Who's Hot and Who's Not Heading into Raw on July 22

Which WWE Superstars are hot and which are not seems to flip flop just about every week.

One week, a Superstar might rack up a few major victories and build up a ton of momentum. Then, he might follow that up with two losses and poor booking the next. 

You never really know what to expect when it comes to the WWE—aside from Daniel Bryan, who’s been riding high for about a year now—because momentum shifts happen all the time in the company these days.

But what’s going on right now? Which stars are hot, and which stars are not?

Let’s take a look at three Superstars who enter the July 22 episode of Monday Night Raw riding a wave of momentum and three other Superstars who are doing exactly the opposite. 

HOT: Cody Rhodes

Despite the loss eight days ago at Money in the Bank, Cody Rhodes is undoubtedly riding the momentum train.

That memorable loss at the pay-per-view coincided with an unforgettable performance from Rhodes, who emerged as the MVP of that match and now seems fresher than ever thanks to a surprising babyface turn. 

The simple story of Damien Sandow turning on Rhodes (without admitting that’s exactly what he did) has resulted in an exciting feud between two of the WWE’s best up-and-comers, and Rhodes has gotten the best of Sandow with attacks on both Raw and SmackDown last week. 

The fans are reacting very favorably to Rhodes these days, as he’s more than made the most out of that Money in the Bank loss. His face turn has been quite successful so far, and heading into tonight’s Raw, he’s got his biggest role on TV since his WrestleMania 28 feud with Big Show.

NOT: The Miz

The Miz’s babyface run continues to be one of the most disappointing developments in the WWE over the course of the last year. 

As if his face run wasn’t bad enough already, The Miz had a really rough week last week, losing cleanly to Curtis Axel at Money in the Bank before being an afterthought on Raw and being relegated to a poorly performed Miz TV segment on SmackDown.

The Miz has absolutely nothing going for him as a face right now. Making matters even worse, he’s recently been announced as the “host” of the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view.

That’s a really nice way of the WWE saying “Hey, you’re not going to be on the card, because you’re super stale and boring." And of course, it’s a giant step in the wrong direction for a man who once main evented WrestleMania.

HOT: Rob Van Dam

There’s no other way to put it: Rob Van Dam has been on fire since he returned at Money in the Bank eight days ago.

He was one of the focal points of the MITB “All-Stars” match (despite not winning it), and he delivered a great performance in his match against Chris Jericho on Raw the next night. He followed that with an impressive victory over Darren Young on SmackDown, too. 

Of course, this is about more than just wins and losses. RVD has also undoubtedly provided a jolt of excitement into the WWE since his return.

The fans still love him, he’s performed well in his matches, and he’s given the WWE yet another reliable veteran babyface.

It remains to be seen exactly what the WWE will do with Van Dam as we draw closer to SummerSlam, but he’s already made a big splash in the company just eight days after coming back. 

NOT: Wade Barrett

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise anymore, but the WWE continues to fail to do anything substantial with Wade Barrett. 

The creative team had a great opportunity to elevate Barrett by having him win a coveted briefcase at Money in the Bank. Instead, it once again overlooked him.

Barrett failed to win the briefcase. He didn’t wrestle on Raw. Then, he unsurprisingly tapped out to Daniel Bryan in just a few minutes on SmackDown.

Once a guy almost everyone thought would be a world champion, Barrett is about as low as you can get on the WWE totem pole without being completely off of it.

Every week that goes by, Barrett gets further and further away from his world title aspirations and closer and closer to being future endeavored.

HOT: Randy Orton

It’s now rather obvious the WWE has finally decided to elevate Randy Orton back to the top of the card. 

“The Viper” picked up a career-rejuvenating Money in the Bank win just eight days ago to ignite a spectacular week that also saw him defeat Fandango on Raw and pin World Heavyweight champion Alberto Del Rio cleanly on SmackDown. 

Orton has been one of the WWE’s most popular stars for a while now, and, especially recently, he’s getting bigger pops from the crowd than anyone not named Daniel Bryan. Now, he’s finally headed back to the main event, where he belongs. 

Although a storyline-driven injury has probably knocked Orton off of TV for a while, he’s still Mr. Money in the Bank, and he’s still coming off three major victories that have given him a lot of momentum.

If there’s any WWE Superstar you want to keep your eye on right now, it is undoubtedly Orton, who is right there with Bryan in the race to be crowned the company’s hottest Superstar.

NOT: Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger

The struggles of Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger are continuing, but now they’re happening together.

Although Cesaro and Swagger are two great talents, pairing them together hasn’t seemed to help them get out of the ruts they’ve been in for a while now.

Neither man was able to capture a briefcase and future world title shot at Money in the Bank. Meanwhile, they quickly lost a tag team match to the Usos on Raw before Swagger lost a five-minute match to Dolph Ziggler on SmackDown. 

Does it sound like either guy is being pushed to you? No, it sounds like they’re both stagnating.

Pairing both Swagger and Cesaro with Zeb Colter was supposed to get both Superstars back on track, but, unfortunately, it hasn’t turned their fortunes around whatsoever.

They are both in midcard heel hell, and neither of them has shown any sign of momentum.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter!