There actually wasn’t a whole lot going on this week in the WWE. It was a lot of building up for the next PPV and fairly uneventful. I personally thought that RAW had the best show of the week, but the rest weren’t bad, just not particularly memorable. We had some matches added to SummerSlam, so it will be an interesting PPV coming up. Here are the rankings for the week.

10: Sheamus

Sheamus had a moderately busy week on SmackDown. He defeated Shorty G and he even attacked Big E in a momentum halting segment. Sheamus has been somewhat of a wanderer on the SmackDown roster since coming back, but I think things will change pretty soon.

9: Bronson Reed

Bronson Reed picked up a somewhat surprising win this week. He defeated Damian Priest in a solid matchup and I thought for sure that Priest would be the victor. Reed and Priest are both in the ladder match for the North American Championship at NXT TakeOver XXX and I would think both competitors have a great shot to win.

8: Mandy Rose/Sonya Deville

We are going to get the chance to see Rose vs. Deville finally in a PPV setting, but there is a special stipulation attached. It will be a hair vs. hair match. I’m not particularly a big fan of the stipulation, but it does add a little more tension. This just feels like Sonya Deville wants to change her look, rather than an actual feud where these two “former” friends actually want to rip each others hair out.

7: Karrion Kross

Danny Burch vs. Karrion Kross had a decent buildup heading into Wednesday, but I don’t think it lived up to the potential. Kross picked up a win, which will help solidify his dominant status heading into TakeOver, but the victory wasn’t particularly necessary.

6: Cameron Grimes

Grimes earned entry into the North American Championship ladder match at TakeOver and he defeated Kushida and a returning Velveteen Dream. The most shocking thing about this was the return of Dream. I think pretty much everyone thought that he was on his way out, but it looks like things got cleared up in his situation. Grimes will be a good entry for the match and should shine next Saturday.

5: Retribution

Retribution continued their destruction of SmackDown and RAW this week and things still aren’t clear as to who they might be. I like it this way though. It opens up a lot of possibilities. Maybe they will be revealed at SummerSlam.

4: Randy Orton

Orton won the main event match against Kevin Owens and the match was a solid one, but what sold it was what happened after the match. Ric Flair added another element to this story and it looks like he is no longer a part of the storyline. Orton and McIntyre is going to be great at SummerSlam. I just wished that there was a live audience to react, but it looks like we’re going to get another step closer to that with the virtual audience.

3: Seth Rollins

Rollins attack on Dominik this week was brutal and it felt real. Dominik was beaten to a pulp by Rollins and Murphy on RAW and it was announced that Dominik and Rollins will have a street fight. It is probably a better idea that it’s a street fight because it doesn’t expose any weaknesses that Dominik may have in the ring. I anxious to see what happens next Sunday.

2: Braun Strowman

Many people didn’t like the Strowman main event segment with Alexa Bliss and The Fiend, but I thought it was just what the story needed. Strowman showed another element to his character that we haven’t seen before. He showed off a sadistic side and even a fresh clean shaven hairstyle. Although The Fiend probably has higher odds to win next Sunday, I think Strowman boosted his odds on Friday.

1: Asuka

Asuka at number one this week was a no-brainer. She defeated Bayley on RAW to earn a shot at the RAW Women’s Championship and on Friday, she won the Tri-Brand Battle Royal to earn a shot at Bayley’s SmackDown Women’s Championship. It would shock me to see Asuka walk out of SummerSlam empty handed and I think that she will actually win the SmackDown Women’s Championship. It will give Bayley some time to hone her skills as SmackDown’s top heel or even jump to RAW and start a feud with Sasha Banks. I guess we’ll see what happens, but things are getting interesting in the Women’s division.

Yacs

WWE Power Rankings: Week of August 16th 2020