Bayley, Paige and WWE Diva Power Rankings for Week of October 14

On the heels of the TakeOver: Respect special, the Divas power rankings are dominated by names and faces from NXT.

Bayley successfully retained her NXT Women's Championship over Sasha Banks in a truly epic, memorable Iron Man match.

Asuka made a triumphant debut, scoring a submission win. Dana Brooke lost that match but proved herself a continually improving performer.

On the main roster side of things, Paige continued to make life a living hell for Natalya and former PCB teammates Charlotte and Becky Lynch, while Nikki Bella scored a big pinfall victory and built momentum for her run toward Hell in a Cell.

It was an eventful week for the women of World Wrestling Entertainment. 

Who retained their spots on the list, and who took a big tumble?

10. Becky Lynch

Credit: WWE.com

Last Week: 9

Becky Lynch continues to float aimlessly in the main roster Divas division, playing the silent sidekick to Charlotte and having little opportunity to connect with the audience via character development.

This week, she was yet another face in a meaningless tag match. That she and Charlotte lost to Brie Bella and Alicia Fox, the jobbers of Team Bella, does not help her case.

Lynch entered the Divas Revolution as one of the hottest women on the roster on the heels of a Match of the Year candidate against Sasha Banks. Unfortunately, it was the climax of her year rather than the start of something truly special.

At least it appears that way for now.

9. Dana Brooke

Last Week: 8

Dana Brooke may have lost her TakeOver: Respect match to Asuka, but she looked so much better than she has to this point, keeping up with Asuka and never looking out of place. Her in-ring character development, including yelling at the referee "I know the rules" before proceeding to break the rules, was phenomenal and will only help her with her evolution as a performer.

The losses are beginning to mount for the former fitness model, despite consistent improvement in every aspect of her game. That earned her a one-spot decrease in this week's rankings, and what appears to be a lack of direction could lead to her dropping off the list completely in the coming weeks.

Hopefully, NXT rewards her hard work. If not, WWE could miss out on a legitimate chance to create a star in the Divas division.

8. Brie Bella

Last Week: N/A

Brie Bella has been quiet over the recent months, taking a backseat to sister Nikki and oftentimes finding herself on the losing end of singles and tag bouts.

So why does she earn a spot on this week's rankings?

A victory over the Divas champion will do that for you, even if it was via dropkick in a meaningless tag match.

Brie is an interesting case because the moment Nikki won the Divas Championship at Survivor Series, she became an afterthought—a sidekick rather than a star despite the fact that she was given the high-profile match against Stephanie McMahon at SummerSlam 2014.

It is unlikely that Brie will suddenly receive a huge push on the heels of her win, nor should she. She is clearly the weaker of the two twins and is doing just fine in her current role.

But her big win over the Diva who is being presented as the top dog (figuratively speaking) in the division is enough to earn her some acclaim, even if it is only for one week.

7. Asuka

Last Week: N/A

Last week Asuka dropped out of the rankings.

This week she returns on the strength of her first in-ring appearance for NXT.

At TakeOver: Respect, she was wickedly fast and had Dana Brooke reeling from the moment the bell rang. Throwing a number of strikes and trapping her opponent in countless submission holds, she punished the arrogant rookie and forced a tapout with the Asuka Lock.

Even better was the way she scared the unholy hell out of Emma after the match, causing the Aussie Diva to shy away from confrontation.

The Japanese star made a tremendous impact in her first opportunity to do so and will now set her sights on moving up the ranks and one day wearing the gold that Bayley carries with such respect.

6. Natalya

Credit: WWE.com

Last Week: 6

After spending so many months watching from a distance, Natalya has jumped right back into the thick of things in the Divas division as the main rival of Paige in a blossoming rivalry.

A recent victory over Paige with the Sharpshooter and a return to relevance while teaming with Charlotte and Becky Lynch in tag team action helped the Queen of Harts retain her spot at No. 6 in these rankings.

Even a loss with Lynch and Charlotte to Team Bella on the October 8 episode of SmackDown was not enough to knock her from her perch, though with a surging Asuka and the impending debut of Nia Jax, Natalya will have to continue progressing forward or find herself moving backward in the countdown. 

5. Charlotte

Last Week: 4

The Divas champion has somehow managed to be worse off than she was prior to winning the title.

A largely undefined character, Charlotte floats from Raw to SmackDown without really doing anything more interesting than "woo-ing" like her father.

A submission win over Nikki Bella in 6-Diva tag action on the October 8 episode of SmackDown is the only thing helping her cling to a spot in the top five this week. A defeat suffered on the following Monday's Raw, courtesy of a freaking dropkick from Brie Bella, nearly catapulted her straight out of the top half of these rankings

With Hell in a Cell and a return date with Nikki on the horizon, it will be imperative for Charlotte to rebound and for WWE Creative to help develop her character.

4. Paige

Last Week: 5

WWE's resident anti-Diva may be winless in recent competition but has remained a key part of the Divas Revolution, as Paige is engaged in a number of programs. Recently, her vendetta against Natalya has taken precedence, but the feud with The Bella Twins continues on a weekly basis.

Paige is the classic tweener, someone who falls neither on the babyface nor heel side of things. Instead, she does her own thing, more often than not at the expense of popular heroines.

Paige is in an interesting place right now because she is more clearly a villain than a hero. She cost Charlotte and Becky Lynch victories while feuding with Natalya, but Paige remains an obvious adversary of the hated Team Bella.

Where she goes from here and whether or not she re-enters Divas Championship contention in the coming weeks will dictate whether she can retain her spot in the top five.

3. Nikki Bella

Last Week: 2

The former Divas champion has steadily remained in title contention, picking up victories as she prepares for her rematch against Charlotte at Hell in a Cell on October 25.

To prepare for the huge title bout, she squared off with Naomi in singles competition on the October 12 episode of Raw.

Capitalizing on a momentary distraction at ringside, she delivered her Rack Attack finisher and scored the pinfall win, much to the dismay of Team Bella haters.

Despite the devastating loss that resulted in her losing the Divas Championship back at Night of Champions, Bella has continued to net victories and remains in the top three of the Divas power rankings for the third consecutive week.

With that said, a submission loss to Charlotte on the October 8 episode of SmackDown did cost her a spot.

2. Sasha Banks

Last Week: 1

The Boss dropped a spot on the heels of her loss to Bayley at TakeOver: Respect.

The October 12 episode of Raw, though, proved that fans will not allow Sasha Banks to fall into irrelevance on the main roster, chanting "We want Sasha" as Nikki Bella and Naomi squared off in singles competition.

That Michael Cole made a big point out of suggesting that there may be dissension within Team BAD as Banks continues to break out here in 2015 suggests she could be on her way to a singles push on Raw and SmackDown.

If so, she will finally have the opportunity to break free of the contrived factions war and prove why she is very much the face of women's wrestling's bright future.

Banks on it.

1. Bayley

Last Week: 3

The NXT women's champion claimed the top spot in this week's rankings, thanks in large part to her Iron Man match victory over Sasha Banks at TakeOver: Respect.

For the first time in the 50-plus-year history of WWE, two women headlined a major event and did so in epic fashion, tearing the roof off the NXT Arena in Full Sail University.

Bayley was phenomenal, showcasing an aggressiveness late in the match that fans had never really seen out of her. The way she pulled on the fingers of her opponent, forcing her to admit defeat and submission rather than tapping out was fantastic and really showed the depths to which she would sink in order to retain the title she had worked so hard to obtain.

With Banks out of her way, it should be interesting to see who will step up to challenge the huggable Diva next.

Perhaps it will be a newcomer such as Nia Jax or Asuka.