Welcome to the WWE Raw Division Rankings for the Oct. 9 episode. The Shield reunited after three years and a new champion was crowned in the main event.
These are the rankings for each division on Monday Night 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 definitely held it down for the Cruiserweight Division the past few weeks by having it featured in the main event of WWE Raw. Having him lose the Cruiserweight Championship to Kalisto was a smart move by the WWE. It ends the stipulation that Enzo put on the cruiserweights in not challenging for the championship. The title match on Raw was one of the best matches the division has ever produced since it’s inception last year. Now the WWE has turned Kalisto into a bona fide star with his performance in the match, which was a long time coming for the luchador star.
As for Enzo Amore, it seems obvious that he’ll try to reinstate his rematch clause for the gold at TLC. But another person might try to get their shot as well and that would be Neville. Remember that Neville never got his rematch for the gold after No Mercy because of the beat down he dished to Enzo Amore. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Neville being inserted into the championship match and turning it into a triple threat match.
Meanwhile, for the rest of the division.
Mustafa Ali added in the title feud between Enzo Amore and Kalisto is intriguing to say the least. He’s by far the most talented high flyer in the division but hasn’t been used properly since his feud with Drew Gulak ended months ago. Being in the thorn of Enzo Amore is a sure-fire way to increase the profile of the Pakistani high flyer as he climbs up the ranks in the division.
TJP and Rich Swann had one hell of a match on 205 Live but their feud needed to end a while back. Rich Swann surprisingly scored two straight falls on TJP to end their 2 out of 3 falls match, which was very odd. Both former champions have been battling each other as equals the past few months and to see TJP not score even one fall in that match was strange. Will Rich Swann be next in line for the Cruiserweight Championship after TLC?
These are the rankings for the division this week.
WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Kalisto (12 Wins – 13 Losses)
Contenders
- No. 1 Contender: Enzo Amore (12 Wins – 17 Losses)
- Contender No.2: Neville (23 Wins – 10 Losses)
- Contender No. 3: Akira Tozawa (26 Wins – 7 Losses)
- Contender No. 4: Jack Gallagher (23 Wins – 12 Losses)
- Contender No. 5: Rich Swann (21 Wins – 9 Losses)
- Contender No. 6: Cedric Alexander (20 Wins – 12 Losses)
- Contender No. 7: TJP (19 Wins – 21 Losses)
- Contender No. 8: Mustafa Ali (20 Wins – 17 Losses)
- Contender No. 9: The Brian Kendrick (14 Wins – 16 Losses)
Pretenders
- Pretender No. 1: Gran Metalik (11 Wins – 9 Losses)
- Pretender No. 2: Ariya Daivari (11 Wins – 24 Losses)
- Pretender No. 3: Drew Gulak (7 Wins – 22 Losses)
- Pretender No. 4: Tony Nese (13 Wins – 28 Losses)
- Pretender No. 5: Noam Dar (8 Wins – 26 Losses)
- Pretender No. 6: Lince Dorado (5 Wins – 17 Losses)
Raw. Photo by WWE.com
The Raw Women’s Division
Highlights of the division
It’s somewhat dumb to have the WWE play the age angle in the title feud between Mickie James and Alexa Bliss. Mickie is just as old as Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and John Cena, and they are the cream of the crop in the WWE hierarchy. This feud definitely has a lot of drama which has benefited Mickie James tremendously as she has been thrusted into the title picture in just a short amount of time. She did cut one of the best promos in her career on Alexa Bliss on Raw but she seems like a long shot to win the gold at TLC.
It looks like Emma will get the donors of facing the debuting Asuka at TLC. Emma’s win in the fatal-5 way elimination match is going to be meaningless in less than two weeks because she will be squashed by the most dominant superstar the WWE has ever seen. Asuka is a woman surrounded by myth and destruction, as she laid the NXT Women’s division into rubble the past 2 years. The Australian hashtag queen won’t have much of a shot against the Empress of Tomorrow, and neither will the rest of the division.
