WWE SmackDown Power Rankings: The Miz Eyes The Top Prize

1 of 5

The Miz helped put WWE SmackDown Live on the map as “THE Show” in 2016, and now that he’s back on the Blue Brand, he’s doing more of the same.

On last week’s episode of WWE SmackDown Live, The Miz defeated United States Champion Jeff Hardy in a singles match to qualify for a spot in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. The Money in the Bank Pay Per View will take place on June 17 in Chicago, and The Miz is the favorite to win, with most fans expecting him to eventually cash in on Daniel Bryan.

10. Daniel Bryan

Speaking of Daniel Bryan, he failed in his qualifying match, as he lost to Rusev in the main event of SmackDown Live despite a gutsy performance. Can Bryan get a second chance to qualify for the ladder match? Is this just the start of his journey to WWE Championship gold?

I think so. I think the WWE are pulling a different “underdog” story with Bryan. He isn’t a classic underdog anymore, because he’s won multiple championships, already climbed to the top, and proved he’s one of the best. So what they’ll do instead is have him win a bunch of matches but just narrowly have big matches slip out of his grasp. They’ll portray him as being far better than most of his opponents in spite of the size difference, but he’ll lose matches simply due to circumstance (cheating, bad luck, or the usual multi-man match chaos).

Eventually when he does win the WWE Championship again, it’ll be one of the most satisfying victories since perhaps the last time he won world title gold.

9. Rusev

I always hate to be too optimistic, because I always end up getting burned in the end. But after defeating Daniel Bryan in the main event of SmackDown Live to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match, Rusev seems poised to break into the top five and is in a great spot. If Rusev teams up with Lana again, then maybe the WWE will be more interested in pushing him.

Rusev is a sleeper to win the Money in the Bank ladder match, because the segments between him and Lana could be gold with them as briefcase holders. Factor in a possible breakup with Aiden English, and Rusev could be headed for some more show-stealing promos. I’d like to see English and Rusev remain a team, but maybe the WWE feels that for the Bulgarian George Clooney to be headed for better things, this pairing will have to end.