Wrestling Power Rankings 7/28/18

This week was really all about one thing: Slammiversary. In a week full of buildup to Summerslam and the G1 Climax, Impact put on one of the best PPVs of the year and managed to erase some of the stigma that has followed them for years. Is it totally gone? Of course not, one show, no matter how good it is, changes years of bad booking and business decisions.

But how did all of these things affect our rankings? Let's get started.

Raw: 

10. Alexa Bliss (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 6, Peak: 8)

9. Bobby Lashley 1 (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 6, Peak: 8)

8. Seth Rollins 14 (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

7. The B Team (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 5, Peak: 7)

6. The Deleters of Worlds 3/1 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 21/16, Peak: 2)

5. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre 1/1 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 7, Peak: 4)

4. Roman Reigns 9 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)- There wasn't a whole lot to this episode of Raw but Reigns and Lashley had a pretty good match in the main event. 

3. Finn Balor 4 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 53, Peak: 2)

2. Brock Lesnar 1 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

1. Braun Strowman 9 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 56, Peak: 1)

SD: The real two stars of Smackdown this week were Samoa Joe and Randy Orton. Joe obliterated R-Truth in a quick match and was then named #1 Contender to the WWE Championship while Orton delivered his best promo in years. Since neither of them is ranked, there's no Wrestler of the Week this week. 

10. New Day (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 10)- New Day and SAnitY are just trading the tenth spot over the last few weeks. 

9. Jeff Hardy 1 (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 15, Peak: 7)

8. Rusev (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 6. Peak: 7)

7. Andrade "Cien" Almas 1 (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 3, Peak: 7)

6. Carmella (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 16, Peak: 5)

5. The Miz 2 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 12, Peak: 3)

4. Daniel Bryan 5 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 19, Peak: 1)

3. Bludgeon Brothers (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 26, Peak: 3)

2. AJ Styles 7 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

1. Shinsuke Nakamura 5 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

205 Live: 

10. Lio Rush (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 2, Peak: 10)

9. TJP 2 (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 10, Peak: 8)

8. Noam Dar (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 8)

7. Gran Metalik 3 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 28, Peak: 5)

6. Lince Dorado 1 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 26, Peak: 2)

5. Hideo Itami 3 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 35, Peak: 2)

4. Kalisto 6 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 42, Peak: 1)

3. Mustafa Ali 7 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

2. Cedric Alexander 10 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 61, Peak: 1)

1. Drew Gulak 3 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 15, Peak: 1)- Gulak looked awesome in the main event match of 205 Live. He looked every bit the savage, technical wizard that many on the independent scene knew him to be. He was absolutely the right choice to win here. 

NXT:  

10. Kairi Sane 1 (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 2, Peak: 10) 

9. Velveteen Dream (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 9)

8. War Raiders (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 7, Peak: 8)

7. Pete Dunne 4 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 31, Peak: 4)

6. Ricochet 2 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 17, Peak: 5)

5. Shayna Baszler 2 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 30, Peak: 2)

4. The Undisputed Era 5 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 50, Peak: 1)

3. Aleister Black (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

2. Johnny Gargano 5 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 34, Peak: 1)

1. Tommaso Ciampa 4 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 17, Peak: 1)- Many never thought it would happen: Tommaso Ciampa becomes NXT Champion. No one can say he doesn't deserve it, he's been the best heel in all of wrestling and his in-ring work has been superb. 

Impact: As I wrote before, there was a lot to love about Slammiversary. There were three potential match of the night candidates: OGz/LAX, Callihan/Pentagon, and Aries/Moose.

10. LAX (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 10)- I had admittedly low expectations for the match but I loved that violent, hardcore tag match. It was just a ton of fun to sit back and take it in.

9. Matt Sydal 2 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 27, Peak: 5)- Sydal dropped the X-Division title to Brian Cage at Slammiversary.

8. Tessa Blanchard 1 (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 8)

7. Su Yung (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 8, Peak: 7)- Her match with Madison Rayne was nothing to write home about but at least Yung retained. 

6. oVe 5 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 49, Peak: 2)

5. Eli Drake 7 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 50, Peak: 1)

4. Moose 2 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 9, Peak: 3)

3. Pentagon 2 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 14, Peak: 1)

2. Brian Cage 1 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 22, Peak: 1)

1. Austin Aries 7 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 26, Peak: 1)- As great as performances as guys like Pentagon and Sami Callihan gave, I have to give Wrestler of the Week to Aries. 

ROH: The ROH World title changed aired on TV this week but since ROH released the match weeks earlier, it won't factor into the rankings this week. Since almost the entire show was built around that match, there's no Wrestler of the Week this week. 

10. Silas Young (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 18, Peak: 6)

9. Adam Page 6 (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

8. Sumie Sakai (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 17, Peak: 9)

7. Punishment Martinez (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 5, Peak: 6)

6. The Kingdom (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 5, Peak: 6)

5. Marty Scurll 6 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 2)

4. The Briscoes 3 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 64, Peak: 1)

3. Young Bucks 11 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1

2. Jay Lethal 6 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

1. Cody 4 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 57, Peak: 1)

NJPW: 

10. EVIL (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 2, Peak: 10)

9. Jay White 1 (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 3, Peak: 8)

8. Juice Robinson (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 7)

7. Guerillas of Destiny (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 7)

6. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 17, Peak: 5)

5. Minoru Suzuki 2 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 27, Peak: 2)

4. Kazuchika Okada 3 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)- The overlooked gem of this week in the G1 Climax might have been the Okada/YOSHI-HASHI match. The latter was in the midst of a disappointing tournament and needed a win over his stablemate in the worst way. These two told a fantastic story that resulted in Okada going over but YOSHI getting over.

3. Hirooki Goto 1 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 6, Peak: 3)

2. Tetsuya Naito 1 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

1. Kenny Omega 10 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

Thanks for reading everyone.