Which WWE Superstars Should Take the Final Spots for Money in the Bank 2021?

WWE Money in the Bank 2021 is almost here, but there are still four spots remaining in the featured ladder matches.

As it stands, the men's match will consist of Big E, Drew McIntyre, John Morrison, Kevin Owens, Ricochet and Riddle, while the women's match has Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Carmella, Naomi, Nikki A.S.H. and Zelina Vega.

Tonight's edition of SmackDown is set to fill at least two of the vacant spaces, if not fully settle which four Superstars will get the honor to compete for the ever-powerful briefcase.

Which wrestlers would be the best choices to fill in those spots? Let's break down the possibilities!

Cesaro has gotten the better of Seth Rollins numerous times, but The Messiah has picked up some victories as of late. This could be the end of their feud, even though it doesn't seem grandiose enough to justify calling this the end.

Whether there is another match down the line—and who WWE ultimately wants to be the definitive winner of the feud—may directly influence who comes out on top of this.

If this is it and WWE wants to revert back to Rollins as the bigger priority, as he's consistently been more favored, he'll win no matter what. That's probably going to happen, as he's a bigger overall star who would mean more to the card in the long run.

However, Cesaro is the better option for earning that spot and competing in the ladder match.

Fans love to root for the underdog, and he would be one of the top picks the WWE Universe would get behind. Even if the plan isn't to give him the briefcase, any time he climbs the ladder, the crowd will eat it up and become heavily invested.

This would also offset his loss to Rollins at WrestleMania Backlash and hopefully get The Swiss Cyborg back on track to becoming a full-fledged main eventer, even if he comes up short in grabbing the briefcase.

As WWE is telling a story of Baron Corbin being down on his luck, he absolutely needs to lose this qualifying match against King Shinsuke Nakamura.

It would be counterproductive to have Corbin moping and sad one week, talking about how he's failing at all aspects of his life, just to turn it around in seven days, beat his nemesis, qualify for a future title shot opportunity and be on top of the world again.

Corbin is a former Mr. Money in the Bank, too. While there have been repeat winners such as Edge, CM Punk and The Miz, it's unlikely he's who WWE has in mind to win it this year. Fans know that, so his inclusion wouldn't be viewed as worthwhile to track compared to someone like Nakamura, who has momentum on his side.

Many fans would bite on the hook that he just won the crown, which could be a sign WWE is invested in him and wants to push him to that next level. That, plus his status as a babyface while there are two heel champions, instantly makes him a top contender worth paying attention to.

Nakamura wouldn't likely win, either, but as long as he gives off a better illusion that it's possible, he's the preferred option over Corbin.

It's yet to be explained (and likely never will) why Sonya Deville has it out for Liv Morgan and refuses to give her a spot in the women's ladder match.

For all intents and purposes, this was probably done because SmackDown doesn't have enough women on its roster to do qualifying matches and WWE didn't want to simply announce all the names and call it a day.

It's a decent enough story, too, as it paints Morgan as a scrappy underdog who is willing to scratch and claw to get her chance. If she can only make it in there, she'll have a good chance to actually win the briefcase.

After Morgan defeated Carmella and Vega, the next step is for Deville to be forced to, begrudgingly, award her that spot. If not, this journey will have been for nothing, and the ladder match will be robbed of a popular babyface whom fans would have rooted for.

Deville could also fill out the final spot in order to carry that feud past this point. However, there's one other woman who would make an even bigger impact as the fourth missing competitor.

As great as it would be for Deville to lace up her boots in an attempt to offset Morgan's inclusion in the match, Sasha Banks making her return would be a bigger deal.

The Boss hasn't been seen since she lost the SmackDown Women's Championship to Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 37. Whatever she's been up to in the meantime, one thing's for sure: she should want that championship back as soon as possible.

While WWE has ignored many of its rules from when the McMahons apologized for the bad product on Raw— going back to having authority figures (Deville and Adam Pearce) after saying general managers would no longer exist, abandoning the gritty third hour of Raw after one week and so on—one rule that has stuck around has been the elimination of the automatic rematch clause.

Granted, WWE has circumvented this by just having champions flat out grant rematches without booking the previous champion to win a No. 1 contender's match, but it's still something lingering.

Banks vs. Belair for SummerSlam or any other event down the line is a rematch, but it's still the biggest attraction the blue brand can offer until the draft freshens things up. The only way to get to that is to be lazy and simply announce it or give Banks a match to earn that opportunity.

Also, playing off her name so she can call herself "Ms. Money in the Banks" is far too perfect for WWE not to do at some point. It might as well be now when she can make her return in front of a live crowd, bump up the card's star power and set up a match against the woman who took her title.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.