Wrestling Power Rankings 8/18/18

In the summer, I was behind on wrestling by about three weeks. With the G1 Climax and the seven hours of weekly WWE programming, I was struggling to keep up. But now, I'm almost caught up. I'm about a week behind now, which means that the power rankings will soon be able to catch up. At least, that's the goal. Let's get started.

Raw: 

10. Dean Ambrose 1 (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 10)- How great was it to see Dean Ambrose back? He got a huge pop on his return and I am really digging his new appearance, he looks like a hardened convict, and it really suits him.

9. Ronda Rousey (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 2, Peak: 9)

8. The B Team (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 8, Peak: 7)

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

6. Seth Rollins 14 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

5. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre 1/1 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 10, Peak: 4)

4. Finn Balor 4 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 55, Peak: 2)

3. Roman Reigns 10 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

2. Braun Strowman 9 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 59, Peak: 1)

1. Brock Lesnar 2 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

SD: 

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

9. Samoa Joe 1 (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 9)- Surprisingly, the feud between Joe and AJ Styles has mainly been a war of words. And while the WWE Creative team has come up with some cheesy material, Joe and Styles have spun that into pure gold. Joe, in particular, has been phenomenal. 

8. Carmella 1 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 18, Peak: 5)

7. New Day 1 (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 7)

6. The Miz 2 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 15, Peak: 3)

5. Andrade "Cien" Almas 1 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 6, Peak: 5)

4. Daniel Bryan 5 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 22, Peak: 1)

3. Bludgeon Brothers (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 29, Peak: 3)

2. Shinsuke Nakamura 5 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

1. AJ Styles 7 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

205 Live: No one really stood out on this episode of 205 Live so there will be no Wrestler of the Week this week.

10. TJP 2 (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 13, Peak: 8)

9. Gran Metalik 3 (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 31, Peak: 5)

8. Lio Rush (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 5, Peak: 8)

7. Noam Dar (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 7, Peak: 7)

6. Lince Dorado 1 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 29, Peak: 2)

5. Mustafa Ali 7 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

4. Kalisto 6 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 45, Peak: 1)

3. Hideo Itami 4 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 38, Peak: 2)

2. Drew Gulak 3 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 18, Peak: 1)

1. Cedric Alexander 11 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 64, Peak: 1)

NXT:  

10. Street Profits (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 10)

9. Velveteen Dream (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 9)

8. War Raiders (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 10, Peak: 8)

7. Pete Dunne 4 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 34, Peak: 4)

6. Shayna Baszler 3 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 33, Peak: 2)

5. The Undisputed Era 5 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 53, Peak: 1)

4. Johnny Gargano 5 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 37, Peak: 1)

3. Kairi Sane 1 (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 5, Peak: 3)- Kairi showed some great fire in her TV match against Aaliyah.

2. Ricochet 3 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 20, Peak: 2)- It could be a matter of fans getting tired of the Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa rivalry, but Ricochet and Adam Cole stole the show in Brooklyn. Ricochet, in particular, was dazzling and wowed the crowd.

1. Tommaso Ciampa 4 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 20, Peak: 1)

Impact: Just like with 205 Live, there were no real standouts this week so there's no Wrestler of the Week. 

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

9. Su Yung (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 11, Peak: 7)

8. oVe 5 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 52, Peak: 2)

7. LAX (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 7)

6. Moose 2 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 12, Peak: 3)

5. Tessa Blanchard 1 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 7, Peak: 5)

4. Brian Cage 1 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 26, Peak: 1)

3. Eli Drake 7 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 53, Peak: 1)

2. Pentagon 2 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 17, Peak: 1)

1. Austin Aries 9 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 29, Peak: 1)- Though I'm a bigger fan now, I wasn't too fond of the Aries/Killer Kross pairing. It just felt shoehorned and ruined some of Kross's mystique. Here was a guy who had more buzz around him than any Impact star since "Broken" Matt Hardy and they were just turning him into a second for Aries.

ROH: 

10. Chris Sabin 1 (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 2, Peak: 10)- Thank you, Alex Shelley. 

9. Sumie Sakai (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 19, Peak: 8)

8. Adam Page 6 (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

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

6. Marty Scurll 6 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 2)

5. The Kingdom 1 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 8, Peak: 5)

4. Young Bucks 12 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)- The Bucks winning Wrestler of the Week for ROH this week is proof that winning isn't everything. Their match with Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham was the standout of the first two legs of the Honor Reunited tour and they lost their ROH Six Man Tag titles (along with Scurll) to GOD and Taiji Ishimori in a fun match.

3. The Briscoes 3 (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1)

2. Jay Lethal 6 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

1. Cody 4 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 60, Peak: 1)

NJPW: 

10. Taiji Ishimori (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 10)- Ishimori makes his first appearance on our list post-BOSJ and does so a result of winning his first title in New Japan.

9. Jay White 1 (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 6, Peak: 8)

8. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 20, Peak: 5)

7. Minoru Suzuki 2 (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 30, Peak: 2)

6. Hirooki Goto 1 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 9, Peak: 3)

5. Hiroshi Tanahashi 1 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 2, Peak: 5)- To be totally honest, I thought Tana was outperformed by Kota Ibushi in their G1 final. But, since the Wrestler of the Week must be ranked, Tana gets the award here. This was a spectacular match and I'm very excited to see the Ace challenge Kenny Omega at the Tokyo Dome.

4. Kazuchika Okada 3 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

3. Guerillas of Destiny (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 5, Peak: 3)

2. Tetsuya Naito 1 (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

1. Kenny Omega 11 (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 70, Peak: 1)

Thanks for reading everyone.