The biggest weekend of the year is finally here and we at Voices of Wrestling have a treat for you. We have collated the data from every WWE event of 2018 to produce our WWE Power Rankings.

As always, the WWE power rankings are based off of wins and losses and position on the card. Title match wins are worth more than non-title and Television and Pay Per View events are worth more than house shows.

These rankings cover the period of the 1 of January all the way up to NXT TV this past Wednesday, but they were decided before last night’s Takeover: New Orleans. We will cover the Top 10 Male Wrestlers, the Top 10 Female Wrestlers and will cover wrestlers on the RAW, SmackDOWN Live and NXT rosters. After the top 10’s we will also have the Top 5 Men and Top 3 Women from each brand (in less detail). So let’s get underway…

Men

 

  1. AJ Styles – SmackDOWN Live (WWE Champion)

 

The reigning WWE Champion has had a “Phenomenal” 2018 so far… Has been pulled into the Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn feud with Shane McMahon…  Lost twice to Sami Zayn on the 2/1 and 23/1 SmackDOWN Lives… Defeated Kevin Owens on the 23/1 SmackDOWN… Managed to overcome both Owens and Zayn in a one on two handicap match at Royal Rumble… Defeated Baron Corbin on the 20/2 SmackDOWN… Lost to John Cena on the 27/2 SmackDOWN which earned Cena a spot in the main event of Fastlane… Successfully turned back the Six Pack challenge pinning Kevin Owens and confirming the dream match between he and Nakamura… Heading into Wrestlemania it is hard to call the result of Styles/Nakamura but if these two men are giving 20 minutes this could potentially be an all time great match

  1. Shinsuke Nakamura – SmackDOWN Live

After what seemed to be a slow start to his main roster career the King of Strong Style finally seems to be getting his wheels rolling this year… Defeated Baron Corbin on the 23/1 SmackDOWN Live… Was the winner of the 2018 Royal Rumble finally eliminating Roman Reigns… After the match he announced that he wanted to face AJ Styles at Wrestlemania… Defeated Aidan English on the 27/2 SmackDOWN… Did the double over Rusev at Fast Lane and on the 20/3 SmackDOWN… Defeated Shelton Benjamin on the 27/3 SmackDOWN Live… Heading into the biggest match of his career it is hard to tell whether or not the Rockstar will leave New Orleans the WWE Champion. It could very well be the show stealer

  1. Roman Reigns – RAW

The Big Dawg is still the man in WWE contrary to what he says in his promo’s… Defended the Intercontinental Title against Samoa Joe on the New Years Day RAW… Lost the Title back to The Miz on the 25th Anniversary of RAW at the Barclays Centre… Was the last man eliminated in the 2018 Royal Rumble. This makes it four Rumbles in a row where he was in the final three… Cashed in his rematch clause against The Miz on the 29/1 RAW but was again unsuccessful… Qualified for the Elimination Chamber defeating Bray Wyatt on the 5/2 RAW… Was unsuccessful in the Gauntlet Match falling to Shield Brethren Seth Rollins… Won the 2018 Men’s Elimination Chamber to become the number 1 contender to Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship… Have been delivering the best promos of his career in the build up to Mania… The result of the Universal Title match is potentially not as clear cut as everybody thinks

  1. Seth Rollins – RAW

Rollins came into 2018 as the Tag Team Champion with Jason Jordan… Lost those titles to The Bar at the Royal Rumble… Qualified for the Elimination Chamber in a fatal five way match on the 12/2 RAW… Was the MVP of the RAW Gauntlet match eliminating Roman Reigns and John Cena and lasting 65 minutes in the ring… Was unsuccessful in the Elimination Chamber… Has entered into a three way feud with Finn Balor and The Miz for the Intercontinental Title… I feel that Rollins is just spinning his wheels until after Wrestlemania when it looks like he may be switching brands

  1. Braun Strowman – RAW

The Monster Amongst Men is still the dominant force on Monday Night RAW… Was unsuccessful in the Universal Title triple threat match against Brock Lesnar and Kane at Royal Rumble… Qualified for the Elimination Chamber defeat Kane on the 29/1 RAW… Was the last man standing in the Raw Gauntlet match… Was nearly unstoppable in the Elimination Chamber eliminating 5 of his 6 opponents only to fall to Roman Reigns… Entered a mini feud with Elias that ended with a Symphony of Destruction match on the 5/3 RAW… Single handedly destroyed the entire RAW Tag Team division in the Number 1 contender Battle Royal… Was informed by Kurt Angle that he must have a partner for Wrestlemania… My personal hope is for either Lars Sullivan or Alexa Bliss just for the freak side effect of it

