Sources within WWE report that John Cena was not the original choice to win the WWE Title Money in the Bank match. The original plan, set weeks before, was to have Chris Jericho win the match and then become the first person to ever cash in the shot unsuccessfully that night after Daniel Bryan and CM Punks match. At that point, the plan was to have Punk vs. Bryan as the main event.
WWE decided on the week of the show to go with Cena winning instead. This is why the MITB match got promoted to the main event; officials felt that the ending would lack impact if the show ended with Punk winning and no one cashing in the briefcase.