WWE Power Rankings: Counting Down the Company's Top 15 Superstars (April 9)

The WWE is back to normal. Well, kinda sorta.

Now that WrestleMania 28 is firmly behind us, we can move forward with the standard WWE programming. Or can we?

The return of Brock Lesnar has definitely shaken things up, and we also saw the return of Alberto Del Rio this week, as well as the debuts of a couple of new superstars.

Even though some legends left us last week, the WWE is attempting to plug those holes, and young superstars are looking to rise back up the card.

So, let's take a look at who's moving up and who's moving down the WWE ladder.

Here are this week's WWE Power Rankings (the April 9 edition).

Note: The Undertaker, Triple H and The Rock appear to be done as wrestlers for the time being, so they will NOT be included in these rankings.

15. Lord Tensai (Last Week: Unranked)

A-Train is back.

The former WWE superstar returned to the company as Lord Tensai last Monday with an easy, yet very impressive squash match victory over Alex Riley.

You can't really gauge match from a three-minute match, but it does seem pretty clear that Tensai is going to be in line for a huge push going forward and will continue to squash people in the coming weeks.

Tensai may not get a feud until after Extreme Rules, but with John Laurinaitis' tease to CM Punk about a "natural disaster" coming, it looks like Tensai, which means "natural disaster," may be in line for a WWE Championship feud in the not-so-distant future.

14. Kofi Kingston (Last Week: 14)

It wasn't a very busy week for Kofi Kingston, but it was a successful one nonetheless.

On Monday's Raw, he faced Cody Rhodes in a singles match, and he got the victory in a quick match, although the win only happened after Big Show distracted Rhodes.

Still, a win is a win, and Kingston got one on Monday.

Perhaps he can use that momentum from his victory to build up some momentum as we head to Extreme Rules and beyond, though I certainly have my doubts about that.

13. Brock Lesnar (Last Week: Unranked)

Speaking of debuts, Brock Lesnar made an emphatic statement with his.

Though the live crowd definitely spoiled Lesnar's return (loved that crowd, by the way), the WWE made up for it by having Lesnar interrupt John Cena's promo and plant him in the middle of the ring with a thunderous F5.

It's not 100 percent certain that Lesnar will only be targeting Cena, but he did let it be known that he was waiting a long time to hit his finisher on the face of the WWE.

These two go way back, and now that Lesnar is back in the WWE, things just got a lot more interesting on Monday Night Raw.

12. Alberto Del Rio (Last Week: Unranked)

Alberto Del Rio had one heck of a return week.

On Monday's Raw, he set up the Smackdown main event against new World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, and he was actually able to to get the win.

Sure, it only came by disqualification, but ADR used some nice little trickery to beat Sheamus and possibly earn himself a future World Heavyweight title shot.

While ADR has been out of action since last December, it certainly seems like he's in line for something big right now, and that something big might very well be a World title feud with Sheamus, and perhaps another World title run.

11. Mark Henry (Last Week: Unranked)

Is the WWE building Mark Henry back up into a main eventer? It certainly looks that way.

Henry had a great week last week when he defeated—yes, defeated—WWE Champion CM Punk by count out in a great WWE title match on Raw, meaning that he's probably going to get another title shot in the near future.

The World's Strongest Man then went on to get an easy victory over R-Truth in a handicap match on Smackdown, showing that the WWE has some faith in him as a top guy again.

With Henry being placed in some high-profile matches and getting a bunch of squash match victories as of late, I wouldn't be surprised if his current momentum takes him to a World title feud following Extreme Rules. 

10. Randy Orton (Last Week: 13)

Randy Orton's stock dropped considerably after a bad loss to Kane at WrestleMania 28, but he redeemed himself on Friday's Smackdown with a victory over Kane in a No DQ match.

He and Kane put on a really solid performance in that bout, and Orton walked away at the end of it with a nice victory that washed away some of the stink of his WrestleMania loss.

Although I'm still not sure why the WWE had Kane go over at Mania, they made the right move by giving the win to Orton on Smackdown.

While it's not clear what's going to happen with his feud with Kane, Orton looks poised to get a sizeable push following Extreme Rules.

9. Cody Rhodes (Last Week: 8)

What a terrible week for Cody Rhodes.

As if losing his Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania wasn't bad enough, Rhodes went on to lose to Kofi Kingston on last Monday's Raw after interference from The Big Show and then had his post-match attack thwarted by Show on Smackdown.

Although Rhodes started off in solid control of his feud with Big Show, he's lost all control, and now, a couple of matches, too.

I think that this is likely being done to move Rhodes to Raw and the show's main event scene, but at least for now, he's looking pretty bad as Big Show continues to get the best of him. 

