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WWE Power Rankings, Week of 4/17/17

Welcome back to the weekly Get More Sports WWE Power Rankings, where we rank the top 25 WWE Superstars based on performance, impact, and momentum throughout the last week. This week, we saw Braun Strowman dominating Monday Night Raw, Jinder Mahal becoming the new #1 Contender for the WWE Championship, and an action-packed episode of NXT (I guess 205 Live happened, too). Let’s see how everything affected the rankings.

  1. Braun Strowman (+0)
    Strowman had a bit of a lull around WrestleMania, but now he is back to dominating Monday nights every week. After destroying Roman Reigns last week, he assaulted Golden Truth and Kalisto this week. In the main event, his match with Big Show ended in a no contest after Strowman superplexed the 7-footer and collapsed the ring.
  2. AJ Styles (+4)
    After becoming the new #1 Contender for the United States Championship last week, AJ Styles picked up another big win by defeating Baron Corbin by count-out.
  3. Charlotte (+12)
    New show, same Queen. Charlotte demanded a SmackDown Women’s Championship match on her first night, but she got the second best option by defeating Naomi in a non-title match to earn a title shot for next week.
  4. Tye Dillinger (+10)
    Appropriately jumping ten spots in the rankings this week, Tye Dillinger skipped a week of SmackDown Live to have his “farewell” match on NXT. The Perfect 10 finally defeated Eric Young with the help of Kassius Ohno and Roderick Strong in a very entertaining cage match.
  5. Alexa Bliss (-)
    Just like Charlotte, Alexa Bliss switched shows after being on top of her previous division and became the #1 Contender for the Raw Women’s Championship. Bliss used her smarts to take advantage of Nia Jax’s handiwork, getting the pin on former 3-time Raw Women’s Champion Sasha Banks.
  6. Jinder Mahal (-)
    WWE has been full of surprises since WrestleMania, but this could be the biggest one of them all. Jinder Mahal defeated Mojo Rawley, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan (with the help of the Bollywood Boyz) to become the new #1 Contender for the WWE Championship.
  7. Kevin Owens (+9)
    In his first match on SmackDown Live, the Face of America held an open challenge and defeated his enhancement talent opponent. He then joined commentary to continue his new feud with AJ Styles, the new #1 Contender for the US Title.
  8. Hideo Itami (-)
    Itami knows how to make an impact. After being out of action for months due to injury, he returned to attack the NXT Champion, Bobby Roode, hinting at our next title feud.
  9. The Hardy Boyz (+3)
    While Matt Hardy didn’t do much this week, Jeff Hardy competed in a dream match by facing Cesaro in singles action. This was Jeff’s first singles match on Raw in about eight years.
  10. Nia Jax (+0)
    While Alexa Bliss won the Fatal Four Way #1 Contender’s Match, it was Nia Jax who dominated the entire match by herself. This includes tossing around six-time champion, Mickie James in her Raw return.
  11. TJ Perkins (+0)
    The former Cruiserweight Champion continues to develop his newfound jerk character after defeating Jack Gallagher on Raw then assaulting Austin Aries following his loss on 205 Live.
  12. Finn Balor (-7)
    The Demon King managed to recover quickly from a concussion last week, defeating Curt Hawkins soundly in under a minute.
  13. Primo & Epico Colon (+7)
    Last week, Primo and Epico Colon debuted on SmackDown Live by attacking American Alpha. This week, they defeated the former SmackDown Tag Team Champions in quite the upset.
  14. Dean Ambrose (-10)
    The Lunatic Fringe didn’t compete in the ring this week, but he was a guest on MizTV. The Miz claimed that Ambrose was not a “true” champion of WWE Superstar, but Ambrose cut an impassioned promo before getting into a scrap with Miz.
  15. Samoa Joe (-)
    The first-ever two-time NXT Champion returned to action this week when he defeated Chris Jericho in the opening match for Raw. Joe needed this momentum going into his match at Payback against Seth Rollins.
  16. Big Show (-)
    After standing up to Braun Strowman backstage, Big Show put on another impressive match with the mountain of a man. The only reason Big Show didn’t win for sure was because the ring collapsed.
  17. Kevin Owens (-14)
    The United States Champion prevented Chris Jericho from competing on Raw by powerbombing him through a table backstage. In hindsight, that was a bad idea since he lost to Finn Balor.
  18. Andrade “Cien” Almas (-)
    El Idolo bounced back from his loss at TakeOver: Orlando against Aleister Black by defeating Danny Burch, an NXT regular who competed in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament. Almas faces Drew McIntyre next week.
  19. Eric Young (-)
    Even though SAnitY could not help him win, Eric Young put on a hell of a performance against Tye Dillinger in their steel cage match on NXT. Young’s highlight of the match was hitting Dillinger with an elbow drop from the top of the cage.
  20. Akira Tozawa (+5)
    Brian Kendrick tried to help Tony Nese defeat Akira Tozawa, but his plan backfired. After his victory, Tozawa then proceeded to teach Kendrick another one of his own lessons.
  21. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (-)
    The Good Brothers were supposed to face Golden Truth, but Braun Strowman laid them out backstage. Instead, they had a match against Enzo Amore and Big Cass, which they won to climb up the ladder in the tag division.
  22. Sami Zayn (-20)
    If it wasn’t for the Bollywood Boyz, Sami Zayn would be the new #1 Contender for the WWE Championship. Even though he lost, Zayn has already solidified his spot near the top of the card for SmackDown Live.
  23. The Miz (-)
    Dean Ambrose might have gotten the better of their exchange during MizTV, but the show’s host did an unsurprisingly great job at getting under Ambrose’s skin and being a bit of a jerk all around.
  24. Naomi (-)
    The SmackDown Women’s Champion put on one of the best matches of her career against Charlotte, who she will defend her title against next week.
  25. Ariya Daivari (-)
    Following months of losses, Daivari showed up on 205 Live with a new-ish gimmick. With the help of Drew Gulak, Daivari picked up a win over Mustafa Ali.
  • New to the Rankings This Week: Ariya Daivari, Naomi, The Miz, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Eric Young, Andrade “Cien” Almas, Big Show, Samoa Joe, Hideo Itami, Jinder Mahal, Alexa Bliss
  • Kicked off the Rankings: The Revival, Shinsuke Nakamura, Drew McIntyre, The Usos, Oney Lorcan, Aleister Black, Dylan Miley, Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Mojo Rawley, Tamina

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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