WWE Power Rankings: Counting Down the Company's Top 15 Superstars (April 23)

Over the last few weeks, the WWE hasn't exactly been the same WWE we've grown accustomed to.

Big names like The Rock and The Undertaker are gone, John Cena actually isn't being booked strongly, new superstars have become the norm on Friday Night SmackDown, and so has tag-team wrestling.

It's definitely a transition phase for the WWE, and along with that phase comes a number of opportunities for lower-card and mid-card workers to rise up the card.

On the flip slide, we're seeing some main-eventers tumble down it.

So, let's take a look at who's doing what with a countdown of the top 15 superstars as the WWE currently stands.

Here are the WWE Power Rankings for April 23, 2012.

15. Brodus Clay (Last Week: 15)

Brodus Clay still hasn't lost since returning to the WWE several months back.

He extended his winning streak on last week's Raw with a DQ victory over Dolph Ziggler and then continued that streak with a squash match win over Hunico on last week's SmackDown.

Although "The Funkasaurus" still doesn't have much of a feud (is he technically feuding with Ziggler?), at least he's getting on TV on a consistent basis and piling up wins in the process.

The creative team seems to be firmly behind Clay as a mid-card face at the moment, but he's still going to need that defining feud to convince me that he'll be there for the long haul.

14. Ryback (Last Week: 14)

Another week. Another squash.

That's been the story for Ryback over the last few weeks, who has competed in three matches since his debut/return on the post-WrestleMania edition of SmackDown.

Every single one of those bouts has been a ridiculously easy (and short) victory over a "local competitor," and Ryback has looked dominant in all three of them.

Like with Clay, though, Ryback is going to need a legitimate feud in the near future.

It's clear that creative has big things in store for Ryback, however, and that crowd reactions will dictate just how far he goes.

13. John Cena (Last Week: 9)

The booking of John Cena is really intriguing right now.

Since losing to The Rock at WrestleMania, he's looked a lot more vulnerable and a lot less like Superman, having Brock Lesnar lay him out with a couple of F5s and bloody his lip as well.

Cena's struggles continued on last week's Raw, when he lost to Lord Tensai in the main event.

Although Tensai needed the help of both David Otunga and Sakamato at some point during the match, it was still about as clean a victory over Cena that we've seen on TV in the last few years.

The question on my mind now is: Where are these struggles taking Cena?

My hope is that they lead to some sort of major character change for him, though I could certainly see them leading nowhere. 

12. Lord Tensai (Last Week: Unranked)

Lord Tensai beat John Cena in the main event of Raw just a couple of weeks after his "debut."

How many superstars in recent WWE history can say that? My guess is none.

Although I'm still not crazy about the Tensai gimmick (especially the green mist part), he's definitely yet another one of those stars who has the support of the creative team.

Beating Cena is probably just the beginning of a monster push for Lord Tensai after the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

What a huge statement for Lord Tensai.

11. The Miz (Last Week: 6)

On Raw two weeks ago, John Laurinaitis told The Miz that he had "big plans" for him that the two were set to discuss on last week's Raw.

Those big plans? No Raw appearance whatsoever for The Miz, I guess.

A week after only appearing in a backstage segment, there was absolutely no sighting of The Miz on last week's Raw.

Why? I have no idea.

But it's now been three weeks since The Miz stepped in the ring on Raw, and one has to wonder if he's getting even more lost in the shuffle on Monday nights.

10. Daniel Bryan (Last Week: 11)

It was a bit of an up-and-down week for Daniel Bryan.

On Raw, he had that memorable backstage segment with Kofi Kingston and AJ that he followed up with an impressive victory over Kingston.

Then, on SmackDown, he cut a great promo to start the show, but his team lost in the six-man main event tag-team match.

Bryan didn't take the pin in the match, however, so everything he went through last week just about evens out.

One thing worth noting is how ridiculously over Bryan is right now and how it's dumb of the WWE to try to mute the "Yes" chants on SmackDown. If the fans want to cheer Bryan, let them do it.

9. Randy Orton (Last Week: 12)

After a rough outing on the live SmackDown special two weeks ago, Randy Orton rebounded with a nice showing on last week's SmackDown.

In the excellent six-man tag-team main event, Orton got the victory for the baby face side after hitting Mark Henry with an RKO and pinning the World's Strongest Man.

It took the help of Sheamus and Big Show to do so, sure. But it was a nice way to help Orton regain some of the momentum that he lost during the prior week.

