WWE Superstar Power Rankings for 9/22/2014—WWE Night of Champions Edition

WWE Night of Champions 2014 is in the books, and in the aftermath, there's major upheaval in the WWE Superstar Power Rankings, including a new No. 1 for the first time in over a month.  We also saw three out of the five titles in WWE change hands.

This past weekend Dean Ambrose returned, though he didn't make the list this week.  We also saw Roman Reigns leave the active roster due to injury.  You can read more on Reigns' injury situation here.  Seeing as he's going to likely miss a minimum of a month, Roman Reigns has been removed from the rankings until further notice.  

We'll get into all things Night of Champions and much more in the following slides.  Before we get into all that, though, please read how these rankings work.

Holding a championship, being a No. 1 contender or holding a Money in the Bank briefcase counts for much of a wrestler's ranking and are therefore the most heavily weighted components in these rankings.  If a wrestler is tied with another wrestler, holding a title will be a tiebreaker.

Wins and losses account for the bulk of the week-to-week movement—wins and losses are, after championships, the most important component of the rankings.  The quality of a wrestler's opponents and whether they are ranked is considered in the week-to-week movement.  

"Getting the better" of someone—like beating someone down—as well as "getting got" also counts, though not as much as wins and losses.  Being "over" with the fans is considered but not heavily weighted in the ranking decisions.  Pay-per-view performances take on added importance.  

Only the top 10 wrestlers are ranked.  Wrestlers on the Watch List were considered for top-10 status but were ultimately nixed.  They are unranked, and their listing is in no particular order.  

Generally speaking, these rankings do not break kayfabe, though any major non-storyline information (serious injury, WWE Wellness Policy violations, legitimate hirings, firings, contract information, "sabbaticals," etc.) may be taken into consideration, especially if WWE confirms them publicly.  Nothing that could be explicitly considered a spoiler is included unless WWE acknowledges it as well.

All WWE shows, televised or digitally distributed, as well as anything from WWE.com, the WWE App, the WWE Network and any WWE or Superstar social media accounts that don't break kayfabe may be taken into consideration for these rankings.  This includes but is not limited to WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown, WWE Main Event, WWE Superstars, NXT and any WWE pay-per-view.

Watch List

The Usos

The Usos couldn't hold off Gold and Stardust forever.  And at Night of Champions, they lost their titles to the bizarre brothers.  They're sure to get a rematch.  Can they win their titles back quickly?

Paige

After losing her title to AJ Lee at Night of Champions in the Triple Threat match, her feud with AJ is sure to continue.  She'll get a rematch sometime, and if the past is any predictor of the future, she might get the better of AJ and win her third Divas title.  

Dolph Ziggler

In perhaps the most shocking title change of the evening, Dolph Ziggler was defeated by The Miz, and The Showoff lost his Intercontinental Championship.  When he gets a rematch, can he overcome Miz's stunt double and win back the title?

No. 10: Big Show and Mark Henry

Previous Rank: 6

Movement: Down 4

Big Show and Mark Henry had a good start to their week, but Night of Champions was terrible for Henry.  He had the chance to make amends for what he perceived as failures in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.  But as mentioned, it didn't exactly work out.

Mark Henry not only lost to Rusev, he tapped out.  That's about as bad as it gets.  Henry, in the minds of many fans, gave up on America.  How can he recover?  Can Big Show reassure him and keep him from hating himself?

No. 9: Randy Orton

Credit: WWE.com

Previous Rank: Unranked

Movement: Into top 10

Randy Orton finally got a good win over a quality opponent at a pay-per-view.  Orton defeated Chris Jericho via pinfall, and now he will probably look to get back into title contention.

His main opposition, Roman Reigns, is out of the picture for some time now, and with Chris Jericho defeated, he's got every opportunity now to make his push for a shot at Brock Lesnar's title, assuming someone else doesn't get to him first.

No. 8: The Miz

Previous Rank: Unranked

Movement: Into top 10

The Miz needed a little help from his stunt double, but he picked up the big win over Dolph Ziggler at Night of Champions and has now entered his fourth reign as Intercontinental Champion.  He picked up two losses and a win in tag team action throughout the week, but when it mattered most, he got the job done.