So what will happen with the rest of the contenders in the Women’s Division? It’ll be the first time since the WWE Draft that neither Sasha Banks, Bayley or Nia Jax will be competing for the Women’s Championship. The WWE should have a match with these three women at TLC to determine who should get the next crack at the Raw Women’s Champion.
These are the rankings for the division this week.
Raw Women’s Champion: Alexa Bliss (11 Wins – 16 Losses)
Contenders
- No.1 Contender: Mickie James (7 Wins – 14 Losses)
- Contender No. 2: Sasha Banks (20 Wins – 14 Losses)
- Contender No. 2: Nia Jax (18 Wins – 15 Losses)
- Contender No. 3: Bayley (14 Wins – 12 Losses)
Pretenders
- Pretender No. 1: Alicia Fox (4 Wins – 9 Losses)
- Pretender No. 2: Dana Brooke (5 Wins – 9 Losses)
- Pretender No. 3: Emma (4 Wins – 11 Losses)
Raw. Photo by WWE.com
The Raw Tag Team Division
Highlights of the division
The Shield is finally reunited in it feels so good to see it this past Monday Night on Raw. This is the type of direction the reigning tag team champions needed as their title reign have gotten a bit repetitive lately. For Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, their stature as the Raw Tag Team Champions has uplifted into the main event picture as they will be facing the Bar, the Miz and Braun Strowman in a TLC match. With the Shield reunited, it’ll be interesting to see if they will defend their tag team gold similarly the way the New Day have been doing for years.
The Bar teaming with the Miz and Braun Strowman to take out the Shield at TLC might be the earliest Christmas gift they’ll receive this year. They are clearly not getting anymore title opportunities for the tag team gold but if they defeat the Shield, their stock will dramatically turn 180 degrees in the Monday Night Raw hierarchy. Cesaro and Sheamus have had one hell of a run as a team in 2017. But beating the Shield in a pay per view main event will be the biggest crowning achievement they will ever accomplish.
As for the rest of the tag team division, they are as barren as the Sahara desert. Both Matt Hardy and Karl Anderson lost in their respective matches on Raw and clearly have no direction for themselves and their teams. For Matt Hardy, if he wants to branch out as a singles competitor, he’ll need to separate himself from the Hardy Boyz brand. For Gallows and Anderson, they need to be shipped to Smackdown Live as soon as possible, they have clearly no direction on Raw.
These are the rankings for the division this week.
Raw Tag Team Champions: Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins (6 Wins – 1 Losses)
Contenders
- Top Contender: Cesaro and Sheamus (11 Wins – 11 Losses)
- Contender No. 2: The Hardy Boyz (9 Wins – 6 Losses)
- Contender No. 3: The Revival (5 Wins – 0 Losses)
- Contender No. 4: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (11 Wins – 18 Losses)
Pretenders
- Pretender No. 1: Heath Slater & Rhyno (4 Wins – 6 Losses)
- Pretender No. 2: Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel (2 Wins – 3 Losses)
Raw. Photo by WWE.com
The Raw Mid Card Division
Highlights of the division
The Miz is pretty much a godsend for Monday Night Raw as he played the catalyst in reforming the Shield and shaping up the TLC main event. It’s clear at this juncture that there is absolutely nothing for him in the mid card division as he cleaned up the division in a span of a few months. This is the perfect opportunity for the A-Lister to permanently thrust himself back into the main event picture if his team wins at TLC. Even with the Intercontinental Championship on his shoulders, the Miz still needs to prove to everyone in two weeks that he deserves to be in the same spot he once had in early 2011, being the face of Monday Night Raw.