  1. Finn Balor – RAW

Balor reformed with The Club to defeat the Miztourage on the New Year’s Day RAW… Was the Iron Man of the men’s Royal Rumble lasting 57.38… Lost to John Cena in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match on the 29/1 RAW… Qualified for the Chamber in the Fatal Five Way match on the 12/2 RAW… Was eliminated by Braun Strowman in the Chamber… Has entered a feud with The Miz and Seth Rollins leading to a triple threat match at Wrestlemania… The County Bray man may very well leave New Orleans with the Intercontinental Title

  1. Aleister Black – NXT

The Dutch Destroyer is the uncrowned King of NXT… His push has been perfect hopefully peaking at Takeover New Orleans…  Teamed with Roderick Strong to unsuccessfully challenge for the Undisputed Era’s Tag Team Title on the April 1 NXT… Defeat Adam Cole in an excellent Extreme Rules Match at Takeover: Philadelphia… Defeated Killian Dain to become the No. 1 contender to Andrade Almas NXT Title… The feud between Black and Almas has been built around Black’s apparent disrespect of Almas… Should be a shoe in to capture the NXT Title on Saturday

  1. Johnny Gargano – NXT

Johnny Wrestling is pound for pound the best wrestler in the whole of WWE at the moment… Defeated Velveteen Dream at the 4/1 NXT to become the number 1 contender to the NXT Title at Takeover Philadelphia… Had an early contender for Match of the Year against Andrade Almas in his unsuccessful title shot at Takeover… After the match he was blindsided by a returning Tommaso Ciampa who attacked Johnny with his crutch… Lost again to Almas in a Title vs NXT career after outside interference from Ciampa and had an emotional farewell to the NXT Universe… Made his returned surprise attacking Ciampa which lead to the announcement of an unsanctioned match between the two at Takeover: New Orleans… This already has feud of the year potential and I believe this may only be the first of a series of matches between the former DIY tag team partners.

  1. Jimmy Uso – SmackDOWN Live (Tag Team Champion)

  2. Jey Uso – SmackDOWN Live (Tag Team Champion)

The Uso’s are the premier team in WWE these days and are having the best period of their career so far… Defended their titles against Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin on the 2/1 SmackDOWN Live… Again defeat Gable and Benjamin at the Royal Rumble… Wrestled to a no contest against the New Day team of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods… Head into Wrestlemania to face New Day and the Bludgeon Brothers in what feels like a match built around the Bludgeon Brothers

Top 5s

RAW

  1. Roman Reigns
  2. Seth Rollins
  3. Braun Strowman
  4. Finn Balor
  5. Matt Hardy

SmackDOWN Live

  1. AJ Styles
  2. Shinsuke Nakamura
  3. The Uso’s
  4. The Bludgeon Brothers
  5. Bobby Roode

NXT

  1. Aleister Black
  2. Johnny Gargano
  3. The Undisputed Era (Fish/O’Reilly)
  4. Ricochet
  5. Killian Dain

Women

 

  • Asuka – RAW

 

The Empress of Tomorrow’s streak continues to roll on into Wrestlemania… Defeat Alexa Bliss on the New Year’s Day RAW… Defeated Nia Jax on the 15/1 RAW… Won the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble by finally eliminating Nikki Bella… Was in ring making her decision on who to face at Wrestlemania when Ronda Rousey made her WWE debut… Faced and beat Sasha Banks in a hard hitting match in the Post-Rumble RAW… Defeated Bayley on the 5/2 RAW… Again defeated Nia Jax at Elimination Chamber… Defeated Jax for a third time on the 5/3 RAW… Faced and beat Mickie James on the 12/3 RAW… Finally made her decision when she turned up at Fast Lane to Challenge SmackDOWN Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair for a match at Wrestlemania… This challenge makes sense as Asuka has already gone through everybody on the RAW roster and if the streak continues will have lots of fresh matchups on SmackDOWN

  1. Charlotte Flair – SmackDOWN Live (Women’s Champion)

Charlotte Flair has had an uninspiring first three months of 2018… Feuded with The Riott Squad beating Liv Morgan on the 6/2 SmackDOWN Live, Sarah Logan on the 13/2 SmackDOWN and culminated with a victory of Ruby Riott at Fast Lane… After the match she was challenged to a title match at Wrestlemania by Asuka… Lost to Natalya on the 20/3 SmackDOWN after a distraction from Women’s Money in the Bank holder Carmella… Gained a measure of revenge by defeating Natalya on the go home SmackDOWN to Wrestlemania… After the match Asuka came out and had a face to face with Flair… Charlotte and Asuka could potentially have the greatest Women’s match in Wrestlemania history this weekend, but it still seems unlikely that Flair will end the streak

