The Wrestling Examiner

It was an interesting week for wrestling. The New Era and Brand Split are still new, TNA is gearing up for Bound for Glory , NXT saw the debut of a former World champion, and Ring Oh Honor continues to have Bullet Club problems. But what was the best out of all of it? There's a lot to look at, from promos to matches and everything in between. By the way, this list is in no particular order. Let's get started. 10. The Bullet Club and Jay Lethal- The Bullet Club has been getting involved in the ROH World title for a while, but things are really heating up now. Following Nigel McGuinness's proclamation that BC member (and former ROH Champion) would never get another shot at the World title again, the Bullet Club attacked ROH World Champion Jay Lethal and shaved his head. It's clear where this is going: Lethal is going to demand McGuinness give Cole a title shot so they can settle things in the ring. Either way, this whole storyline is pretty exciting and Lethal is slowl...

First of all, I want to apologize for missing last week's rankings. However, they will be accounted for in this week's rankings. Also, these rankings only go up to Saturday, so  Extreme Rules  will not be taken into account. Furthermore, since these rankings are a little late, there won't be an explanation for them. Explanations will only be given if the rankings are released on the weekend. Let's get started. WWE: 15. Natalya (Last Week: 15, Weeks in Rankings: 6) 14. The Vaudevillains (Last Week: 14, Weeks in Rankings: 5) 13. Sami Zayn (Last Week: 13, Weeks in Rankings: 6) 12. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows (Last Week: 12, Weeks in Rankings: 3) 11. Charlotte (Last Week: 11, Weeks in Rankings: 6) 10. The Miz (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 6) 9. Chris Jericho (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 6) 8. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 6) 7. Cesaro (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 6) 6. Triple H (Last Week: 5, Weeks...

The biggest wrestling event of the week emanated from Chicago at WWE's Payback . Overall, it was a better event than WrestleMania 32, something which many did not see as a possibility at the end of last year. In other news, this will be the first week we have Lucha Underground on the rankings. I hope to have ROH next week after their Global Wars pay-per-view on Sunday. Let's get started. WWE: 15. The Vaudevillains (Last Week: 15, Weeks in Rankings: 3)- Aiden English and Simon Gotch are the new #1 Contenders for the tag titles. 14. Natalya (Last Week: 14, Weeks in Rankings: 4)- She didn't get the job done against Charlotte at Payback , but she'll get another chance at Extreme Rules . 13. Sami Zayn (Last Week: 13, Weeks in Rankings: 4)- Though he lost cleanly at Payback , Zayn now finds himself back in the IC title picture. 12. Karl Anderson/Luke Gallows (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1)- The former NJPW stars make their debut on our rankings after mainevent...

With Payback  taking place tomorrow, the last week in WWE was all about building to the first post-'Mania PPV of the year. Over in NXT, we have yet to depart from Dallas. In TNA, we saw two title changes that were totally expected. Before we get started, I would like to say that we should be ranking Lucha Underground  by next week, so check for that. Let's get started. WWE: 15. The Vaudevillains (Last Week: 15, Weeks in Ratings: 2)- The Vaudevillains didn't throw down on Raw or Smackdown, but they did confront Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady (their opponents on Sunday) twice. 14. Natalya (Last Week: 14, Weeks in Ratings: 3)- Natalya stood face-to-face with her Payback opponent on Smackdown, but didn't mix it up inside the ring. 13. Sami Zayn (Last Week: 13, Weeks in Rankings: 3)- The Ultimate Underdog had two wins this week: a win over Rusev on Raw and a count-out victory in a six-man tag match on Smackdown against the League of Nations. 12. Kevin Owens (Last We...

In our second ever rankings, we see some movement across the board for all three promotions. All three made headlines, including TNA's financial woes, an NXT title change at a live event in Lowell, Massachusetts, and WWE's newest stars making an impact. Everything will be taken into consideration in our newest rankings. We are also introducing two new concepts: last position and weeks in rankings. These will help us better track a particular wrestler's momentum. Let's go. WWE: 15. The Vaudevillains (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 2)- By beating The Usos on Raw, Aiden English & Simon Gotch guaranteed themselves a match at Payback , which will mark their PPV debut. 14. Natalya (Last Week: 15, Weeks in Rankings: 2)- The former Divas Champion forced Charlotte and Tamina to tap out this week, and that upward momentum carries her up a spot. 13. Sami Zayn (Last Week: 11, Weeks in Rankings: 2)- The former NXT Champion lost two matches this week, including a sing...

Some of you long-term readers might remember that I used to do a stock check where I would list check out the momentum of various superstars. I haven't done that in a while thought, and rather than bring it back, I decided to do something else entirely (and something that would force me to write every week). With that being said, welcome to the first edition of the wrestling rankings. Here, we'll rank the top competitors in WWE, NXT, and TNA (with Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, and NJPW to follow at some point in the future). These ratings are based solely on my discretion and will reflect the wrestlers' overall status in their promotion as well as what happened in the week. WWE will have 15 spots while the others will have 10. Let's get started. WWE: 15. Natalya- The Queen of Harts may have come up short in her Women's Championship match on Raw, but she looked very impressive nonetheless. The current plans are for her to be the #1 Contender for the title ...

NXT TakeOver: Dallas took place on Friday, April 1st and it was one of the most anticipated shows in recent memory. Not only would we get to see NXT stars like Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Asuka, Baron Corbin, and Bayley, but we would also get to see the debut of Austin Aries and Shinsuke Nakamura. The event was absolutely incredible and it will undoubtedly be one of the best WWE/NXT shows of the year. In fact, it may go down as one of the best wrestling shows of this century. It has definitely supplanted Brooklyn as the best TakeOver ever. With this show, NXT has continued to prove itself as one of the best promotions in the business. BUt what exactly stood out on the show? In this article we'll be optimistic and look at the positives (which won't be hard). Let's get started. 10. Tag Title Match Sets the Tone for the Night: The show got off to a great start with the tag title match between The Revival and American Alpha. Both teams have been hot for a few months now (espe...

Now that 2015 is over, we can look back at the whole year. It also means that it's time for the second-ever Wrestling Examiner awards. The first-ever awards were a success last year, and it's only getting bigger this year. Now, we have more awards (29 in total) to present over five different promotions: WWE, NXT, TNA, ROH, and Lucha Underground. Almost all of the awards are brand-specific, but there are three awards that transcend promotional boundaries: Weekly Show of the Year, Promotion of the Year, and Legend of the Year. Without further ado, let's get started. Weekly Show of the Year: Lucha Underground In its debut season, Lucha Underground  made a huge mark on network television. In fact, it even has a 9.3 rating on IMDB. In comparison, The Wire  has a 9.4,   Mad Men  has an 8.7,  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver  has a 9.2, Raw has an 8.0, and SmackDown has a 7.2. The inaugural season of LU was always entertaining and delivered in every single...