Elias steamrolled over Apollo Crews for the third straight time in a span of a few weeks. At this point, if the WWE is adamant to have Apollo Crews look like Curt Hawkins, then they have lost their damn minds. I understand that the WWE wants to protect Elias at all cost but at the expense of one of their rising talents in Apollo Crews is just plain stupid. The WWE is in dire need of a black heavyweight superstar and Apollo Crews fits that bill. Clearly it isn’t hard to give him an opportunity to showcase his character more and not in WWE.com skits that the majority of fans won’t be checking out.
Meanwhile, for the rest of the division.
Jason Jordan got back in the win column this week when he beat Karl Anderson in singles action. It seems at this point that whatever push the “Gold Blooded” superstar was destined for has been completely squashed for the time being. It’s obvious it was a stupid idea to have Jason Jordan be split from American Alpha and have to be presented on Raw as Kurt Angle’s long lost son. It’s 2017 and the WWE will need to catch up with the times as everybody knows that it isn’t Kurt’s son and nobody cares.
These are the rankings for the division this week.
WWE Intercontinental Champion: The Miz (11 Wins – 17 Losses)
Contenders
- Top Contender: Jason Jordan (14 Wins – 13 Losses)
- Contender No. 2: Elias (13 Wins – 5 Losses)
- Contender No. 3: The Big Show (4 Wins – 7 Losses) (INJ)
- Contender No. 4: Apollo Crews (8 Wins – 11 Losses)
- Contender No. 5: Big Cass (13 Wins – 11 Losses) (INJ)
Pretenders
- Pretender No. 1: Titus O’Neal (2 Wins – 10 Losses)
- Pretender No. 2: Goldust (1 Win – 6 Losses)
- Pretender No. 3: R-Truth (0 Wins – 5 Losses)
- Pretender No. 4: Curt Hawkins (0 Wins – 18 Losses)
Raw. Photo by WWE.com
The Raw World Title Picture
Highlights of the division
Braun Strowman nabbed another big win this week over the former Raw Tag Team Champion Matt Hardy. Since losing to Brock Lesnar at No Mercy, the Monster Among Men has steamrolled over Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Matt Hardy in decisive fashion to stay on top of the Universal title rankings. So now Braun Strowman has been inserted into the TLC main event match by pitted against the reunited Shield. This is somewhat interesting considering that Brock Lesnar won’t be around for the time being. We’ll have to wait and see how Strowman will be booked at TLC, in all honesty it could be a genius move to have him in this match since he’s suited in these chaotic matches.
It’s crazy to see Roman Reigns get cheered like crazy when all it took was for him to be reunited with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. This is obviously the best possible route that the WWE can put on the Big Dog at the moment. After beating John Cena at No Mercy, he had no clear direction other than reestablishing the Shield this past Monday Night. The former WWE Champion is now in a prime position to get the fans back on his side as he wrecks Monday Night Raw with the Hounds of Justice.
Next: 3 Things The Shield Could Do
Meanwhile, for the rest of the division.
The Bray Wyatt/Finn Balor story has gotten a lot more creeper the past 2 weeks with the introduction of the Sister Abagial character. It’s obvious that Bray is turning Sister Abagail into a darker persona of his twisted character, similar to how Finn Balor uses the Demon in special occasions. A lot of fans are complaining that this is a stupid idea to have Bray Wyatt play the Sister Abagail character but we shouldn’t rush to judgement just yet. We’ll have to see how all this plays out at TLC when these two rivals square off one more time in the ring.
These are the rankings for the division this week.
WWE Universal Champion: Brock Lesnar (4 Wins – 1 Loss)
Contenders
- Top Contender: Braun Strowman (14 Wins – 9 Losses)
- Contender No. 2: Samoa Joe (11 Wins – 9 Losses) (INJ)
- Contender No. 3: Roman Reigns (17 Wins – 13 Losses)
- Contender No. 4: John Cena (13 Wins – 5 Losses)
Pretenders
- Pretender No. 1: Finn Balor (15 Wins – 7 Losses)
- Pretender No. 2: Bray Wyatt (11 Wins – 10 Losses)
What are your thoughts on this week’s Raw Rankings?