With WrestleMania 33 a week away, the pecking order in WWE is constantly changing. Some very intriguing matches took place this week on WWE television, and the power rankings are sure to reflect that.
Some intriguing matchups on Raw and a tag title match on SmackDown have shaken up the power rankings, but first, let’s take a look at a few Superstars/teams that just missed out on making the Power Rankings this week.
Honourable mentions:
The Miz and John Cena – Their work on Tuesday nights has been fantastic and they somehow have managed to get us excited for an intergender tag team match at WrestleMania 33.
Baron Corbin – The possible future Intercontinental Champion and one of WWE’s best young prospects has started 2017 just like he finished 2016.
Braun Strowman – “The Monster Among Men” has dominated most of WWE since his debut and may be on his way to winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Mania.
The Club – The Raw Tag Team Champions haven’t looked so good on TV lately but will get a chance to climb the rankings by defending their titles in a triple threat tag elimination match.
#10 Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe hasn’t been on the main roster very long, but the “Samoan Submission Machine” has made quite the impact during his short time in WWE.
Since debuting as Triple H’s “Destroyer” a little less than two months ago, Joe has taken out Seth Rollins and defeated Sami Zayn on multiple occasions, including this past Monday on Raw.
While he currently has no plans for WrestleMania 33, one would imagine Joe’s impact will be felt on “The Grandest Stage of them All”, whether in a match, the Andre The Giant Battle Royal, or helping out Triple H or his newly found ally, Kevin Owens, win the United States Title.
With only one Raw left before Mania, hopefully, Joe’s plans for the event become clear next week.
#9 The Usos (SmackDown Tag Team Champions)
The Usos have been somewhat forgotten since the brand split took place, but it only took two weeks for the former top tag team in WWE to regain its credibility.
After picking up a win over the then tag champs American Alpha two weeks ago, Jimmy and Jey were finally given a SmackDown Tag Title shot and did not disappoint.
In a match that received “This is Awesome” chants from the crowd at the Mohegan Sun Arena, The Usos defeated American Alpha to win the SmackDown tag titles for the first time and to become 3-time WWE Tag Team Champions.
After SmackDown Live, The Usos appeared on Talking Smack and made it clear they wanted to be a part of WrestleMania 33, begging General Manager Daniel Bryan for some competition at the event.
The Usos new attitude and willingness to do anything to win makes them prime candidates to climb the power rankings moving forward.
#8 Chris Jericho (United States Champion)
Chris Jericho returned to the WWE last year during Night of Champions and his current run with the company has been some of the best work that he’s done in his entire WWE career.
Jericho’s catchphrases, scarves, and the list have added an extra layer to Jericho’s character that has seen his popularity rise, even though he has always been a very popular Superstar.
Since being betrayed by his former best friend Kevin Owens, Jericho’s popularity has grown even more.
Now a babyface, Jericho is the current United States Champion and will get his chance for retribution on KO at WrestleMania 33, when the two former best friends face off for Jericho’s U.S. title.
This past week on Raw, Jericho “exposed the real Kevin Owens” as the fan of Y2J that he truly was growing up. However, Jericho was eventually interrupted and distracted by Samoa Joe long enough for KO to jump Y2J from behind and continue getting the best of his former friend.
#7 Dean Ambrose (Intercontinental Champion)
Speaking of popular Superstars, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more popular Superstar in WWE than Dean Ambrose. The current Intercontinental Champion has had a hectic past month dealing with his WrestleMania 33 opponent, Baron Corbin.
Since eliminating “The Lone Wolf” from the Elimination Chamber match, Ambrose has felt the wrath of Corbin for weeks on SmackDown, culminating in a backstage beatdown that saw “The Lunatic Fringe” get crushed by a forklift.
After showing back up this week on SmackDown Live, and distracting Corbin long enough to eat an RKO, Ambrose challenged Corbin to a match at WrestleMania and capped it off by giving him a Dirty Deeds in the middle of the ring.
Corbin accepted the match, and the two are now destined to steal the show at Mania next weekend.
