WWE RAW Power Rankings: Payback Teaser

The last RAW before Payback was supposed to be a night of choices, but with filler matches and little drama to fuel the fire, this week’s episode of the WWE’s flagship program was nothing more than a tease.

Check out this week’s RAW Power Rankings to see who has the most to gain from a memorable performance at Payback.

Honorable Mention: Kane: With Daniel Bryan still out of action, Kane found a way to make himself matter this week after he destroyed RAW General Manager Brad Maddox with a Chokeslam and a Tombstone Piledriver. Still the Authority’s go-to bruiser, The Big Red Machine is available at Triple H’s beck and call to do what’s “best for business.” Although he won’t be wearing the WWE Title anytime soon, he’s still a top-level star that can develop younger talent and fill-out the upper mid-card.

5: Bo Dallas: The Tim Tebow/Tony Robbins rip-off is awesome. Although his finisher, a modified version of Trish Stratus’ old Bulldog, is lacking, Dallas has plenty of potential.

4: Evolution: Between their work in the ring and Triple H’s promos with his wife, the members of Evolution and The Authority always have a say in the biggest developments in the WWE. The Last Man Standing match with The Shield at Payback will be a nasty battle of the biggest and best factions in the company today. Although the contract signing between Evolution and The Shield did little to build real momentum between the two groups, was any real needed?

3: Daniel Bryan: The fact that he doesn’t have any real competition has made his injury hiatus a worthwhile one. Wrestling several times a month every week this year, Bryan needed and deserved a few weeks off. If anything, it’s made WWE fans’ hearts grow fonder for him. His refusal to drop the WWE title this week has only made his star grow brighter. After Payback, lets hope that the WWE finds him an opponent that can truly make the most of his talent both in and out of the ring.

2: The Shield: These guys are riding high the past few weeks, fighting toe-to-toe with Evolution. With another awesome promo during the contract signing segment that ended this week’s RAW, The Shield, even in spite of a devastating beat-down at the hands of their biggest enemies, continue to prove they are one of the most dominant factions in WWE history.

1: The Wyatt Family: If their ever was a heel prophet and his name wasn’t Jake Roberts, Ric Flair or Roddy Piper, Bray Wyatt would have quite a case on his hands. Another solid promo this week on RAW set the scene for what will be the next chapter in his journey with John Cena. Is he the cure or the snake? The disease or the necessary evil? Only time will tell, but for the time being and especially with Daniel Bryan still out of action, Wyatt and his family continue to chew up tons of time on RAW, but do something many superstars have a problem doing- entertain. Between Luke Harper and Erick Rowan’s destruction of John Bradshaw-Layfield and Jerry Lawler, The Wyatt’s are pure evil.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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