SummerSlam has made a dent in the WWE landscape with decisions that made most of the fans scratch their head. Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton was indeed the most talked about fight at the show as it ended in a TKO finish and Orton all bloodied up. The crowning of Finn Balor as the inaugural WWE Universal champion and Charlotte winning back the Women’s championship from Sasha Banks were other major talking points from the show.
The clinic from John Cena and AJ Styles along with the title match between Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler also left their mark although the hype value of these matches were low compared to the ones mentioned earlier. The entire SummerSlam card had a huge impact on the momentum of WWE superstars and here is how the superstars match up in the Power Rankings.
10. Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns was supposed to face Rusev for the WWE United States at SummerSlam but a pre-match brawl between Reigns and Rusev stopped the match before it even started. While the fans were a bit surprised with the way WWE booked this match, from Roman’s point of view, he got a strong booking. He was standing tall when it all ended and he also showed some interesting shades throughout the segment.
His business with Rusev is far from over and the next chapter of their storyline will be unfolded in the weeks that are to follow. Roman might even go on to become the United States champion before the year ends.
9: Sasha Banks
SummerSlam did not end up as a pay-per-view to remember for Sasha Banks. She dropped the Women’s championship just weeks after winning it from Charlotte. Though there are rumors suggesting that it was an injury that forced WWE to make such a decision, from the storyline standpoint, it is a big loss for Sasha.
She might come back strong and reclaim the title after a time frame, but at the present, her momentum is on the low side which in turn results in her positioning on the Power Rankings. But at the same time, the match quality was good so it was not possible to drop her out completely.
8: John Cena
John Cena once again proved his worth to the WWE fans through his match with AJ Styles. With the experience that these two brought to the table, the expectations were high. Both men lived up to this and delivered one of the best matches of the night. Cena might have lost out the match but that does not tell the complete story.
He had his moments at the show and even if he is taking a hiatus after this match, he is going out on a high. Hopefully, WWE will let Cena work with something even more exciting in his next storyline.
7: The Miz
The Miz is an underrated worker in the WWE roster. He has been the perfect heel champion for a long time now and Miz extended his title reign at the expense of Apollo Crews at SummerSlam. Miz and Maryse easily gets into the nerve of a regular fan and the segments involving him have been a positive point from SmackDown.
The Apollo Crews chapter seems to be closed for Miz and WWE will have to come up with something new for him. There are certain contenders that will be happy to step in and no matter who gets it, Miz will be out to shine again.
6: Charlotte
We’ve already discussed how good the Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks match was and winning the Women’s championship again once again puts Charlotte on top of the stack. Ever since she came up to the main roster, Charlotte has been getting a very strong booking from the WWE and she deserves it as well.
While this title reign might be coming only because of the injury to Sasha, Charlotte was clearly the best option that WWE had to fall back on. Charlotte will be looking for a new feud now and Dana Brooke, surprisingly, is a front runner unless Bayley gets called up.
5: Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins and Finn Balor went up against each other in dream match for Internet fans. While the horrible design of the WWE Universal championship was what the fans were worried about Rollins gave out a class act against Balor. And it was not a surprise as well. Both Balor and Rollins are excellent in ring performers who know to put together classics.
Rollins, despite the loss, had a strong booking and he is expected to stick around the championship scene for quite some time. It would also be interesting to see how Rollins reacts to the loss and all of this puts him in a strong position on the WWE roster.
4: Dean Ambrose
Dean Ambrose might be having a lot of heat on him due to the podcast that he had with Steve Austin, but that did not take away the WWE championship from him. There were rumors about the possibility of Ambrose getting punished for the things he said to Austin on the podcast but fortunately, he is still the champion and he got a good win against Ziggler.
Another interesting part about Ambrose is the transition that he has been showing lately. The immediate road ahead is indeed bright for Ambrose and we can expect him to be involved in some surprising twists and turns.
3: AJ Styles
While the entire SmackDown roster got a sleeper booking at SmackDown, AJ Styles benefited big time. He took up the match against John Cena to figure out who the best was and winning a match of such gravity takes AJ Styles to the top. The win against Cena has positioned Styles perfectly for the next chapter for him which might come against Randy Orton.
But it wouldn’t be a surprise if Styles get the title shot next. He has the capability of being the face of SmackDown and he deserves to be it as well. And we can expect things to clear up once SmackDown rolls out.
2: Finn Balor
Within just weeks after making his main roster debut, Finn Balor is now the top champion on Monday Night Raw. Rumors suggest that WWE is going to push the Universal championship as the top title in the company and if that is the case, Balor is now the top champion of the company. It might not be a hard fact to digest and this is the reason why he is positioned at the second position of Power Rankings.
Digging deeper, Balor’s win seems like WWE’s move to cater the portion of fans that complain about everything. While Balor does deserve to be on top, on an isolated WWE Universe, he is a newcomer that got to the top within weeks and that is why he is second and not first.
1: Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar is the most legit athlete that WWE has on their roster. The strong yet weird booking that WWE gave him at SummerSlam was the proof of this. Forget about the things outside kayfabe and if we just look at Lesnar as a character, he is on top of WWE’s food chain right now. He came in and literally destroyed one of the top names on the WWE roster and he didn’t even look tired.
To add to the already strong booking, WWE also made Lesnar F-5 Shane McMahon meaning that Lesnar does not give a crap about authority. In short, everyone is talking about Lesnar and his dominance and Lesnar continues to do what he does best.
