WWE SmackDown Rankings: Shinsuke Nakamura Beats John Cena

Smackdown. Photo by WWE.com

Welcome to the SmackDown Rankings for the August 1 episode.

These are the power rankings for each division on Smackdown Live for this following week. Each division would be ranked based on storyline progression and win/loss record as of 2017. Also, each division would be divided by contenders and pretenders, to differentiate the challengers in their respective division. I’ll also highlight a specific superstar in each division and explain their ranking based on their actions. Win/Loss record is provided by CageMatch.Net.

Each superstar or tag team can move up or down the rankings based on victory, defeat or storyline progression. Let’s get right to the rankings.

Smackdown. Photo by WWE.com

The SmackDown Live Women’s Division

Highlights of the Division

Naomi and Becky Lynch scored a big win over Natalya and Carmella on Smackdown Live. The tag match was nothing special but it did give the audience a bit of an insight of the Summerslam match between Naomi and Natalya. The Smackdown Women’s Champion survived Natalya’s Sharpshooter finisher in the match and subsequently scored the submission victory over Carmella soon afterward. Based on that sequence, it’s hard to envision Natalya beating Naomi for the championship in a few weeks. If the challenger couldn’t put away the champion with her finisher, how can she win the title at the biggest event of the summer?

As for Carmella, she hasn’t been fully utilized on Smackdown Live the past few weeks. The WWE has done a horrible job not taking every advantage of promoting their first ever Ms. Money in the Bank every week on Smackdown. She did lose to the champion in their tag team match but it could be a foregone conclusion that she could cash-in the briefcase at Summerslam after the Women’s Championship match concludes. It’s the only way to rectify the promotional mistakes the WWE has made with Carmella since winning the briefcase a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, for the Rest of the Division

No updates on the ongoing saga between Lana and Tamina. The story of how Lana has been overzealous to take advantage of the damage Tamina dished out to their opponents but lose in the end is intriguing. Taming looked like she wanted to beat up Lana after their tag team loss last week on Smackdown. Charlotte should also be added to this story by competing against either Lana or Tamina in the next few weeks before Summerslam. It’ll keep all three women active in the division and help the viewers follow along with the progression of Lana and Tamina.

Let’s see the rankings for the division this week.

SmackDown Live Women’s Champion: Naomi (10 Wins – 5 Losses)

Contenders

• No. 1 Contender: Natalya (7 Wins – 8 Losses)
• Contender No. 2: Carmella (10 Wins – 4 Losses) (MITB Winner)
• Contender No. 3: Becky Lynch (10 Wins – 12 Losses)
• Contender No. 4: Charlotte (8 Wins – 14 Losses)

Pretenders

• Pretender No. 1: Nikki Bella (3 Wins – 1 Loss)
• Pretender No. 2: Tamina Snuka (3 Wins – 4 Losses)
• Pretender No. 3: Lana (0 Wins – 5 Losses)