There are power rankings in all of sports. Somewhat subjective, somewhat empirical, power rankings put teams in a sport in order taking into account who was hot that week balanced with their overall record and perceived talent level in general. It's tougher to do that in wrestling, which is a performance where wins and losses are determined by a booker. We could do a kayfabe style power rankings, and it might be fun to assess the landscape with a suspension of disbelief, but this week at least I'm doing a Power Rankings based purely on my enjoyment of various acts this week.

1 -- JOHN CENA

He just seems to really be in a comfort zone as a character more than ever. Being able to reenforce his morals and "Hustle, Loyalty, Respect" mantra as he plays off of Wade Barrett seems to have give him added confidence. The fact that he's been booked, at least this week, to outsmart a very smart heel also helps him seem to be brimming with bravado and a sense of satisfaction. He's playing his part very well. His work on the mic (since he's not wrestling at this point, other than a little hotel room offense) is as good as it's been. He's come a long way since Thugonomics and continued to grow and mature as a character as he ages. I wonder if he will win over some of the booing men in the crowd? I think it'd take a change in ring gear as the oversized t-shirts and jeans shorts might appeal to kids (he looks like an overgrown toddler, as a reader recently pointed out), but it's tough for guys to get past.

2 -- WADE BARRETT

He continues to be an unexpected surprise top foil for Cena. He may end up being the new Larry Bird to his Magic Johnson, the Rock to his Steve Austin. Or, even if he's "just" Paul Orndorff to Cena's Hulk Hogan, that would work. Barrett's played his role on Raw beautifully in terms of going from supremely smugly confident to annoyed and then shaken up when Cena managed to turn the rest of Nexus against him. I'm really curious to see what kind of business Cena vs. Barrett does once Cena is inevitably rehired.

3 -- MICHAEL COLE

I could have easily gone with Cole in the no. 1 spot and felt okay with that. It's a close call. His mic work is such a pleasant surprise now that it's expanded from the awkwardness of being a commentator endorsing some babyfaces in one segment and then rooting for Miz in another. WWE, as I wrote in my editorial in this week's Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter, needs to find a way to make significant money from his heel character. He is just too effective as a heel now to be stuck at the announce table. WWE can live with whatever dropoff they may feel exists if they switched to Josh Matthews on Raw (or brought Jim Ross back!). His not-quite-an-apology to Lawler was pitch-perfect, and he even took the RKO well.

4 -- THE MIZ

He wasn't a major centerpiece of Raw in his second week as champion, but what he did he did well. His name-dropping of media entities made him seem like more of a star or a media sensation. He held his own with Randy Orton and seemed to belong on the stage.

5 -- A.J. STYLES

His match with Douglas Williams at TNA Final Resolution was, on my scorecard, the best of the night. He continues to be a poorly cast "heart and soul" of TNA. I still think he should be a babyface who anchors the X Division, and just place him in one of the final two matches on every PPV, give him 12-22 minutes every month, and give him a good world class opponent (Douglas Williams counts), and at least let TNA fans know they'll get a good semi-main event or main event every month. It's been an awkward year for him playing Nature Boy Dress Up and now playing second-fiddle in Immortal to Jeff Hardy. Sunday night he showed why he's underutilized as a heel, and why his in-ring flashy style is more suited to being a babyface.

6 & 7: KOFI KINGSTON & JACK SWAGGER

Can't separate these two as for the second week in a row they put on a very good match on Smackdown. I liked this past Friday's match better than their first a week earlier in terms of being better start to finish, although I think the final few minutes of their first match two Fridays ago was the best few minutes of their mini-series so far. Both have good upside as WWE mainstay top tier players. I wish WWE gave them something to work with promo-wise. Fighting over the IC Title is nice, but how about some pre- and post-match interviews so we can hear from them?

8 & 9 -- MACHINE GUNS & GENERATION ME

Again, it's hard to separate these two this week. I really like GenMe's heel personas. I think TNA can make money by featuring them as the team you can't wait to see get beat up. I'd have these two teams higher if they made more of doing less on Sunday. It was excessive in terms of big spots, resembling a reenactment of a video game more than a semi-realitic fight. They jumped the shark with the American Gladitors finish. I'm sure it seemed like a crazy memorable ideas at the time to stack the tables on the ladders and do battle for the swinging belt on top, but it came off as corny and orchestrated. The set-up also really slowed down the crescendo at the end. Still, they're providing the type of standout athleticism and contemporary personalities that TNA needs to better feature.

10 -- MATT MORGAN

He managed to carry his end of a decent-to-good PPV main event against Jeff Hardy under duress given the complications before the show with Hardy's status. I like his mic work and how he carries himself. He feels a bit like a back-up quarterback waiting for the starter to return, but I think he's shown enough that management should consider getting behind him as their top babyface. Mr. Anderson is perhaps the type of wrestler Roddy Piper always referred to himself as - a top guy who didn't need a title belt to get over and stay over and draw money. I think if TNA build 2011 around a parade of well-built challengers to Matt Morgan's TNA Hvt. Title and A.J. Styles's X Division Title and the Machine Guns' Tag Team Titles, plus a solid Knockouts singles title match every month, they'd establish a compelling identity for their monthly shows and a structure that could give fans something to look forward to. How will Morgan evolve as a champion against a parade of different styles challenging him, and can Styles put a streak of four-star title defense together that alone make TNA PPVs worth buying? Throw in a championship tag team at their peak having matches WWE won't even aspire to have (and couldn't even if they wanted to at this point) and TNA could become "the darling of the Internet" and, more importantly, build a larger audience over time based on having great shows. I'd like to see TNA and Spike work out a deal for quarterly specials that would feature a PPV-like format and hook people on TNA putting it's best "big event" feel forward.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Douglas Williams, Jerry Lawler, Ink Inc. Beer Money, NXT4's cast, Samoa Joe, Mr. Anderson, Jeff Jarrett.

LINK: LAST WEEK'S POWER RANKINGS

[John Cena art by Joseph Borzotta, (c) PWTorch]

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