8. Kane (Last Week: 7)

Kane got a big win over Randy Orton at WrestleMania 28, but his celebration didn't get to last too long.

On last week's Smackdown, The Big Red Monster faced Orton in a WrestleMania rematch (although this time it was a No DQ match), and Orton got the decisive victory.

Some are speculating that this feud is over, while others think that it will extend through Extreme Rules.

Either way, I think that Kane's Mania victory was done to set up a "comeback" of sorts for Orton, and this feud will probably be pretty lopsided from here on out.

Kane lost on Friday, and I'd fully expect him to go back to his losing ways over the course of the next couple of months.

7. Daniel Bryan (Last Week: 10)

I know it might be surprising to see Daniel Bryan jump up these rankings, but he left me no choice.

Although Bryan's WrestleMania 28 loss Sheamus seems like it should have been a demotion, if anything, it's done wonders for the now-former World Heavyweight Champion.

Bryan was over big-time on last Monday's Raw, so much so that the WWE had to go back and badly edit out all the "Yes!" chants on Friday's Smackdown. 

Also, the creative team finally had Bryan dump AJ on Smackdown, which got him back some of his heat and should allow his heel character to grow even more.

While some are still upset that Bryan lost his World title in just 18 seconds last Sunday, I think it's ultimately going to help him in the long run, as evidenced by the fact that it's already started doing so.

6. The Miz (Last Week: 11)

Partially due to the departure of guys like The Rock and The Undertaker, but also due to his performance on Raw, The Miz makes a big jump up these rankings this week.

We all seemed to be wondering where the WWE was headed with The Miz's lengthy losing streak, and it appears as if the answer to that question is that the losing streak will be turned into a winning streak.

The Miz got a quick and easy victory over Zack Ryder in a three-minute match on last week's Raw, and it now seems as if he's going to be in line for a big post-WrestleMania push.

For now, The Miz looks to be busy with Ryder, but their "feud" has been really lopsided so far, and this may just be setting up for bigger things for The Miz.

Expect the rise of the Awesome One to continue as we head toward the summer.

5. John Cena (Last Week: 5)

In all honesty, I wanted to drop John Cena several spots down these rankings, but removing guys like The Rock, Triple H and Undertaker prevented that from happening.

Still, it's obvious that Cena didn't have a good showing last week.

Cena's only appearance on Raw was a short, extremely boring promo that really showed how much the Miami fans hated him, and it ended with him being destroyed with an F5 by a returning Brock Lesnar.

Ouch. That was rough.

While it remains to be seen if what Cena's going through lately is building up to something bigger, for now, he's having a really horrible time being the punching bag for past, part-time superstars. 

4. The Big Show (Last Week: 6)

The never-ending push of The Big Show continues.

While you probably know that I'm not a fan of the way the WWE books Show, the fact remains that he had yet another good week last week.

On Raw, he interrupted Cody Rhodes during his match and cost him the victory, and on Smackdown, he squashed Heath Slater and then avoided a post-match attack by Rhodes.

The new Intercontinental Champion has officially turned the tide on Rhodes, and it appears as if his "I will destroy all future talent" push is going to continue.

Ugh. Call me when it's over.

3. Sheamus (Last Week: 1)

The new World Heavyweight Champion has already hit a big speed dump.

A week ago, Sheamus was celebrating his WrestleMania victory, but on Friday's Smackdown, he was fuming after a DQ loss to Alberto Del Rio in the show's main event.

Following that loss, Sheamus leveled the referee with a Brogue Kick, and both John Laurinaitis and WWE.com have teased that he could be facing a suspension as a result.

A suspension and a loss within a week of becoming World Heavyweight Champion? 

I'm sure that's not exactly what Sheamus had in mind when he won at WrestleMania.

2. CM Punk (Last Week: 2)

CM Punk had a WWE Championship match on last week's Raw, and he lost it.

Mark Henry beat Punk via count out, and although Punk held onto his title, he indeed lost to the World's Strongest Man.

Still, Punk stays in the same spot because he delivered another great performance in his match with Henry, which was one of the best, if not the best match I've ever seen Henry have.

That was an incredibly entertaining bout, and props are in order for both guys for entertaining the hell out of me on Monday.

Although Punk may have lost, he's still WWE Champion and still the best in the world.

1. Chris Jericho (Last Week: 4)

It didn't take long for Chris Jericho to rebound form his WrestleMania loss.

Although he didn't compete in any matches last week, Jericho made a huge statement with a heinous and brutal attack on CM Punk following his title match with Mark Henry.

Jericho poured liquor all over Punk and smashed a bottle over his head, proving that you can have an impact without even stepping in the ring.

Despite Punk's win at Mania, it is Jericho who once again has the psychological advantage and is in the driver's seat of this feud.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.