WWE RAW Power Rankings: The YES Movement Begins, Again

The returns of Bad News Barrett and Daniel Bryan, as well as the debut of The Ascension and a rare Brock Lesnar appearance made sure the last episode of RAW in 2014 was a more than solid one. Add in a beefy card and the Return of The Authority and this RAW was one that you’d expect more along the lines of Wrestlemania season.

Regardless of the poorly written last segment, it sets the scene for the new year in a big way.

Check out this week’s RAW Power Rankings to see which members of the WWE Universe starred in the final RAW of 2014.

Rising Up: Viktor and Konnor: Not many teams get to make the kind of debuts The Ascension did this week on RAW. Keep that in mind when they win the Tag Team titles later this year. Regardless of the silly gimmick and lack of polish, they are stiff, tough men that fans will eventually begin to like.

When Bad News is Good News: The return of Wade Barrett is more than good news, it’s great. His match with Cesaro was a solid one as well and gives the company a wonderful mid-card feud that can entertain on any show.

Honorable Mention: Ryback: Who would have thought Ryback would have had so much promo time on RAW? The added montages put more of a person behind the wrecking machine than ever before. As a result, he’s a guy, that regardless of his stiffness, that you want to see succeed. Like Dolph Ziggler and Rusev, expect him to play a big part in the company’s future moving forward.

5: Alexander Rusev: Not many guys destroy Dolph Ziggler the way Rusev did this week on RAW and with a big time feud with the suddenly pertinent Ryback brewing, Rusev is without a doubt one of the cornerstones of the promotion’s mid-card. With Lana by his side and a continually impressive undefeated streak, Rusev looks to have a big 2015.

4: Jimmy and Jey Uso: Should you be excited for the New WWE Tag Team Champions? Or should you be worried that they are simply going to be fed to The Ascension? Either way, they have the straps around their waists and have been the best workers in the stagnant tag team division for all of 2014.

3: Seth Rollins: Already the top young heel in the business, Rollins, already with Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury in his corner, got some help from The Big Show this week to stay a step ahead of Roman Reigns. With his money in the bank briefcase still secure, expect a big 2015 from Rollins.

2: Roman Reigns:
Although he was injured for a part of 2014, this year was a wonderful one for Reigns. His match this week on RAW with Seth Rollins was another good one where Reigns showed off two new moves, an awesome Tilt-a-Whirl Slam and a solid Belly-to-Back Urinage and plenty of fortitude.

1: Daniel Bryan: He’s back and at an incredibly important time. With a lack of dependable stars on the roster, Bryan, regardless of the fact he’s been out of action for over six months, is still the best worker in the WWE today and someone who will play a he role in the company’s success in 2015.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 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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