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Another eventful week passed by for the WWE Universe as they edged closer to the summers biggest party. The card building and the storyline developing for the pay-per-view was the highlight of the week as expected and had some interesting revelations.The Stephanie McMahon Brie Bella feud is apparently getting all the push from the company and for the second consecutive week, the divas headlined Raw. Addition of Hunter made the angle more intriguing while Roman Reigns went another step with Randy Orton.Elsewhere, Heath Slater picked up his first singles win in almost two years when he came with the upper hand against Seth Rollins.The choice of stipulation from Dean Ambrose was another talking point of the week which rounded off eight matches for SummerSlam. Before the company and fans prepares for another week of packed action, here is a look at the Power Rankings for this week.
#25 R Truth (Previous Rank 23)
Breaking the streak might’ve done wonders for Brock Lesnar, but apparently it’s a downhill trip for R –Truth. After defeating Bo Dallas twice last week, the veteran was forced to Bo Lieve this time around which drops him down two places in the rankings.
#24 Heath Slater (Previous Rank Nil)
Rollins was reigning undefeated after aligning with the authority and it took the efforts of the one man band to change the record. Slater’s first singles win in years helps him climb the rankings and he also shined in the tag team circuit which rounds off a good week.
#23 Mark Henry (Previous Rank Nil)
Henry returned to defend the honor of his home town this week when he took out Damien Sandow. It was not one of the best performances from the World’s strongest man but if WWE was just trying to get a pop for him, it was spot on considering how the Texas crowd reacted to him.
#22 The Miz (Previous Rank 22)
The Awesome one was busy scouting his opponent for SummerSlam and might’ve learned a trick or two from the Showoff. However, keeping Miz out of the ring ahead of a big pay-per-view is something that WWE should address as it gives him no momentum whatsoever.
#21 Dolph Ziggler (Previous Rank 24)
Ziggler finally got the spot he deserved in SummerSlam after a winning effort against Cesaro on Raw. He also got the upper hand over the Intercontinental champion on the same night and finishing ahead of Miz in the Rankings only magnifies his chances of walking out of the pay-per-view with the title.
#20 Stardust and Goldust (Previous Rank 19)
The creepy team has been getting good results ever since Cody decided to emulate his brother. However, this week turned out to be a mixed bag for the duo as they picked up a defeat against Slator Gator while winning against Rybaxel.
#19 Bo Dallas (Previous Rank 20)
The inspirational superstar might not have an undefeated streak anymore but he certainly looks more motivated. The settling of score against R-Truth on Raw was the indication of the same and Bo would now be looking to build another streak from scratch.
#18 Adam Rose (Previous Rank 16)
The exotic express was confined to promoting WWE’s Hollywood venture and this kept him away from the squared circle. Lack of in ring action combined with a goofy segment was enough to cost Rose his spot in the rankings.
#17 Cesaro (Previous Rank 15)
The Swiss Superman was playing the jobber again as he put over Ziggler. There is apparently no match made for Cesaro at SummerSlam and if he doesn’t find a place in the match card, it would go down in the history as one of the worst falls in the reality era.
#16 Big E (Previous Rank 14)
The company is yet to reveal their plan for Big E and this is taking the entire spotlight away from the former Intercontinental champion. Just like Cesaro, Big E also hasn’t found a place in the SummerSlam match card and the creative has to change that if they have big plans for him.
#15 Rusev (Previous Rank 18)
Rusev was doing what he does best this week: Squashing his opponents. Sin Cara got to be the unlucky jobber for the same and helped the Bulgarian brute to- get some momentum ahead of his big clash with Swagger which will be an entirely different story.
#14 Jack Swagger (Previous Rank 17)
Swagger continued piling up the momentum against Rusev this week as he dispatched the Bulgarian Brute on Raw. He also picked up a win against his long rival Alberto Del Rio which helps Swagger to jump three places in the weekly ranking.
#13 Kane (Previous Rank 11)
The big red monster had the chance to put Roman Reigns to sleep this week but failed to capitalize the opportunity. It was a good effort from Kane after all but the lack of a good result forced him to surrender his mask.
#12 Paige (Previous Rank 13)
WWE didn’t allow the Divas to be on Raw this week but there was plenty of progress in the angle that Paige and AJ is having. Paige continued her strong run ahead of SummerSlam with a win over Natalya and will be looking to do the same when she steps in the ring with AJ.
#11 Wyatt Family (Previous Rank 10)
Finally it seems like the WWE creative team is taking an intelligent decision with Bray Wyatt as both Erick Rowan and Luke Harper would be banned from ring side at SummerSlam. The loss that Harper took against Jericho cost the stable one place but this doesn’t save Jericho from the eater of the worlds.
#10 Chris Jericho (Previous Rank 12)
Jericho found his way into the top ten this week after he leveled the numbers by beating Luke Harper. Even though it was a disqualification win, the result is sure to help Jericho at SummerSlam where he will lock horns against the Cult leader of Wyatt Family.
#9 AJ Lee (Previous Rank 9)
AJ cleared the air surrounding her injury news and came back strong by defeating Summer Rae on main event. She delivered a passionate promo against Paige after that and has set up the stage for their big clash at SummerSlam.
#8 The Usos (Previous Rank 7)
For one reason or the other, the company is not letting the tag team division have any spotlight. They are yet to get a chance at SummerSlam and the in ring inaction from the tag team champions did nothing good for the situation as well.
#7 Seth Rollins (Previous Rank 4)
Mr. Money in the bank suffered defeat for the first time after joining the Authority when Heath Slater pulled off the upset of the week. it was a clear message delivered by Ambrose and Rollins will now be looking to get some revenge against both the superstars before next Sunday.
#6 Sheamus (Previous Rank 6)
The curious case of the Celtic Warrior and the United States championship continued when Sheamus was limited to Main Event. He is having no buildup whatsoever for the biggest pay-per-view of the summer and looks set to miss it which would be a shame.
#5 Brock Lesnar (Previous Rank 8)
The WWE Universe is well aware of the fact that Lesnar has limited dates for the company. This however didn’t stop them from criticizing the creative team for letting the Beast incarnated skip another week. Lesnar jumped into the top five despite the absence thanks to the intense promo that he gave.
#4 Roman Reigns (Previous Rank 5)
Reigns went up against Kane in a brutal match on Raw and was the last man standing. He now has a date with the Viper at SummerSlam which will be the first step for Reigns to accomplish his mission of taking down the authority all together.
#3 Randy Orton (Previous Rank 3)
After his vicious attack of Reigns last week, the Viper came to SmackDown to do the same against Ambrose. Orton managed to stay in the third spot despite the match ending in a no contest and now the legend killer would be eager to improve his rank ahead of the battle against Reigns.
#2 Dean Ambrose (Previous Rank 2)
The lunatic fringe picked up a good win against Alberto Del Rio this week and had the luxury of choosing the Stipulation for his match against Rollins. The lumberjack stipulation however was an eyebrow raising one but it doesn’t hold Ambrose back in the Power Rankings.
#1 John Cena (Previous Rank 1)
The Cenation leader was busy with his film project again but this didn’t hold him from appearing in the video package. It was a class production from the company to- say the least and has hyped the match well in the absence of both Lesnar and Cena, who still reigns on top of the rankings.