The question now is whether or not Ziggler will get another shot at Miz, or if Miz will take on new opposition.  Perhaps his stunt double will get tired of playing second fiddle...

No. 7: Gold and Stardust

Credit: WWE.com

Previous Rank: Unranked

Movement: Into top 10

We don't know just yet if the WWE Tag Team Championships is the "Cosmic Key" that Gold and Stardust have been seeking, but they're sure to put the tag titles to use while on their interstellar journey.

After a generally down week, they made up for it in a big way.  They defeated The Usos and are once again Tag Team champions.  Cody Rhodes' transformation into Stardust seems to have paid off.  

No. 6: AJ Lee

Previous Rank: Watch List

Movement: Into top 10

AJ Lee got her revenge (again) against Paige by forcing her to tap out at Night of Champions.  Nikki Bella was in the match, too, by the way.  Her only other match of the week saw her leave Brie Bella hanging in a tag match against Paige and Nikki Bella.  

Now she's beginning her third Divas Championship reign.  She will surely have to contend with Paige again, continuing their rivalry.  Can she protect the title?  Or will the two of them continue trading title wins?

No. 5: Rusev

Credit: WWE.com

Previous Rank: 10

Movement: Up 5

Rusev benefitted from the chaos that is the rankings this week, and with his domination of and submission victory over Mark Henry at Night of Champions, he explodes into the top five, looking poised to challenge anyone who stands in his way.

The question now is what's next for him.  Will he challenge for a title?  If so, which one?  If not, then who else could possibly stand up to him?

No. 4: Sheamus

Previous Rank: 9

Movement: Up 5

Sheamus has been in a bit of a rut lately, but this past week he picked up two big wins in tag matches and then went to battle with Cesaro at Night of Champions, getting the win and retaining his United States Championship in a hard-fought match.

After the physical match with the Swiss Superman, he might be finished with Cesaro.  Could Rusev be his next challenger?  Someone else?  Or will he continue to feud with Cesaro?

No. 3: Seth Rollins

Previous Rank: 4

Movement: Up 1

Seth Rollins had a bad start to his week.  On Raw, he lost cleanly to Roman Reigns.  He made up for it by defeating Big E on Main Event and then by attacking Roman Reigns on SmackDown.

Then at Night of Champions, he technically got a win over Roman Reigns via forfeiture.  He then brawled with a returning Dean Ambrose, who had him beaten down until The Authority had Ambrose hauled away.  

If it had just ended there, he would not have much to brag about.  But when he attacked John Cena and tried to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on Brock Lesnar, he showed he's got a big set of stones on him.  Not everyone would try to pull a fast one on Lesnar, but Rollins did.  

No. 2: Brock Lesnar

Previous Rank: 1

Movement: Down 1

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar had been buoyed lately by his invincibility.  But at Night of Champions, he didn't dominate Cena like he did at SummerSlam.  If pro wrestling had a scoring system, Lesnar may well have come out on top had the match gone to the judges.  But there is no such system in pro wrestling.

He dished out some serious punishment to Cena, but he also took four Attitude Adjustments and spent a good deal of time on the mat while locked in the STF.  And ultimately, when Seth Rollins attacked Cena, he actually lost to John Cena.

Brock Lesnar now has only one win against Cena in three matches against him since his return to WWE.  That's not exactly impressive.

No. 1: John Cena

Previous Rank: 3

Movement: Up 2

John Cena held his own last night at Night of Champions and technically defeated Brock Lesnar.  He didn't win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but he moved to two wins and one loss to Lesnar in their last three matches.  And the DQ victory over Lesnar is sure to set up a rematch at Hell in a Cell.

Cena hit Lesnar with four AAs and had Lesnar in the STF when Seth Rollins attacked him.  While we will never know what might have happened, it sure looked like Lesnar was going to have to tap out.  

Cena can't be happy with how he won, as he's not WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but he can hold his head high knowing he went blow for blow with Lesnar.  Can he keep up his momentum leading to the near-certain rematch?