The Monster Among Men defends his place in the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match against Sami Zayn in a raucous Falls Count Anywhere Match.

Sami Zayn def. Braun Strowman to take Strowman’s place in the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Falls Count Anywhere Match)

The Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match picture was shaken up in a major way in Raw’s main event, when Sami Zayn rode an assist from Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre to defeat Braun Strowman in a Falls Count Anywhere Match where The Monster Among Men’s “Money” berth was on the line.

How we got there is a little convoluted — Zayn ran his mouth about last week’s dumpster incident in the presence of Strowman and Shane McMahon to get the match sanctioned — but while the former NXT Champion now faces an enormous opportunity, the contract is by no means assured. If anything, the bout was probably the starkest lesson yet of the every-man-for-himself makeup of the Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Alliances are temporary, friendship does not exist, and all that matters is the contract.

Fittingly, while Corbin and McIntyre showed up at every single opportune moment to help Zayn convert — he was mostly running away from Braun and chucking beers in his face to delay the inevitable before they appeared — the alliance was very clearly one of convenience. The two previously-announced Money in the Bank competitors (correctly) identified Strowman as the biggest threat in Sunday's match and were openly doing whatever was necessary to get him out of it. “Whatever was necessary” turned out to be a lot, as a double suplex through a ladder, Claymore from McIntyre and three-man stack finally kept The Gift of Destruction down for three — and that isn’t even counting what they did to Zayn after the bell.

Looking to handicap the man who had taken the monster’s place, Corbin threw Zayn right back into Strowman’s clutches, and The Monster Among Men concluded Raw by chokeslamming his opponent through the commentary table in a reminder of what Sami Zayn won tonight: One golden opportunity, yes. But Zayn started Raw with only one enemy to his name. Now, he has eight.