Breaking Down WWE's Reported Roster Rankings List for Top Faces and Heels

In this day and age of social media and smartphones, WWE fans get a ton of looks behind the curtain and on the business side of wrestling, but never as much as getting the company's internal power rankings of its own Superstars. 

Until now, apparently. 

With WrestleMania now a distant memory, it looked like things in wrestling land would slow down when it comes to rumors and buzz. Instead, an alleged leaked list of company tier rankings for Raw Superstars threw out quite a swerve. 

According to PWinsider (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats), the top-listed men's babyfaces are as follows: 

1. Bobby Lashley
2. Cody Rhodes
3. AJ Styles

And the top heels: 

1. Seth Rollins
2. Kevin Owens
3. Edge & Damian Priest

On the women's side, according to PWinsider (h/t Ortman), the babyfaces: 

1. Bianca Belair
2. Alexa Bliss
3. Rhea Ripley

And heels: 

1. Becky Lynch
2. Carmella
3. Zelina Vega

The lists, no matter how accurate, provide a lot to dissect, to say the least. 

Look at the Raw men's babyfaces, where Bobby Lashley would somehow be considered the top good guy. Yet it's no wonder fans seem a bit lukewarm on him—his entire recent title reign was completely derailed so the main event scene could focus on Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns—and only Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns—at the expense of the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber and more. 

Then there's the Cody Rhodes conversation. Based on the reaction to his stunning return at Mania after serving as one of the founding fathers for WWE's biggest competitor, All Elite Wrestling, one would think he'd already sit No. 1 on the list. 

And he probably should. WWE has had a brutal time building babyface stars. Look at how fans reacted to Reigns for a long time compared to how much they've loved his current heel saga. Heels are the cool thing. 

Which is to say there's a short shelf life on Rhodes as a babyface, and it might be better for WWE to capitalize on his momentum and goodwill now before it evaporates. Wait too long and any eventual title win might receive a tepid reception. 

Anyway, AJ Styles sticking in the top three isn't any big surprise, and neither is Seth Rollins as the top heel. Funnily though, he's a good example of how hard it is for promotions to book characters in this day and age. The company believes Rollins a heel and he acts like one, yet one doesn't have to strain their ears too much to hear how much fans still love him and want to see him succeed. 

Interestingly, it's Kevin Owens in the second slot and not Edge. The former is more of a goofy heel most fans seem to love. His entire feud with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was simply talking bad about a state. Edge might be the only heel here that is straight-up violent and dangerous in an old-school way. 

There are similar themes on the women's side of the rankings, too. Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley standing tall in the top three as babyfaces is, if nothing else, WWE fully embracing the next generation of main-event stars. 

But still sandwiched between them, somehow, is Alexa Bliss, who has wrestled just one match since September of 2021. That's not a knock on her, either—she's one of the best in the world. But one would think WWE could have built up somebody else like a Dana Brooke or even Liv Morgan to occupy that slot. 

And then there's the heel list for the women's side which is, to be blunt, a mess. Becky Lynch is technically the top heel, but it's a "begrudgingly" sort of placement because fans seem so unenthusiastic about it. WWE tried for the shock appeal of her returning early to beat Belair to get the ball rolling on that, but it was met with backlash and mostly indifference since. 

That Carmella is right behind Lynch on the heels list isn't necessarily a good thing. She would appear to be flirting with legitimate go-away heat with fans because of the way WWE keeps pushing her YouTube show with Corey Graves. That's as opposed to heat from fans for in-ring actions or interactions with other Superstars. 

Zelina Vega, at least, is a superb name to slot in the top three for a brand right now, and if and when Lynch goes back to a babyface role, she could be the successor to the No. 1 spot. 

Looking at the women's side specifically, it's apparent just how much Raw struggles for depth right now. Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Ronda Rousey are all on SmackDown. The women's division desperately needs Asuka and Bayley back from injury to help flesh out lists like these. 

As a whole? The lists could certainly look worse. Like any WWE plans for angles or stars, they're also surely fluid and can change on a moment's notice. But it's quite an interesting snapshot into what WWE hopes to accomplish with its red brand in at least the short-term, while potentially saying quite a bit about omitted names like Finn Balor and tag-based stars like Randy Orton. 

Do the lists look anything like the way fans might rank the same thing? Certainly not, but that gap doesn't have to be a bad thing, either. It leaves room for surprises, not to mention opportunities for the company to hear fan wants and make them happen over time. 

For now, this is the state of WWE and who the main drivers of the vision will be as the next march to a Mania starts in earnest.