The WWE roster for Raw and SmackDown wrestlers, despite how it may not seem like it at times, is in fact a hierarchy of importance. The higher up on the ladder you are, the more valuable you are to the company, the better treated you are, the more credible your character is and so forth, with the bottom rungs being the wrestlers who lose the most often and never quite seem to be worth all that much. This is my attempt at creating a perpetual WWE roster depth chart.
NOTE: The following is my best guess as to how WWE management views each particular talent, NOT how I would rank them myself. This list also does not include the women's division, cruiserweight division, NXT, NXT UK or other separate entities with a more malleable roster, so the hierarchy is not as well established, particularly in comparison to the main roster.
WWE Depth Chart Last Updated: 9/18/2024
[SPECIALTY]
Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns
MAIN EVENT
HIGH-TIER
CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins
MID-TIER
Drew McIntyre, Gunther
LOW-TIER
AJ Styles, Damian Priest, Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn
UPPER MIDCARD
Bron Breakker, Finn Balor, Jacob Fatu, Jey Uso, LA Knight, Logan Paul, Sheamus, Solo Sikoa
MIDCARD
HIGH-TIER
Andrade, Austin Theory, Braun Strowman, Bronson Reed, Carmelo Hayes, Dominik Mysterio, Grayson Waller, Johnny Gargano, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford), Santos Escobar, Tommaso Ciampa
MID-TIER
Bo Dallas / Uncle Howdy, Brutus Creed, Chad Gable, Dexter Lumis, Dragon Lee, Erick Rowan, Ilja Dragunov, Joe Gacy, Julius Creed, Karrion Kross, Ludwig Kaiser, Pete Dunne, Xavier Woods
LOW-TIER
Angel Garza, AOP (Akam & Rezar), Apollo Crews, Carlito, Cruz Del Toro, Elton Prince, Humberto Carrillo, JD McDonagh, Joaquin Wilde, Kit Wilson, Otis Dozovic, R-Truth
JOBBER
Akira Tozawa, Giovanni Vinci
[STATUS UNKNOWN or INJURED or SENT TO NXT]
Cedric Alexander, Erik, Ivar, Jimmy Uso, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Omos, Shinsuke Nakamura, Talla Tonga, Tyler Bate
RANKING DEFINITIONS
SPECIALTY: These are the guys that take precedence over everyone else, for the most part. They're perpetually at the main event level even if they don't show up that often.
MAIN EVENT: High-Tier are always in the main event and never lower than the top of the card, relatively speaking, and seem to only get pushed aside if it comes to them against a specialty act. Mid-Tier go back and forth. Low-Tier are world champs that don't frequently main event but can fill in a main event spot at any time, or a new world champ that is fresh to the scene and thus, hasn't built up enough history to be moved up.
UPPER MIDCARD: These guys are in limbo between the main event and midcard scene. They may have won world titles but don't stay at the top that often or they are close to getting to that level, but haven't quite reached it yet.
MIDCARD: High-Tier are those that are in contention for the Intercontinental and United States championships at any time; Mid-Tier are not quite that level yet but still may challenge and could possibly be at the top of the tag team division; Low-Tier midcarders are used primarily as filler and rarely win any match unless it's on Main Event.
JOBBER: Generally speaking, these guys can't even make it on Main Event and if you do see them, you know for a fact they're going to lose and stand no chance.
STATUS UNKNOWN: These people are either off TV due to injury, suspension, or something else (wherein they have no ranking) or they are currently not in a position that seems like a solid state, such as a newcomer or someone that is on TV in a non-wrestling capacity.
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