WWE Raw Rankings Before No Mercy 2017

Welcome to the WWE Raw Division Rankings for the Sep. 18 episode. Who will walk out of No Mercy with the Universal Championship? Brock Lesnar or Braun Strowman?

These are the power rankings for each division on WWE Raw 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 see how the rankings shape up this week.

Raw. Photo by WWE.com

The RAW Cruiserweight Division

Highlights of the division

Enzo Amore has been treated like a joke for the past few weeks on Raw. The last episode of Raw gave the impression that Enzo will have no shot in winning the Cruiserweight Championship at No Mercy. What was the point of having him in the title picture if he’s going to be a punching bag for the main roster talent every week on Raw. Amore did cut a good promo on Neville and kicked him below the belt to close out 205 Live, but it won’t be enough. The damage has already been done on Enzo Amore, on the internet and with his booking. Look for Neville to retain his title in brutal fashion at No Mercy.

Cedric Alexander scored a big win over the former Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick on 205 Live. It clearly looks like he’ll be feuding with the newly formed alliance of Kendrick and Jack Gallagher. Both Alexander and Gallagher will need this feud to differentiate their characters moving forward. For Jack Gallagher, it’s the first time in his professional career that he has turned heel. He’ll need to demonstrate on 205 Live that he’s different from the rest of the heels on the roster. As for Cedric, this feud could be key to catapulting him to a title shot if he comes out victorious. 

Meanwhile, for the rest of the division.

Drew Gulak is still continuing his campaign to change 205 Live into his own vision. Problem is, there is no creative direction with this story. He’s targeting Akira Tozawa because of his aerial wrestling and verbal chants, which was no different in his previous feud with Mustafa Ali. Gulak on commentary did bring up his dissatisfaction with the Titus Worldwide Brand which could be the spark to turn this feud into an interesting story.

As for Rich Swann and TJP, their feud unfortunately is still sticking around. Most likely because the title picture is crowded at the moment. The climax of this rivalry already happened last week when Swann won the rubber match. What more do we need to see out of these two former Cruiserweight Champions? It’s mute at this juncture that TJP disrupted the Swann versus Lince Dorado match on 205 Live and attacked both superstars. We’ve already seen TJP be a slimy heel earlier this year, what direction will this feud take next week? 

These are the rankings for the division this week.

WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Neville (22 Wins – 9 Losses)

Contenders

• No. 1 Contender: Enzo Amore (11 Wins – 15 Losses)
• Contender No. 2: Akira Tozawa (25 Wins – 7 Losses)
• Contender No. 3: Jack Gallagher (21 Wins – 12 Losses)
• Contender No. 4: Rich Swann (20 Wins – 9 Losses)
• Contender No. 5: Cedric Alexander (20 Wins – 10 Losses) (Up 1 Spot)
• Contender No. 6: TJP (19 Wins – 20 Losses)
• Contender No. 7: Mustafa Ali (18 Wins – 16 Losses)
• Contender No. 8: The Brian Kendrick (13 Wins – 16 Losses) (Down 1 Spot)
• Contender No. 9: Ariya Daivari (11 Wins – 21 Losses)

Pretenders

• Pretender No. 1: Gran Metalik (11 Wins – 9 Losses)
• Pretender No. 2: Drew Gulak (7 Wins – 21 Losses)
• Pretender No. 3: Tony Nese (13 Wins – 27 Losses)
• Pretender No. 4: Noam Dar (8 Wins – 26 Losses)
• Pretender No. 5: Lince Dorado (5 Wins – 17 Losses)