WWE RAW Power Rankings: Vipers Gotta Bite, Romans Gotta Reign

With just five weeks until Wrestlemania, this week’s Monday Night RAW did a decent job of setting up the beginning of the event’s massive the card and even laying down some of the pieces for the Andre The Giant Battle Royal.

Check out this week’s RAW Power Rankings to see who made the most of one of the final episodes of the WWE’s flagship show before this year’s Wrestlemania.

Return to Prime Time?: Darren Young and Titus O’Neil’s win over the undefeated Ascension wasn’t exactly pretty, but it does add another solid tag team to the mix. Although the division isn’t what it could be, teams like the Primetime Players, as well as The Usos, could definitely be a thorn in Tyson Kidd and Cesaro’s side.

Cena Wants Another Shot: John Cena now respects Rusev, but he wants another shot. With the first page of their tale written, Cena now knows he’s going to have to look at his foe in a different way. Perhaps now the WWE Universe will get to see the tougher, Ruthless Agression version of Cena they’ve asked to see again for years.

Honorable Mention: Dolph Ziggler: His win over Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett this week on RAW certainly puts him in the middle of the IC title picture. But with R-Truth and Dean Ambrose, who currently has the title, all in the mix as well, Ziggler may have a tougher road ahead than he thinks. One of the best workers in the company and easily one of the most popular “faces,” Ziggler deserves a big time match at Wrestlemania that “shows off” his superior in-ring skills.

5: Paul Heyman: Did he just set off a fire on this week’s RAW or what? Telling the world he’s a fan of Roman Reigns, Heyman just made you think about what the future holds for him and his allegiance to Brock Lesnar. Sure, Heyman changed course quickly when he said Reigns would never beat Lesnar, but the fact that he already conceded respect for Reigns, something he never does, is a telling piece of information.

4: Tyson Kidd and Antonio Cesaro: The Brass Ring Club kept their WWE Tag Team titles this week on RAW, even if it was thanks to Natalya Neidhart getting the team DQed. Regardless, they are the best pure tag team the WWE has had in years and a team that can and will play a huge part in resurrecting tag team wrestling in the WWE.

3: Bray Wyatt: He wants the Undertaker and he’ll continue to throw sermon after sermon to the WWE Universe until he gets his wish. While we’re not quite sure what we think of the match just yet, it’s fair to say that Wyatt’s ability on the mic adds another level to this match that just hasn’t been presence in some of Taker’s last few feuds.

2: Randy Orton: Although he’s been out of action for four months, Orton is still The Viper. Not to be trusted by The Authority or the “good guys” on the WWE roster, it’s nice to see him back to his old ways. Now all he needs is a confirmed matchup with Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania.

1: Roman Reigns: Confident as ever, Reigns’ stock has never been higher after his win over Daniel Bryan at FastLane and his verbal confrontation with Brock Lesnar’s advocate, Paul Heyman. With another solid match under his belt as well on this week’s RAW, Reigns continues to gain the much-needed credibility he needs in order to be a force at Wrestlemania.

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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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