#6 Kevin Owens
After spending all of 2017 as WWE Universal Champion, Owens lost the title to Goldberg at Fastlane due to a distraction from his former best friend, Chris Jericho. Now he gets his chance for vengeance at WrestleMania 33, as he will square off against Jericho for the United States title.
For the past few weeks, Owens has made Jericho’s life miserable with several attacks on “The Ayatollah of Rock N’ Rolla”, including one this past week as Jericho was in the middle of “exposing the real Kevin Owens”.
Owens has also recently formed somewhat of an alliance with Samoa Joe that has led many to believe he’s the favourite to walk out of Orlando as the new United States Champion.
#5 Roman Reigns
After losing his chance at the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble and defeating Braun Strowman at Fastlane, Reigns now faces his toughest challenge to date, as he’s set to square off against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33, next weekend.
This past Monday on Raw, Roman was scheduled to face Braun Strowman in a Fastlane rematch. However, as Reigns was looking to finish off “The Monster Among Men”, the Undertaker appeared in the middle of the ring to confront Reigns.
Strowman charged “The Deadman” and was quickly dispersed of by Taker with a monstrous chokeslam, but when Taker turned back around to confront Roman, he was hit with a huge spear.
Reigns left the ring with a smirk on his face and stopped at the top of the ramp to relish in the damage done, Taker sat up and did his signature “throat slash”, signifying that it was going to take a lot more from “The Big Dog” to claim the yard that each man believes is their own.
#4 AJ Styles
AJ Styles has had one heck of a run in the WWE so far, and its only been a little over a year since he debuted.
For the past few months, Styles has been in the conversation to main event WrestleMania against Bray Wyatt for the WWE title, until he lost a #1 contender’s match to Randy Orton a few weeks ago on SmackDown Live.
Since then, “The Phenomenal One” has spent his time blaming Shane McMahon for not being in the main event, even going as far as attacking him backstage and throwing him through a car window a few weeks ago.
However, this past week on SmackDown Live, Shane O’ Mac proved he was willing to match AJ’s intensity by hitting a flying elbow from the top rope while Styles was laid out on the announcers’ table.
With this feud reaching its boiling point, next week’s SmackDown should be interesting, to say the least.
#3 Randy Orton
There aren’t many Superstars in WWE that are on a hot streak like “The Viper” Randy Orton is currently on.
After turning on Bray Wyatt a few weeks ago and burning the spirit of Sister Abigail to death, Orton was forced to beat AJ Styles in order to face his former “master”, Bray Wyatt, at WrestleMania 33.
After one of the best SmackDown matches ever, Orton prevailed and punched his ticket (for a second time) to main event WWE’s biggest show of the year against Wyatt for the WWE Title.
This past week on SmackDown, Orton was put in a match with one of WWE’s best young Superstars, Baron Corbin. After a gruelling match, Orton picked up the win after Dean Ambrose distracted Corbin long enough for Orton to hit him with an RKO.
After wins against Styles and Corbin in the past month, plus a Royal Rumble win and a guaranteed title shot at Mania, Orton has made quite a case to sit atop the WWE Power Rankings, and a win at WrestleMania may do just that.
#2 Goldberg (WWE Universal Champion)
Since defeating Kevin Owens at Fastlane to become WWE Universal Champion, Goldberg has focused on his upcoming rubber match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33. While he hasn’t been around very much since winning the title, the Universal Champ has still made a very big impact on the WWE since he returned last November.
However, this week, Goldberg will be live and face-to-face with “The Beast Incarnate” on Raw in a scene that is sure to explode after Lesnar F-5’d Goldberg the last time that these two confronted each other.
#1 Bray Wyatt (WWE Champion)
The WWE absolutely belongs to Bray Wyatt right now. Since the brand split, he and Randy Orton have had the best wrestling feud on television in years and it’s all set to explode at WrestleMania 33.
The past few weeks on SmackDown Live have seen Wyatt grow increasingly stronger (and creepier) since Orton set Sister Abigail’s spirit ablaze, turning on the man he had everyone fooled into thinking was his leader.
It will be interesting to see how Orton gets involved in Bray’s upcoming match with former “brother”, Luke Harper, this week on SmackDown LIVE, with only one week left until WrestleMania 33.
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