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Wrestling is an industry built on "moments",
Hogan slamming Andre at WM3, any number of specific guys winning The Big One (thinking HBK @ WM12, Benoit @ WM20, etc), The Montreal Screwjob, Lesnar/Show (and Henry/Show) imploding the ring, Punk winning the belt in Chicago and "leaving", etc, etc.
MitB creates a "moment" when the briefcase is cashed in. Even a tease gets a big reaction from the live crowd.
That said, I can't help but feel that winning your first World Title via cash-in, as is the case most of the time, doesn't exactly lend itself to creating a credible champion. That has to come with booking both before and after cashing in.
Swagger was let down by having no build going into his MitB win, he had been doing nothing or jobbing right the way up to Mania, then he's MitB winner, a week later he's World Heavyweight Champion. How can the "mark" audience buy him as a credible champion.
That said, MitB can be used to great effect. Look at Edge, his whole "Ultimate Opportunist" gimmick came from cashing in MitB (twice) and Punk cashing in on Hardy started a heel turn and a great character.
As with everything in wrestling it's all in the execution of the booking.
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