WWE Superstar Power Rankings Ahead of Sept. 26 Raw

Coming out of Sunday's Clash of Champions and a newsworthy week of WWE television, shakeups in the power rankings were inevitable.

Kevin Owens retained his Universal Championship, but was he hurt by a litany of help? Did Roman Reigns' United States Championship victory bump him up the list, or will his new role as a midcarder hurt his stature?

SmackDown is also well-represented on this list as the blue brand prepares for its second solo pay-per-view, Oct. 9's No Mercy. Dean Ambrose notched a rare victory over John Cena on television, but was that enough to pull the former WWE world champion out of his funk?

With the world ready to watch the debate of the century tonight, the debates resulting from these latest power rankings will make for the perfect appetizers.

10. Brian Kendrick

WWE's Cruiserweight Classic had the luxury of existing on the merits of wrestling alone. As refreshing as this was on the WWE Network, the cruiserweight division on Raw will only go as far as its characters take it.

On Raw, cruiserweights will have to be more Conor McGregor and less Dominick Cruz. Casual fans with itchy trigger fingers and a wide selection of fall programming are not thirsty for high work rates.

Crazy as it sounds, the early stages of the cruiserweight division have relied heavily upon the growth of Brian Kendrick. Kendrick is the only cruiserweight most WWE fans are familiar with, and WWE has wasted no time in telling his story.

Through interviews with Michael Cole, quotes relayed by announcers and his sudden heel turn, Kendrick is becoming the type of character who will keep fans interested as WWE introduces them to a talented slate of performers in its brand-new weight class.

9. Nia Jax

Nia Jax and Braun Strowman continue to have identical pushes. At this point in their current surges, they are being matched with more formidable opponents, as opposed to the interchangeable enhancement talents fans have come to know and love over the past few months.

While Strowman begins to form a rivalry with Sin Cara, Jax has engaged in a feud with Alicia Fox, who has done a very good job of bringing an added dimension of sympathy that was missing from previous Jax foes.

Jax's impressive mauling of Fox two weeks ago on Raw opened many eyes to the type of aggressive monster heel she can be. Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net's Jason Powell wrote of the one-sided win, "This was great. Nia looked like an absolute monster. The crowd gasped several times at the way she tossed Alicia around like a rag doll, and the broadcast team did a good job of putting over Nia’s strength."

Your move, Strowman.

8. Bray Wyatt

The feud betwen Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton has moved slowly, although it has not dragged. Over the past several months, Wyatt has cleaned up his promos. His dark verses are much easier to follow as opposed to incoherent riddles, although it could be argued that speaking in riddles worked in his favor when it came to garnering heel heat.

Having his match with Randy Orton called off at Backlash was a blessing in disguise. It allowed WWE to stretch out the storyline and give this feud a more proper, long-term build before these two inevitably clash.

As Wyatt continues to taunt Orton and play mind games, a more traditional battle of good versus evil will make for a better match with more fan interaction.

7. The Usos

Over on Raw, Seth Rollins' babyface turn was very sloppy. WWE never really did anything with the character to drive the point home that fans were supposed to be cheering him. The only evidence fans have of Rollins being a babyface was his cage jump from last week. 

The Usos, on the other hand, have masterfully pulled off their heel turn. With new gear, less fanfare during their entrance and constant trash-talking with fans and their opponents, The Usos are bad, bad boys, and everybody knows it.

The Usos have quickly evolved into one of the best heel tag teams in WWE. This is doubly impressive considering this unit spent so many years as an elite babyface tag team.

As No. 1 Contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships with a budding feud against American Alpha, The Usos are yet another bright spot for the surging blue brand.

6. Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose did the unthinkable this past week on SmackDown when he defeated John Cena cleanly on television. It was the first time John Cena had lost cleanly on Raw or SmackDown in seven years. It was his first clean loss on SmackDown in 13 years.

And while this is certainly a big win for Ambrose, it feels like it is coming a few months too late. This is the type of victory that would have been the perfect precursor to a WWE World Championship win, similar to that of AJ Styles, who is currently a superior world champion to Kevin Owens.

If Ambrose has a good showing at No Mercy, he'll start to be a bit easier to digest as a top star.

5. Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins has failed in multiple World Championship attempts dating back to his return earlier this summer. Though he was screwed in his most recent attempt, it'll be tough to envision a scenario where WWE grants him yet another opportunity.

It's time for Rollins to set his sights on Triple H in a potential showdown that could headline Hell in a Cell or even Survivor Series. WWE is finally beginning to emphasize Rollins as a babyface performer after airing post-event footage of fans giving him a standing ovation on its YouTube channel.

Fans will continue to rally behind Rollins as he continues to feud with Stephanie McMahon. If it's revealed she was in on the plan to crown Kevin Owens universal champion this whole time, things could get interesting.

4. Kevin Owens

If Kevin Owens received any more help retaining his Universal Championship, WWE would have needed a bigger ring.

Owens is becoming Seth Rollins 2.0 after outside interference from Chris Jericho and a cameo from Stephanie McMahon marred his first Universal Championship defense in a pay-per-view main event.

These types of shenanigans did not generate interest in Rollins while he was a top heel champion. According to Pro Wrestling Torch, ratings were consistently low throughout Rollins' World Championship run in 2015.

With WWE staring down the barrel of a debate that could do Super Bowl numbers, per Tom Huddleson Jr. of Fortune, WWE can ill afford another weak world champion.

3. The Miz

Few WWE Superstars understand how to be a heel like The Miz. Much like John Cena has been able to exist as a white-meat babyface in WWE's most jaded era, Miz has done the same on the heel side.

Miz isn't the "cool heel" who is cheered by fans for "doing too good of a job." Miz gets booed. He cheats to win. He often employs his wife to use dirty tactics in his matches. Fans want to see him lose.

Miz continued his nefarious ways with yet another victory against Dolph Ziggler, which allowed him to retain an Intercontinental Championship that suddenly means something again.

2. Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns' week began with a non-title victory over WWE universal champion Kevin Owens inside a steel cage. It ended with a United States Championship victory over Rusev.

With WWE doing the Seth Rollins thing and booking Owens to lose non-title matches while receiving help in order to win, Reigns has a clear path to become a lineal heavyweight champion.

As a babyface United States champion, WWE will be able to book Reigns to look strong in decisive title defenses. He'll defeat quality opponents in clean fashion, and by the end of his run he'll be stronger for it.

It's basically everything that WWE isn't doing with Owens.

1. AJ Styles

AJ Styles will lay claim to the top spot until somebody takes it from him. With a Triple Threat match against John Cena and Dean Ambrose, Styles has a golden opportunity to pin Cena on pay-per-view for a third time.

That's virtually unheard of.

As long as Styles is healthy, WWE needs to be doing everything it can to make him the new Face That Runs The Place. There should be no hurry to get the WWE World Championship off Styles, as the talent pool of top babyface stars is extremely thin on the blue brand.

WWE needs to build up other babyfaces aside from Dean Ambrose who can challenge Styles. This might require a trade from Raw. Until then, SmackDown Live is Styles' playground.

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.