Weekly Brainbuster: Matt’s Power Rankings 12/6/19

Matt crunches the numbers to develop his Brainbuster Power Rankings for this week!

Welcome to the ninth edition of the Weekly Brainbuster Power Rankings! We are still feeling the after shocks of Survivor Series and WarGames but, we are on the road to the Royal Rumble! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! We are discussing the week of 11/29-12/5! We will be comparing WWE (RAW and SDL), NXT (205 Live, NXT, NXT UK), and AEW! Not much has changed in NJPW, so, the next NJPW update will be after WrestleKingdom in January.

These rankings are very much based on momentum as well as strength of opponent, weighing out “power rankings” based on head to head results. Each week, I will discuss five difference makers in wrestling and, using science, prove why they had the best week in wrestling! Greg DeMarco and I will compare our lists, giving you all two different types of power rankings!

1) WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors +28 [96 Overall Tag Score]

• The Kabuki Warriors d. BlissCross, Charlotte & Becky Lynch, and Boss&Smug Connection, “WWE Starrcade”
• The Kabuki Warriors d. Charlotte [Handicap], WWE RAW

There wasn’t much competition for this spot, and with two marque victories this week, the Kabuki Warriors made the biggest impression for me! They successfully defended the Women’s Tag Team Titles at a show I hold near to my heart, as do many of you. (I plead with WWE, give Starrcade to NXT! Move WarGames to September, and put Starrcade in December! Please!) This is the teams third appearance in my Top 5, and fourth appearance for Asuka overall. (The team also has a Runner Up appearance, as does Asuka, so 6 appearances for Asuka out of 9 articles.. what can I say?)

2) Andrade +14 [32 Overall Score]

• Andrade d. Eric Young, WWE RAW

This is a tough week to grade with so little happening in the world of wrestling, but, I was and have been thoroughly impressed with Andrade. In July of this year, Andrade had a -74 overall score, and now here he is working his way into the Top 10, trailing by only a few points. Keep an eye on Andrade, I think he will be a United States Champion by early 2020!

3) Kris Statlander +18 [18 Overall Score]

• Kris Statlander d. Hikura Shida, AEW Dynamite

If you had asked me when AEW became a company who would be my favorite female performer in the company at the end of the year, I’d have probably picked Riho, but it was Kris Statlander who’s impressed me the most. She made her singles debut this week, defeating Hikaru Shida in a great match, and cemented her place as a top contender for the AEW Women’s Championship. The division sorely needed someone new after Nyla Rosa and Britt Baker have failed to captivate audiences. This won’t be the last time Statlander is in the Top 5. If you want to see more of her work, check her out in Stardom!

4) Piper Niven +16 [80 Overall Score]

• Piper Niven d. Jinny, NXT UK

I do not pick these rankings ahead of time, and seeing Piper Niven here shocked me too. There is a theme this week, and that is joshi performers are being utilized more and more in American wrestling than ever before. This is Piper’s first visit to this list, but she’s been on the Top 10 NXT Women’s list since the beginning. This win should net her an NXT UK Women’s Championship match at Blackpool in January, but we will see.

5) KUSHIDA +16 [86 Overall Score]

• KUSHIDA d. Cameron Grimes, NXT

Statement win for KUSHIDA here coming back from injury. Both KUSHIDA and Grimes have had excellent years, and both men have mastered the flash pin, so it’s no wonder this match only went 4 minutes. Sometimes short matches are bad, but when you have two guys who try to win as fast as they can wrestle a 4 minute match, it’s entertaining.

Runners Up

• 6) Killian Dain +23 [23 Overall Score]
• 7) Jon Moxley +10 [87 Overall Score]

STANDINGS

WWE Men

• Seth Rollins 188 (-)
• Roman Reigns 165 (+9)
• Buddy Murphy 151 (-)
• WWE Champion Brock Lesnar 139 (-)
• Braun Strowman 129 (-)
• Aleister Black 122 (+12)
• Baron Corbin 85 (-)
• Ricochet 74 (-)
• +Universal Champion The Fiend Bray Wyatt 62 (-)
• +Bobby Lashley 56 (-2)

OUT: IC Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles

WWE Women

• RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch 189 (-)
• Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley 170 (-)
• Charlotte 36 (-15)
• Natalya 20 (-)
• Nikki Cross 0 (-)
• Sasha Banks -1 (-)
• Lacey Evans -18 (-)
• Mandy Rose -50 (-)
• Sonya Deville -72 (-)
• Carmella -85 (-)

WWE Women Tag Team

• WWE Womens Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors 96 (+28)
• Charlotte & Becky Lynch 41 (-15)
• Charlotte & Natayla 34 (-)
• Carmella & Dana Brooke 12 (-)
• Boss & Smug Connection 4 (-15)
• Bliss/Cross -5 (-15)
• The IIconics -28 (-)
• Fire & Desire -110 (-)

WWE Tag Team

• RAW Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders 154 (+1)
• Smackdown Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) 42 (+15)
• Heavy Machinery 34 (-)
• Ziggler & Roode 23 (-)
• The Street Profits 21 (+11)
• The Revival 16 (-)
• Cesaro & Nakamura 1 (-15)
• Ryder & Hawkins -56 (-)
• The O.C. -104 (-11)

NXT Men

• +Finn Balor 205 (+14)
• NXT UK Champion WALTER 165 (-)
• Tommaso Ciampa 128 (-14)
• Pete Dunne 138 (-23)
• Velveteen Dream 122 (-)
• Matt Riddle 116 (+12)
• NXT Champion Adam Cole 116 (-)
• Travis Banks 96 (+14)
• Joe Coffey 94 (-)
• Jordan Devlin 90 (-)

OUT: Damian Priest

NXT Women

• NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler 287 (+5)
• Toni Storm 129 (-)
• NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray 124 (-)
• Rhea Ripley 120 (-)
• Io Shirai 83 (-)
• Piper Niven 80 (+16)
• Jinny 54 (-16)
• Mia Yim 53 (-)
• Bianca BelAir 23 (-)
• Tegan Nox 12 (-)

NXT Tag Team

• NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Era 69 (-)
• Imperium 47 (-)
• NXT UK Tag Team Champions Gallus 37 (-)
• The Forgotten Sons 32 (+11)
• Young Grizzled Veterans 28 (-)
• Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch 0 (-)

AEW Men

• Jon Moxley 87 (+10)
• AEW Champion Chris Jericho 80 (-)
• MJF 33 (+17)
• Kenny Omega 32 (+17)
• PAC 32 (-)
• +Fenix 31 (+15)
• Adam Page 13 (-17)
• Cody 30 (-)
• Darby Allin 16 (-)
• Luchasaurus 15 (-)

OUT: Shawn Spears

AEW Women

• AEW Women’s Champion Riho 77 (-)
• +Kris Statlander 18 (+18)
• Hikaru Shida 17 (-18)
• Britt Baker 15 (-)
• Awesome Kong 14 (-)
• Nyla Rose 13 (+14)
• Emi Sakura 2 (-)
• Shanna -1 (-)
• Jamie Hayter -16 (-)
• Leva Bates -64 (-14)

AEW Tag Team

• AEW Tag Team Champions SCU (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) 86 (-)
• Ortiz & Santana 30 (+13)
• Best Friends 17 (+17)
• Private Party 15 (-)
• The Lucha Bros 15 (-17)
• The Young Bucks 14 (-)
• The Dark Order 14 (-)
• Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt -61 (-13)