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WWE Power Rankings, Week of 5/15/17

Welcome back to the weekly Get More Sports WWE Power Rankings, where we rank the top 25 WWE Superstars of the last week by momentum, impact, and performance. This last week was loaded with programming, with about 15 hours of wrestling between Monday Night Raw and Backlash. With a ton of stuff going on, how does this affect the rankings?

  1. Jinder Mahal (+2)
    It is hard to argue that Jinder Mahal didn’t have the best week out of anybody on the roster. Not only had Mahal pinned both Sami Zayn and Randy Orton, but on SmackDown Live this week he also pinned AJ Styles. To top it all off, he actually won the WWE Championship from Orton at Backlash.
  2. Breezango (+6)
    Although they didn’t capture the SmackDown Tag Team Championships from The Usos at Backlash, Tyler Breeze and Fandango put on the funniest and most fun match WWE has had in quite some time. For that accomplishment alone, they deserve to be near the top.
  3. Kevin Owens (+2)
    On SmackDown Live, Kevin Owens hosted his own version of the Highlight Reel and later in the night, he helped Jinder Mahal defeat AJ Styles. Just five days later at Backlash, Owens retained his United States Championship by count-out when Styles was stuck in the announce table.
  4. Shinsuke Nakamura (+19)
    The King of Strong Style finally made his main roster debut at Backlash against Dolph Ziggler and he defeated the Showoff to kick off the show. Now fans who didn’t watch NXT know why Shinsuke Nakamura is such a big deal.
  5. Tommaso Ciampa (-)
    At first, it was surprising that the NXT Tag Team Championship match was the main event of NXT TakeOver: Chicago. When Tommaso Ciampa attacked his (now former) partner Johnny Gargano, it all made sense. Ciampa turned on his best friend and forced him to be carried out on a stretcher in one of the most impactful moments of the week.
  6. Alexa Bliss (-5)
    The Raw Women’s Champion cut her usual promo about how Bayley is a child who doesn’t deserve to be the champion, but she took it one step further. After provoking Bayley to attack her, Bliss grabbed a kendo stick and nailed Bayley with a shot that sent the former champion writhing outside the ring.
  7. The Miz (-5)
    In an Intercontinental Championship match against Dean Ambrose, The Miz won by disqualification when Ambrose hit him with a low blow. While he didn’t win the title, he won the match and secured another championship opportunity.
  8. The Welcoming Committee (-1)
    Not only did Carmella score a pinfall victory over Naomi on Smackdown, but Natalya forced Becky Lynch to submit to the Sharpshooter in their six-woman tag match at Backlash.
  9. Roman Reigns (+3)
    Turning his attention away from Braun Strowman for a while, Roman Reigns built momentum towards Extreme Rules when he picked up his first victory over former Universal Champion, Finn Balor.
  10. Bray Wyatt (+0)
    The Eater of Worlds is only one step away from a Universal Championship opportunity, and he tried to gain some traction this week against Seth Rollins. Rollins won by disqualification, but Wyatt laid both him and Samoa Joe out to stand (well, kneel) tall at the end of Raw.
  11. Alicia Fox (-)
    This might be a little high on the list, but Alicia Fox’s win over Sasha Banks is not something to look over. Fox has barely gotten featured on television at all in her career, and it was even harder when the “Women’s Evolution” seemed to focus on everyone else. However, Fox showed that she was no pushover when she soundly defeated former three-time Raw Women’s Champion, Sasha Banks.
  12. Asuka (-)
    At this point, it is hard to ever see Asuka losing. She has held the NXT Women’s Championship for over a year, and her undefeated streak has (unofficially) surpassed the record set by Goldberg in the late 90s. She continued her dominance by retaining her title against Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot at TakeOver: Chicago.
  13. The Authors of Pain (-)
    Ever since they debuted, The Authors of Pain have been dominating the Tag Team Division. They did so yet again this past Saturday when they retained their NXT Tag Team Championships against #DIY in a ladder match at TakeOver: Chicago.
  14. Sami Zayn (-)
    After repeatedly getting attacked by Corbin over the past month, Sami Zayn finally scored a victory over the Lone Wolf in a big way at Backlash.
  15. Finn Balor (-6)
    Balor was announced as one of the five members to compete for the next shot at Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship. He tried to start building momentum for the Fatal Five-Way, but he ended up losing to Roman Reigns in a very good match.
  16. The Usos (-)
    While it was Breezango who put on the entertaining performance in the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match at Backlash, it was The Usos who walked away retaining the titles.
  17. Pete Dunne (-)
    This was a big week for WWE’s United Kingdom wrestlers. Dunne defeated Trent Seven on the UK Championship special this past Friday, then he captured the title from Tyler Bate at TakeOver: Chicago (which was arguably the best match of the week).
  18. Bobby Roode (-)
    All of NXT’s champions retained their titles, and that includes the NXT Champion, Bobby Roode. Roode took on an unusual opponent in Hideo Itami and came over the style differences to continue his title reign that started at TakeOver: San Antonio.
  19. Roderick Strong (+0)
    Just one week after competing in the main event of NXT against Hideo Itami, Roderick Strong found his first bit of success since returning to the ring when he defeated Eric Young at TakeOver: Chicago.
  20. Tyler Bate (-)
    At the UK Championship Special, Tyler Bate successfully defending his United Kingdom Championship against Mark Andrews. Unfortunately, he would lose it a day later against Pete Dunne.
  21. Goldust (-)
    After teaming with R-Truth for over a year, Goldust was tired of constantly losing. Instead of competing alongside Truth in a tag match, he attacked Truth and laid him out.
  22. The Hardy Boyz (-)
    Jeff and Matt Hardy continue to pick up victories over Sheamus and Cesaro every week. This week, Jeff Hardy defeated Sheamus in singles competition.
  23. TJP (+1)
    Not only did TJP win a tag match alongside Neville on Raw, but he also picked up a victory with an unlikely ally in Brian Kendrick on the UK Championship Special.
  24. Wolfgang (-)
    The kick off the UK Championship special, Wolfgang picked up a victory over Joseph Conners. The surprisingly agile 255-pound Scotsman wowed the audience just like he did in the UK Championship Tournament.
  25. Noam Dar (-)
    In his quest to get revenge on Rich Swann, Noam Dar defeated the returning Gran Metalik. Dar is starting to get back on track as a threat in the Cruiserweight Division.
  • New to the Rankings This Week: Noam Dar, Wolfgang, The Hardy Boyz, Goldust, Tyler Bate, Bobby Roode, Pete Dunne, The Usos, Sami Zayn, The Authors of Pain, Asuka, Alicia Fox, Tommaso Ciampa
  • Kicked off the Rankings: Sheamus & Cesaro, Hideo Itami, Samoa Joe, Dean Ambrose, Baron Corbin, Erick Rowan, Nikki Cross, The Brian Kendrick, Akira Tozawa, #DIY (kind of), Aleister Black, Mustafa Ali, SAnitY

Written by Travis Brinkley

Travis Brinkley is the Wrestling Contributor for Get More Sports who watches WWE and Lucha Underground. Occasionally, he will also write about sports video games.

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