  1. Ember Moon – NXT (NXT Women’s Champion)

The Reigning NXT Women’s World Champion is embroiled in a feud with Shayna Baszler on NXT Television… At NXT Takeover: Philadelphia she defeated Baszler with a surprise roll up after being dominated by the Queen of Spades for ten minutes… The next night she made a surprise appearance in the Women’s Royal Rumble, injured arm and all… On the 14/2 NXT TV She had a rematch with Baszler that ended in a DQ win for Shayna when Kairi Sane attacked the Queen of Spades… Defeated Aliyah on the 21/3 NXT TV… Moon is heading into the rubber match with Baszler at Takeover: New Orleans and we may see a potential changing of the guard and a potential promotion to the main roster for Ember

  1. Becky Lynch – SmackDOWN Live

  2. Naomi – SmackDOWN Live

The Lass-Kicker  and Naomi have been involved with Charlotte Flair’s feud with the Riott Squad… Lynch defeated Ruby Riott on the 9/1 SmackDOWN Live… They both teamed with Flair to lose to the Riott Squad on the 16/1 SmackDOWN and the 20/2 SmackDOWN… Naomi defeat Liv Morgan on the 23/01 Show… Lynch defeat Carmella on the 6/3 Show… Naomi was defeated by Riott on the 27/2 SmackDOWN… They teamed together to lose to Carmella and Natalya at Fastline… Naomi lost to Carmella on the 13/3 Show… They bounced back to defeat the Riott Squad team of Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan on the 20/3 show… Lynch defeat Riott on the 27/3 SmackDOWN… Both ladies are involved in the Women’s Battle Royal at Wrestlemania but both would possibly benefit from either a heel turn or a brand swap afterwards

  1. Kairi Sane – NXT

The Pirate Princess made a surprise appearance in this years Women’s Royal Rumble… Made her return to NXT Television when she came out of the crowd to attack Shayna Baszler during the formers rematch with Ember Moon on the 14/2 NXT TV… Was unsuccessful when she face Baszler on the 28/2 NXT TV… Defeated Vanessa Borne on the 4/3 Show… With no match planned at Takeover: New Orleans but seems to still clearly be in the title picture and may be the next challenger for the NXT Women’s Title

  1. Shayna Baszler – NXT

The Queen of Spades appears now to be the dominant female in NXT… On the 10/1 NXT TV Baszler brutalised Dakota Kai severely injuring Kai’s arm… Lost to Ember Moon at Takeover: Philadelphia but was in control the whole match… Defeated Moon by DQ in the rematch on the 14/2 Show when Kairi Sane came through the crowd and attack Baszler… Defeated Sane on the 28/2 NXT TV… Going into Takeover: New Orleans the smart money would be on Baszler capturing the NXT Women’s Title

  1. Candice LeRae – NXT

So I know what you’re saying “She hasn’t even had an in ring match on NXT TV yet” and I acknowledge that she has only been involved on TV and at Takeover: Philadelphia in attacks on Zelina Vega but, on the NXT House Show circuit she has been beating everybody she faced having only lost four matches out of the twenty-three she has had… I can see her entering the women’s ranks in the elite sort of position held by Ember Moon, Kairi Sane, Shayna Baszler and Nikki Cross

  1. Alexa Bliss – RAW (RAW Women’s Champion)

The reigning RAW Women’s Champion was defeated by Asuka on the New Years Day RAW… Came out in one piece in the First Ever Women’s Elimination Chamber defeating Bayley, Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Sasha Banks and Sonya Deville… Again lost to Asuka on the 19/3 RAW… Is currently feuding with Nia Jax in a bullying storyline that will potentially end with Jax destroying Bliss at Wrestlemania

  1. Sasha Banks – RAW

The Boss is embroiled in an on again off again friendship storyline with Bayley… Lost to Sonya Deville on the 15/1 RAW… Was the Iron Women of the Women’s Royal Rumble standing out for her more aggressive attitude… She brought this attitude to her match with Asuka the next night on RAW but was unsuccessful in ending the streak… Her issues with Bayley came to a head when Bayley defeated her on the 12/2 RAW… Her performance in the Elimination Chamber was also marred with the on going friction between her and the Hugger… She got revenge on Sonya Devilla on the 12/3 RAW… Is in the Women’s Battle Royal where I expect her issues with Bayley to come to a head possibly leading to a heel turn from one of them on the following RAW

RAW

  1. Asuka
  2. Alexa Bliss
  3. Sasha Banks
  4. Bayley
  5. Mickie James

SmackDOWN Live

  1. Charlotte Flair
  2. Becky Lynch
  3. Naomi
  4. Tamina
  5. Lana

NXT

  1. Ember Moon
  2. Kairi Sane
  3. Shayna Baszler
  4. Candice LeRae
  5. Nikki Cross

Enjoy Wrestlemania and we’ll be back in two weeks with another look at New Japan’s Power Rankings!