As SummerSlam and TakeOver: Brooklyn edge ever nearer, the superstars of WWE are doing everything they can to get one over on their opponents (and to appear on this list, naturally). It takes a lot to send the right message to your opponent; it takes even more to become one of our Wrestlers of the Week.
10. Randy Orton
Randy Orton continued to beat up Jeff Hardy this week, and he played a few mind games with Shinsuke Nakamura as well – even though the reason for that isn’t really clear.
“The Apex Predator’s” assault on Hardy didn’t have the same impact as the one he committed two weeks ago, but the way he stripped Jeff of his face paint, those sleeve things, and his pendant was pretty cool. It was like he was taking away everything that makes Jeff Hardy who he is, and leaving the audience with a broken hero.
Orton is still dominating the former US Champ, but if he wants to climb higher in Cultured Vultures’ very prestigious rankings, he needs to have a match soon, preferably obliterating his opponent in the process.
9. Zelina Vega
In her first match on the main roster, Vega battled against Lana after their spat last week. Vega had Andrade “Cien” Almas in her corner, but Lana was left without Rusev.
The match wasn’t too bad. Lana isn’t the best wrestler in the world, and Zelina looked a little sloppy as well, but it had this nice ‘cat-fight’ vibe to it that really worked in its favour. I suppose it helped that both women are popular characters and the match had the support of the crowd. Zelina won with a roll-up, which befits her sneaky ‘behind-the-back’ attitude, giving her that crucial first win on SmackDown.
Zelina certainly wasn’t the best in-ring competitor this week, but her character work was excellent and it was her inaugural main roster match. Not a bad start for Vega; let’s see if she can climb higher as time goes on.
8. Drew Gulak
Gulak didn’t have a match this week on 205 Live, but he did sign the contract to make his Cruiserweight Title match with Cedric Alexander official. On top of that, he laid out a dastardly plan to attack the champ.
Alexander won a gruelling match against The Brian Kendrick, but Jack Gallagher, at Gulak’s request, sneaked into the ring to level the Cruiserweight Champ with a big headbutt. Gulak, Kendrick, and Gallagher were about to take Alexander out when 205 Live GM Drake Maverick ordered the heels to leave.
Drew didn’t get everything he wanted this week, yet he still got inside the head of the champion, making him one of our Wrestlers of the Week.
7. The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson)
Dash & Dawson came out on Raw to interrupt The Deleters of Worlds and The B-Team, and they said what most people are thinking: how are these two teams on top of the tag division? The Revival then had a match against Matt & Bray to prove why they are Raw’s top guys.
The match was pretty good by Raw standards, and it was great to see Dash & Dawson finally making an impact. Their win over The Deleters of Worlds surely puts them in contention for the Raw Tag Team Titles, even if no announcement has been made yet.
Good work from two top guys. If Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel are going to lose their straps to anyone, it might as well be the two most serious competitors in the division.
6. Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven)
Bate & Seven returned to Full Sail and dominated their jobber opponents. The two showed off the incredible tandem offence that won them the NXT Tag Team Titles at Royal Albert Hall, with Seven picking up the win with an assist from Bate.
After the match, they addressed the issue of losing their titles to the Undisputed Era, and announced they will be challenging the champions at TakeOver: Brooklyn for the straps.
Moustache Mountain hit hard and hit fast this week. They want their championships back, and they’re ready to bring the fight to Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong.
5. The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro)
The Bar are back, and they are set to shake the SmackDown tag team division to its core. Sheamus & Cesaro faced off against The Usos to determine who will move on to the final round in the tournament to crown new No.1 contenders to the SD Tag Team Titles.
Even though they’ve been off TV for quite a while, The Bar haven’t missed a step. They worked great as a cohesive unit, with Sheamus saving Cesaro from being hit with an over-the-top rope dive, and Cesaro returning the favour by hitting one of the Usos with a European uppercut before he had the chance to splash the Celtic Warrior. Sheamus picked up the win, leading to a stare-down between The Bar and The New Day. The former 4-time Raw Tag Team Champs decided to leave the ring, having made it very clear they’re in the tournament to win it.
It’s awesome to see Sheamus & Cesaro back on TV, as their absence has been quite noticeable. They’re the reliable, hard-hitting team the SmackDown tag team division needs, so let’s hope WWE keep pushing them as the serious threat they are.
4. Shayna Baszler
The NXT Women’s Champion has bad-mouthed a lot of the roster recently, but so far no one has been able to shut her up. This week on NXT was no different.
In what was probably one of the better WWE matches this week, Shayna Baszler defeated a very game Candice LeRae. After making “Mrs. Wrestling” tap out, Baszler locked in another chokehold which took three referees and a “Pirate Princess” to break up.
Not happy with Kairi Sane getting up in her business, the champ gave Sane a cocky little kick to the head before leaving.
Once again, Shayna is killing it as the absolute badass champion. She talks trash, but she can back it up and then some.
3. Samoa Joe
“The Samoan Submission Machine” cut an excellent promo this week, and it was just so menacing and intense that you couldn’t help but feel a little bit fearful for AJ Styles’ well-being.
The former two-time NXT Champion switched between speaking softly with malicious intent to shouting with so much force it’d put the fear of God into any man alive. Joe said that he knows AJ’s family will be secretly cheering when he beats “The Phenomenal One” for the WWE Championship, because then they’d finally get their daddy back, and the sacrifices AJ has made to stay champion will have been for nothing.
It was a powerful and very personal attack on AJ Styles, and it was bloody brilliant. The only thing missing from this segment was the WWE Champion himself.
2. Charlotte Flair
Charlotte came back to SmackDown in a big way this week. After saving her friend Becky Lynch from getting battered by a knock-off Barbie, SD GM Paige told “The Queen” that she will be added to the Women’s Title match at SummerSlam if she can beat Carmella in a one-on-one match that night.
And that is exactly what Charlotte did. Carmella did a decent job (which makes it two weeks in a row) as the conniving heel, but Flair kept on fighting, and countered a cheeky Figure Four attempt from “The Princess of Staten Island” into a Figure Eight. ‘Mella tapped, much to Charlotte’s delight — and Becky Lynch’s contempt.
This isn’t exactly great news for Lynch as now she has an extra opponent to deal with at SummerSlam, but that’s not Flair’s problem in the slightest. She’s earned her spot in the title match, and a wonderful spot on this list to boot. Well done, Charlotte.
1. Brock Lesnar
The Universal Champion had one hell of a Monday night. It looked like Lesnar was going to have a chilled evening, fulfilling his contractual obligations by doing nothing but read very manly magazines in the back, yet “The Beast Incarnate” decided to come out to the ring to send a very clear message to everyone in WWE.
Infuriated at being repeatedly asked to hit the ring, Lesnar finally left his dressing room to F-5 Kurt Angle, scare off Constable Baron Corbin, and to threaten his own advocate, Paul Heyman.
The champ put everyone in their place, and it was fun to watch the whole thing play out. Shame Lesnar won’t get to see it though; he doesn’t watch Raw, apparently.
It was a fairly intense few days in WWE. Our Universal Champion ain’t taking anyone’s shit, Shayna Baszler looks unstoppable, and it looked like all three brands put some thought into their tag divisions. Excellent work from everyone involved; let’s see if they can keep it up and stay on as our Wrestlers of the Week.
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