Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of Power Rankings from Smark Out Moment! Each week, we will break down the current roster and examine who has gone up the WWE hierarchy and who has  taken a step down the ladder. Factoring in  wins and losses, suspensions, injuries, making a name for one's self, being humiliated, and more, who is at the top of the food chain and who needs to make up some ground next week?


Natalya squeaks onto our Power Rankings for the first time thanks to some Power Poll love, earned in part due to making the 'Total Divas' segment on RAW not look like the complete dross it usually seems to be.


Someone out there is digging the Corporate Kane gimmick, and admittedly he's done well in his brawls with Ambrose, especially during this week's 'Dean in a Box' escapades. He's making Ambrose look like a star, and that's probably the best use of Kane at this stage.


Heyman had very little to do this week, only appearing at the Night of Champions show and only in a limited capacity. Still, he makes his presence felt even from ringside, and Lesnar's 'Big Fight' matches recently have been enhanced by Heyman. Hopefully we hear more from him on the mic this week.


Another Night of Champions-only performer; Jericho had a relatively innocuous match with Randy Orton, which suffered from the same lack of good build-up as his matches vs Wyatt. Jericho still has it in the ring, but he hasn't made me care about his matches enough to really enjoy them. Jericho's absences from RAW have also kept him from being a major player in this run. It's a shame to say, because he is one of my all-time favourites, but I'm just about ready to never see Chris Jericho wrestle again.


AJ is the Divas Champion once again, for seemingly no reason at all. I would have facepalmed if Nikki Bella had won the title, sure, but at least it would have made at least a bit of sense. Paige retaining would have helped build her up as the top heel of the women's division, and established herself as a winner, something that WWE have failed to do in her run so far. AJ winning just feels like a reset on the Divas, much like Cena winning the WWE Championship would feel. AJ's still great and all, but nonsensical booking is bringing her down.


I went back and forth on even including The Bunny in the Power Poll, and in the end I did not. But I'm sticking him on here anyway, simply because that act was more entertaining this week than everyone below him/not on this list. The Bunny is over, way more so than Adam Rose, and if WWE play their cards right, they could be onto a hit comedy wrestler here. Comedy wrestling has its place, especially on RAW, so I'm cool with The Bunny (for now).


Kofi Kingston emerged from his stay in the Mid Card Hell Hole to stand out in a battle royal on Smackdown, proving that he actually can look pretty damn good if he's given a chance to shine. Hopefully the 'New Nation' faction can finally get onto TV, as faces or heels, just so Woods, Big E and Kofi can get a chance to show off how good they are, because it's been a while since any of them had anything to get motivated about.


I think there are quite a few people enjoying Slator Gator in the role of 'Bunny jobbers'. They're an entertaining failure double act, and I'm willing to see more Bunny/SG matches provided they don't run the comedy into the ground (which they will).


Same deal for Heath as with Titus, except Titus gets the nod over Slater because I didn't expect him to be as good in the role as Slater would. Of course Slater is good at looking like a goof, but O'Neil has had to change up his character a little bit for the entire Bunny angle to work, so I applaud him for doing it successfully.


I tuned out of Ziggler's Night of Champions match completely thanks to the commentary of (I think it was) Florida Georgia Line. For some reason, I doubt that they'll catch on over here in the UK. Anyway, Ziggler had two kind-of-okay matches with The Miz, where he won and lost the IC Title, making it feel less important as a result. I don't know why WWE are hot shotting two of their titles so much, but I'm so ready for them to stop doing it. Champions will never feel important if they keep changing every week.


Fun Fact: Randy Orton has never received a Power Poll vote in the month that we've been making these rankings. People are clearly sick of him, and I don't blame them, but he's actually still delivering good matches every time he goes out, even if they aren't particularly memorable. I'm just waiting for Orton to get an angle he can really get motivated by, as he did last year against Daniel Bryan, because when he really cares, Orton can do awesome work in the ring.


The New Former Intercontinental Champion is still making the Hollywood Heel gimmick work, even if he is getting outshined by his stunt double. Two very 'meh' matches against Ziggler this week in a pretty 'meh' feud, but The Miz is at least deserving of some recognition based on his recent performances.


A tree fell in the forest and didn't make a sound on SmackDown, as Big Show had a very entertaining match with Rusev to close the show, and technically handed Rusev his first defeat, albeit by DQ. The 'USA vs Russia' gimmick is getting amazing reactions from the crowd, and Big Show is the perfect guy to be be Rusev's next opponent and extract that support from the fans.


