The Wrestling Examiner

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...