WWE Power Rankings: The Top 10 Wrestlers of the WWE's PG Era

Exactly three years ago today, WWE announced a change in their business model. The announcement was that all WWE programming would be rated TV-PG.

In those last 36 months, fans have criticized the move. While the program has become more family friendly, many loyal wrestling fans believe that their beloved WWE has cheapened itself.

Blood is more accidental and less storyline. Weapons are used in safer ways. Objectionable words are scarce at best.

However, as CM Punk stated in a podcast with ESPN's Bill Simmons this week, the loyal fans will always be there, and WWE is trying to reach a brand new audience. Merchandise sales for the kids are as popular as ever, and WWE now has the job of balancing the older and newer generations, making everyone happy.

As a wrestling fan, I have been pretty happy with what the last three years have brought. TV-PG means less matches being dragged down by spots with weapons, and matches are more centered around athleticism.

In an era that has been so heavily scrutinized, some stars have been established under the radar and are emerging as mainstays on pay-per-view cards and championship chases.

Whether they were pre-existing or emerged in recent years, here are the 10 stars that have represented this era in the history of WWE.

Honorable Mentions

Dolph Ziggler

In basically two-and-a-half years, Ziggler has become a triple crown champion in WWE. The tag team reign came with the Spirit Squad, but as Ziggler, he has improved drastically as time has gone on and is a rising star to watch on RAW on Monday nights.

Kofi Kingston

Kingston was the Intercontinental Champion at the time of the PG era beginning. Kingston has won the Intercontinental Championship three times, as well as being a two-time United States Champion.

Kingston is one of WWE's bright young stars and one of the great fixtures in the midcard.

Big Show

2008 was the year that Big Show returned to WWE. In that time, Big Show has won tag team gold on three separate occasions with three different superstars.

Big Show has also gotten many superstars over and helped to make the rest of the company stronger with his presence.

Kane

One of Big Show's partners during his tag team reigns, Kane also won a Money in the Bank ladder match and had a lengthy world title run that he has deserved over the years.

Kane has always been an overlooked talent in the historic aspect, but his worth to the company in the last few years is hard to measure.

Alberto Del Rio

A rising star on the scene, Del Rio has been given every opportunity put in front of him. In his short amount of time in WWE, Del Rio has already won a Royal Rumble and a Money in the Bank briefcase.

It is only a matter of time before we add a world championship to that list of credentials.

10) The Miz

The Awesome One had gone through massive changes in the PG era. At the beginning, The Miz was a self-proclaimed "Chick Magnet" with odd ring attire and a stupid looking hat.

His move to RAW from ECW proved to be the jolt that he needed, reinventing his look and attitude.

Just in these past three years, The Miz has won two tag team championships, been United States Champion twice, won a Money in the Bank briefcase and became WWE Champion last year.

At only 30, The Miz seems poised to keep those titles piling on as he will be one of the major faces of the PG era moving forward.

9) Sheamus

Just over two years ago, Sheamus broke onto the scene via the ECW brand. After staying there for a short amount of time, Sheamus was brought over to RAW and given a WWE Championship match, which he shockingly won.

Sheamus is now a two-time WWE Champion, a former United States Champion and the current King of the Ring. Those credentials, as well as his in-ring ability athleticism, have Sheamus toward the top of the short list as one of the next major company guys.

8) Batista

While many have made names for themselves in the last three years, others like Batista have cemented their legacies.

In those three years, Batista won the World Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time, won the WWE Championship twice and changed his attitude into a cocky, arrogant, uncaring individual.

His heel turn at the end of his career got a lot of support from wrestling fans who finally felt that Batista had hit his stride in the gimmick department.

Unfortunately for the fans, Batista was on his way out of WWE, hanging up his boots in May of last year. Batista said that he left from not liking the direction WWE was going in.

Batista, now 42, attempted to start doing mixed martial arts but has failed to do so. He will always be The Animal to many of us.

7) Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy fought through a lot of demons in the last few years, a fight that he is still dealing with to this very day. One fight that seemed unable to be won for Hardy was winning a world championship in WWE.

For months, fans pleaded to see Hardy become a world champion. It finally happened in December 2008.

Hardy would end up with three world title reigns in WWE, including that first one with the WWE Championship, his only run with that title.

6) CM Punk

I know that his recent push in popularity and notoriety is going to merit a higher spot on this list from some people. The fact of the matter is that Punk was not the face of WWE for these last three years.

Punk has always been a great worker, was pretty well decorated in accomplishments and always brought a memorable moment when he did or said anything.

Punk can even tell you himself that he really came into his own in these last three years, mainly during his feud with Jeff Hardy.

From that, Punk was able to build and move onto bigger feuds with the likes of The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and John Cena.

5) Triple H

He may be an authority figure now, but The Game had some authority when he still laced them up.

HHH came into this PG era as WWE champion, one of the 13 world championships he has won in his illustrious career in WWE.

While he may have had ties to the people in charge backstage, it is hard to deny the claim that Triple H is one of the all-time greats for everything he has done.

4) Rey Mysterio

Rey Mysterio is one of the most recognizable faces to a WWE fan, which is ironic due to him wearing a mask at all times.

Mysterio is extremely marketable to children, always garners a pop upon arrival and still puts a lot of effort into his performance, even when his body is nowhere near the shape it used to be.

In the last year or so, Mysterio has won two of his three career world championships. Monday's reign with the WWE Championship, as short and uneventful as it was, was symbolic of how much Mysterio means to this company.

Not everyone gets to be a WWE Champion, but Mysterio was.

3) Randy Orton

Orton went into the PG era trying to change nicknames and make them work. From what it seems like, I think Orton did a pretty good job with that.

Once known as The Legend Killer, Orton became The Apex Predator but more commonly, The Viper. Orton has become this new persona and has had the days of the Legend Killer as a distant memory.

Orton has won world champions, put on some fantastic matches and has even been in a movie through WWE Films.

This year's draft was mostly centered around putting Orton on Smackdown to have someone be the main face of the brand. Orton is that face.

2) Edge

Edge was having some of the best matches of his entire career before he shockingly found out that he needed to retire for personal health reasons.

It was a shocking discovery to find out about, but it was necessary to see Edge not wrestle again if it meant seeing Adam Copeland walking around.

If Edge was still active today, things would be close to how they were a few years back. Edge ended his career with 31 total champions, 11 of which were world title reigns.

Edge's oft-injured body ended up catching up to him, and retirement was absolutely necessary.

1) John Cena

Say whatever you feel about John Cena, but he is literally the same guy inside the ring or out.

I don't mean to bash everything that John Cena would do. If his current reign think that the Reds somehow holds, Cena will be an 11-time world champion and stay one of the top likenesses in WWE today.

Cena is on pace to take the record of world champions away from Ric Flair. Should that be the case, you will have no other way around it than to have Anrold help create a Mount Rushmore of construction in front of his house.

John Cena will always do appearances, be in commercials and be a part of your show if you wish to see him. Cena has been and will continue moving toward wherever you want him to go.

Whether you like it or not, WWE wrestling will be associated with Cena for a long time now. Anything with Cena's face on it sells faster than almost anything else.