The only complaint I have about Sandow right now is that he's making me disinterested in the Miz/Ziggler matches he's at ringside for, because he's stealing the show from them with his 'Mizdow' character. Sandow's bringing some great comedy whenever he appears, and should perhaps think about becoming a professional mimmick after this WWE gig is over. He's seriously very good at being a complete idiot, and that can get you far in WWE.


Behind all that amazing 'USA vs Russia' heat is the woman who is creating most of it. Rusev is doing the business in the ring and bringing crowds into matches, but it's Lana who is holding their attention through several months of storylines, and that suggests that WWE have a very high opinion of her. If they didn't, they wouldn't be attempting this long-term story. Lana's involvement in the Big Show/Rusev match on SmackDown was great as well, slapping more heel heat on Rusev by showing that he's not above using Lana's aid to protect his 'unpinned' streak.


The Usos have lost the Tag titles but still figure to be in a prominent role going forward. Their Night of Champions match with the Dust Brothers was great and a re-match is very welcome. Hopefully a three-way with the Wyatts involved as well is in the pipeline, because The Usos work amazingly well with both of those teams and could really make something special happen. As long as The Usos are around, the tag division is in good hands.


Henry got the crowd behind him very well as the latest America-lover at Night of Champions. It wasn't as good a match as the Swagger/Rusev series, but Henry held up his end and really made Rusev look strong throughout. I don't know what's next for Mark, but he can be proud with the way that he put over Rusev.


Cena more than held up his end of the Night of Champions main event, once again rising to the big occasion and delivering an exciting performance that few others could match. Lesnar's still the star attraction of their matches, but Cena is one of the few guys on the card who can believably go toe-to-toe with him, so Cena will probably get at least one more shot at Brock before the year is out. I'll look forward to that match, even though I'd prefer someone else to be built-up instead.


The new Tag Team Champions are thoroughly deserving of the penny belts, since not only were they one of the pairings that last year carried some crappy RAWs and made Tag Team wrestling relevant in WWE again, but have also done some great work in their new 'Cosmic Twins' gimmick. It's not been to everyone's taste, but the Stardust character has interested me, especially as a heel, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they and The Usos go from here.


Sheamus is still being underutilised as the US Champion, and the only times he's felt relavent this year have been in his matches with Cesaro. Luckily, he got to fight Cesaro at Night of Champions, and the two of them delivered a great hard-hitting match; the kind of style that is right up my street as a New Japan nerd. Let's hope WWE can continue to find good challengers for Sheamus, and not let him slip into irrelevance again.


Big love for Rollins in the Power Poll this week, suggesting that his promo skills are starting to impress. He didn't get a match on RAW, SmackDown or Night of Champions and therefore didn't get to show off too much, which means I've ranked Rollins lower than the consensus, but people have clearly bought into Rollins as a major heel, and he's only getting better as he gets more comfortable with his increased role in the ring and on the mic.


Cesaro continues to shine despite having no spotlight on the card, as he delivered another great strong-style match with Sheamus at Night of Champions, before going for round 2 in a tag match on RAW. Cesaro's putting in great work with almost no build-up to help him out, making him perhaps the most underutilised wrestler on the roster.


Rusev crushed again at Night of Champions, this time the victim was Mark Henry, in another really good big hoss match for Rusev. Rusev has a Lesnar-like quality of making his matches feel more important just from his presence, and that could well help him become the very top heel one day. Right now, he seems destined to be fed to John Cena, but Rusev's run this year has been fantastic, and while the Henry match wasn't as good as the Swagger ones, it's another notch in the belt for the impressive Bulgarian Russian.


Lesnar's performed a vanishing act again on TV for the time being, but he once again brought the 'Big Fight' feel to the main event of Night of Champions in a way that nobody else can. It wasn't as memorable as his match against Cena at SummerSlam, and the screwy finish will definitely put off some, but Brock Lesnar's matches are must-see, and WWE really need to re-iterate that Brock only fights on the WWE Network. That could be the biggest and best selling point they have.


What a return week for Dean Ambrose. First off, the return at Night of Champions in the taxi was inspired, and very Austin-esque. It got the crowd completely fired up for whatever was coming next, and only a rare few talents can have that control over the masses. Ambrose has 'it', whatever your definition of 'it' is, and he proves it time and again. Both his brawls at NoC and RAW were very fun, and as long as you don't think too hard about it, his jumping out of the box on RAW was a great moment. On Main Event he got to own the show on MizTV, and rounded off the week by polishing off the The Miz on SmackDown. A very well-deserved #1 ranking this week.