Orton is now looking a little stronger as we inch closer toward his Falls Count Anywhere match with Kane at Extreme Rules.

8. Mark Henry (Last Week: 5)

In terms of wins and losses, it was a really bad week for Mark Henry.

The World's Strongest Man lost his WWE Championship match against CM Punk on Monday's Raw and then followed that up by being pinned in the main event six-man tag-team match on SmackDown.

Then again, let's just put this into perspective: Henry lost on Raw after being hit with a steel chair, and it took a whopping three finishers to put him away on SmackDown.

Though it's never great to lose two big matches in one week, Henry was still booked pretty strongly in the process.

He may not be the WWE Champion, and he may have taken the loss on Friday, but Henry's still in a better position than the vast majority of the WWE roster.

7. Brock Lesnar (Last Week: 10)

Moving Brock Lesnar up this much because of a video package? Sorry, but I had to.

That UFC-style video we saw on Lesnar was extremely well done and spoke volumes more about him than an in-ring promo ever could have.

The WWE is going to have to get creative with Lesnar because he's only scheduled to make a limited number of appearances, and this video was an excellent way to show Lesnar's intensity and established him as a wrecking machine of a heel.

Although he didn't even appear on Raw in person last week, Lesnar made a huge statement with that video and his comments directed toward John Cena.

Maybe we should give the WWE's video team a spot on the rankings this week, too.

6. Kane (Last Week: 7)

Where was Kane on last Friday's SmackDown? 

I have no idea, but The Big Red Monster did make a nice statement on Raw when he dismantled Zack Ryder before their match could even get started.

While it obviously sucked to be Ryder last Monday (and just about any day recently), it did help establish Kane as a bit more of a monster to have him destroy Ryder on Raw.

Other than that, Kane didn't do much, but I guess his beat-down of Ryder was effective enough.

5. Alberto Del Rio (Last Week: 8)

So, Alberto Del Rio is SmackDown's newest superstar? Apparently so.

I hate that ADR just moved to the blue brand without any explanation, but I do feel like he fits better on Friday nights, and he did make quite an impact on this week's show.

Del Rio (thanks to some assistance from Cody Rhodes) got the victory over Big Show in their singles match at the top of the second hour on SmackDown.

Not many superstars beat Big Show these days, so it was a pretty big statement for the WWE to put Del Rio over, even if it was because Rhodes interfered.

With ADR's World Heavyweight title shot looming, he's someone we might want to keep an eye on.

4. The Big Show (Last Week: 3)

The Big Show started off his week by squashing Epico and Primo on Raw.

At that point, he was up 1-0.

But then Show suffered a little setback on SmackDown when he lost to Alberto Del Rio after interference from Cody Rhodes, making it Show 1, WWE 1.

Big Show then ended his week on a high note with his team's victory in the six-man tag-team main event on SmackDown

At that point? Show was up 2-1.

While the loss to ADR certainly hurt Show, two big victories helped him rise up the rankings a bit this week.

3. Chris Jericho (Last Week: 1)

For the most part, I've loved Chris Jericho's segments with CM Punk on Raw.

But the whole "I have hidden footage of you walking into a bar" angle fell kind of flat, and Jericho once again only appeared on Raw via Titantron.

When's the last time Y2J actually wrestled on Raw? I can't even remember.

Although Jericho is definitely one of the best heels in the WWE at the moment, he's gotta do more than cut promos via Titantron and verbally attack Punk.

2. Sheamus (Last Week: 2)

It was basically your standard week for Sheamus.

He is protected by creative about as much as anyone on the WWE roster, and that remained true last week.

On Raw, the Celtic Warrior saved Kofi Kingston from a post-match attack by Daniel Bryan, and on SmackDown, his team got the victory in the main event, although he didn't get the pin.

Can't really do much with Sheamus after that.

He stays right where he was last week.

1. CM Punk (Last Week: 4)

Well, one thing you definitely can't say about CM Punk is that he isn't a fighting champion.

Punk defended his WWE Championship against Mark Henry for the third straight week on Raw, and for the first time, he actually beat the World's Strongest Man.

Not only did Punk beat Henry, though—he did it in impressive fashion in a great match, and it allowed him to hold onto his WWE title.

Punk has done a great job of balancing two feuds (with Henry and Punk) and getting the best out of Henry over the last several weeks.

He deserves to be rewarded for that with the No. 1 spot on this week's WWE Power Rankings.

Drake Oz is the WWE Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions (to be answered in the B/R Mailbag) on Formspring.