From the return of the Undertaker to the crowning of a new United Kingdom champion, the last seven days proved to be crucial for the WWE. Undertaker returned on Monday Night Raw and announced that he will be appearing in the Royal Rumble this year.
Shawn Michaels returning and Chris Jericho winning the United States Championship from Roman Reigns also stood out from this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.
Meanwhile, the in-ring return of John Cena and a string of other interesting storylines were pushed forward on SmackDown Live. All of this action had an impact on the Power Rankings as well and we are going to take a look at how it shaped up.
#10 Neville (NR)
Neville’s run has been a strong one so far. He will finally get his chance to win the Cruiserweight Championship at Royal Rumble when he faces off against Rich Swann. Considering the buildup that Neville got until now, it won’t be a surprise if he goes on to win the title at the Rumble and cement his place at the top of the division.
The only problem that the feud currently has, is the inferior booking of Swann. Often, he is been overshadowed by the strong booking that Neville gets and this is something WWE should think about changing in the coming weeks.
#9 Chris Jericho (NR)
Chris Jericho’s current run in the WWE has been magical. He deserved the title that had been eluding him for a long time and with the win against Roman Reigns on Monday Night Raw, Jericho added the United States championship to his resume as well.
The title win is the cherry on top for Jericho and it makes matters more interesting heading into the WrestleMania season.
The Kevin Owens – Chris Jericho friendship has been the highlight of Monday Night Raw for a long time now, and it won’t be long before WWE cashes in on the storyline and splits these two.
#8 John Cena (NR)
The Cenation leader had a very light schedule, in terms of pro-wrestling, this year. After a long hiatus, he made his return to SmackDown Live sometime back and last week, he marked his in-ring return against Baron Corbin.
As much as the fans would’ve loved to see Corbin get a huge win over him at the show, Cena winning the match shows that WWE is more concerned about making Cena vs. Styles the main attraction.
Winning against a young and upcoming hungry Superstar helped Cena build momentum ahead of his showdown against AJ Styles. WWE could now rely on AJ – Cena segments to push the feud, now that Cena made his in-ring appearance, which was much needed.
#7 Dean Ambrose (-2)
The Lunatic Fringe continued his storyline with The Miz this week. Ambrose managed to get a small win over Miz with the participation award during the “Ambrose Asylum” segment. But once again, Miz outshined Ambrose for the most part.
The Ambrose – Miz feud is bound to elevate both Superstars and while a multi-Superstar feud seems certain for WrestleMania, at Royal Rumble, we could see these two in one-on-one action.
WWE seemed to have cooled off the Renee Young – Ambrose relationship last week but it wouldn’t be a surprise if Renee makes her return to the scenario this week or the week after that.
#6 American Alpha (+1)
American Alpha got a huge win this week against the Wyatt Family. It was a credible title defence for the team and will benefit them in the long run.
Sadly, all the attention went to the friction between Randy Orton and Luke Harper, and fans didn’t give American Alpha the credit they deserved. This, however, should be seen as one of many title defences that the team might go through with their current title reign.
WWE needs to find a new set of challengers for Chad Gable and Jason Jordan and a good portion of their success as Champions will depend on what WWE feeds the team.
#5 The Miz (-2)
Miz might’ve lost the Intercontinental championship to Dean Ambrose sometime back, but he is still on top of his game when it comes to delivering excellent performances week in and week out. After a memorable outing at the Talking Smack episode a couple of weeks ago, Miz once again shined on SmackDown when he shared the ring with Ambrose and Maryse.
The ‘frustrated former Champion’ idea has been perfectly executed by Miz so far and he continues to up the stakes. 2016 was an excellent year for The Miz and with such performances already in his name, 2017 could also be a year worth noting in the resume of the Awesome one.
#4 Kevin Owens (+2)
After a long break, Kevin Owens finally got a strong booking this week. Owens seemed dominant in the Raw main event, where he helped his best friend Chris Jericho win the United States championship. The sequence where Owens power bombed Reigns onto the apron, showed us a glimpse of the Owens that most fans wanted to see.
If we remember, what helped Owens make an immediate impact in NXT was such dominant performances. The same has been missing from his main roster run and this, in turn, evoked complaints from the fans as well. If WWE continues to let Owens showcase his stronger side, WWE could elevate him ahead of WrestleMania.
#3 Roman Reigns (-2)
Roman Reigns suffered a setback on Monday Night Raw this week when he dropped the United States championship to Chris Jericho. The way Reigns dropped the title kept him strong and allows WWE to build on it ahead of his upcoming title match against Kevin Owens.
While the loss takes away the possibility of Reigns becoming a double champion, it makes him a favourite when he goes up against Owens.
The chances of Reigns winning the Universal Championship are more, now that he dropped the United States championship. The way in which Reigns reacts to his loss would be the major storyline of this week’s Monday Night Raw.
#2 Charlotte (+2)
Charlotte got one over her immediate rival on Raw this week.
Charlotte teamed up with Nia Jax to face Sasha Banks and Bayley and got a huge win under her name. With the Charlotte–Bayley title match set to happen, having such a win over Bayley and her former rival Sasha is a huge achievement for Charlotte.
Her title run continues to be an impressive one and Bayley will now have to play catch up in the coming weeks.
Sasha playing second fiddle to Bayley is hard to digest as she was on top of the division for so long. WWE treating the two storylines separately would be the apparent solution to this.
#1 AJ Styles (+1)
The fall of Roman Reigns is what facilitates AJ Styles’ rise to the top of this week’s Power Rankings. AJ was inactive this week in terms of in-ring activity but his presence during the John Cena–Baron Corbin match did everything that it was supposed to do.
Cena and AJ are building up their upcoming match in the best way possible and while Kevin Owens is struggling on Raw despite being a main event level Champion, Styles is getting the bookings that Champions should.
Despite being a heel on paper, AJ gets cheered during this storyline and considering the in-ring brilliance that Cena and Styles will bring in, this is unlikely to be a problem.
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