeating Jimmy Wang Yang in a singles match.

Back on Raw, then-General Manager William Regal placed Chris Jericho in a match against Jeff Hardy with the stipulation that if Jericho won, he would be in the ladder match. Jericho defeated Hardy in that match on February 25. The following week on Raw, however, the two faced off again, this time for Hardy’s Intercontinental Championship. Jericho won the match and title, and it was revealed that Hardy was suspended from WWE for 60 days for violating the Wellness Policy. He was subsequently removed from the Money in the Bank ladder match and WrestleMania altogether, making this ladder match the first seven-man Money in the Bank match. Also on this edition of Raw, Carlito defeated Cody Rhodes to qualify.

On the March 7 SmackDown, then-United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter defeated Jamie Noble to qualify. On the March 11 edition of ECW, CM Punk defeated Big Daddy V to qualify. And finally, on the March 14 edition of SmackDown, John Morrison defeated his tag team partner The Miz to be the last man to qualify.

At WrestleMania, CM Punk won the match after trapping Jericho’s leg in ladder and then climbing that ladder. Punk cashed in his title shot on the June 30 edition of Raw. A farewell speech by Jim Ross was interrupted by then-champion Edge who had him removed from the ring and then began to taunt the crowd, when he was leaving the ring Batista came out and assaulted Edge in retaliation for Edge cheating in a title match the previous night at the Night of Champions pay-per-view. Punk then proceeded to hit Edge with a G.T.S to win the World Heavyweight Championship.