WWE SmackDown Power Rankings: Shinsuke Nakamura One Step Away

On last week’s episode of WWE SmackDown Live, Shinsuke Nakamura revealed that his match against AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank will be a “Last Man Standing” match. Nakamura is one step away from finally becoming world champ and shooting to the top of these power rankings.

WWE SmackDown Live is back to being must-see television, and a lot of that has to do with The Miz joining the Blue Brand during the Superstar Shakeup. But other additions like Asuka, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, and Daniel Bryan have been huge for SmackDown, as has the championship reign of Carmella.

10. Asuka

Speaking of Carmella’s reign as SmackDown Women’s Champion, it could come to a screeching halt at Money in the Bank. Asuka was announced as her challenger for the title during last week’s Royal MellaBration in London. Carmella claims to be twice as good as Asuka, because she beat Charlotte Flair twice when Asuka could not do the same at WrestleMania 34.

9. Andrade “Cien” Almas

Maybe it’s presumptuous to rank Andrade “Cien” Almas ninth, since all he’s done since being called up to SmackDown Live is win two squash matches against local talent. But that plays into the story, because he and his business associate, Zelina Vega, are pretty pissed off at Paige and SmackDown management for not giving him, as Braun Strowman would put it, some “real competition”.

Almas figures to target the United States Championship at some point, so Jeff Hardy had better keep his head on a swivel. After being a dominant champion in NXT, Almas is hungry for some main roster gold, and I wonder if he could grab it as soon as Money in the Bank.