ROCKET STRAPS: Royal Rumble Edition – Using Key Metrics to Rank the Top ten wrestlers prioritized by WWE this week, including Cody, Bayley, Punk, Jade, Sami, more

The performers ranked on this weeks list not only were the most heavily prioritized over the past seven days, but for the most part, they also aligned in the order you can argue they’ve been prioritized for the better part of the past three months. The exceptions would be the Raw champions who did not perform at the Rumble –  Seth Rollins and Rhea Ripley – who are both obviously highly prioritized members of the roster. With their performances at the Royal Rumble serving as major factors in this list, it seemed appropriate to not only analyze what went into their placement this week, but to also take a look at what lies ahead for each of them as we barrel towards WrestleMania 40 and beyond.

As always, the information taken into account to accumulate these lists include metrics such as quarter-hour ratings, what performers are featured in the open, closing, and top of the hour segments, who is given time to cut in ring and backstage promos, names promoted in each shows preview, championships, and wins. I also factor in estimated monthly merchandise sales leaders, whose appearances begin with a higher floor than other members of the roster. Additionally, this week, I factored in match results and times each wrestler lasted in their respective Royal Rumble matches.

---

Priority Top 10 

1. Cody Rhodes (3)

Ever since the Rock showed up on Day One and commented on his place at the table, we’ve been left wondering where Cody stands. Fortunately, with two months remaining until WrestleMania, we no longer have to question Rhodes place on the biggest night of the year. The American Nightmare will get his rematch. Regardless of the circumstances and whether things evolve into a three-way match including the Rock, we now know that the opportunity for the story to finally reach its end will come this April.

WWE has been extremely cautious in their handling of Rhodes in recent months, giving him just as many weeks off as they have main event matches or top-of-the-hour segments. With his path now relatively clear, the trick will remain in finding that balance. For a man who felt destined to return to the main event of WrestleMania to face Roman Reigns for the past ten months, what to do with him for the next two, now that we have that destiny confirmed? For that matter, with the primary object of his focus on Smackdown, will we even see much of Cody on Raw between now and then?

All the top names on the red brand will be focused on earning their own shot at Mania. Maybe now is the time for Cody to test the waters on Fridays. After all, if he ultimately finishes his story in Philadelphia, he won’t have a home to return to on Mondays.

2. Bayley (NR)

Though she was one of only a handful of realistic options to win the Rumble match, Bayley’s chances still felt minimal compared to that of Becky Lynch, until right around the time Naomi’s boot sent Lynch tumbling to the floor. From that moment on, Bayley took focus as the most likely victor, and when that time came, even as the sneaky villain she’s perfected playing, the live crowd roared their approval, knowing they’d just witnessed one of the best performers in the business finally earn her recognition.

Though her plan has been to win the Rumble, then face Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, if you’ve been watching at all, you know that isn’t likely. Instead, we appear to finally be on the eve of Bayley’s ouster from Damage CTRL. Whether we get there through her own doing, defiantly deciding she’s changed her mind and would like to face the best in Iyo Sky, or more likely, we see the rest of the group ultimately turn on the leader they never felt was cool enough to hang with them in the first place, remains to be seen. Either way, we appear set for a new babyface version of Bayley, not the white meat hugger, but a more rounded variety, who’s now perfected the art of being both hated and loved.

3. C.M. Punk (NR)

For the first time since his return in November, we got to see what it looks like to have C.M. Punk in a modern WWE ring. By the end of the Rumble match, we also got a glimpse of what it would look like if Punk decided he no longer felt like playing the good guy. His goading of Cody by referring to him derogatorily as “Dusty’s kid” prove to be his undoing, firing up Rhodes to the point of tossing Punk over the ropes following nearly the equivalent of a TV length match.

Perhaps the plan for Punk to win the Rumble fell victim to Seth Rollins’ circumstances, as the company remains uncertain as to the champions status for Mania and wants to leave all options open until we get closer. Or maybe the plan was always for Punk to show his uglier side while attempting to win his return match. The upheaval leaves us with a mountain of possibilities with two months to go until the biggest extravaganza of the year. Will Punk win his spot in a title match after all, or will he instead find his place alongside the likes of Drew McIntyre or Gunther, or maybe more along the lines of Sami Zayn or Jey Uso?

4. Bloodline (2)

It’s possible Roman Reigns holds onto the Universal title through WrestleMania and goes on to conquer Hulk Hogan’s record this summer. That said, it’s getting more difficult to imagine the Bloodline remaining in their current state for longer a couple months at best. Jimmy is hilarious, but completely ineffective. Fortunately, he appears headed for a showdown with the one person in whom he has built-in credibility and a guaranteed fighting chance – his brother Jey. Solo, on the other hand, has shifted from being the surefire muscle of the faction, to just another lackey promising and failing to complete his assignments. Roman has continued to show fear in the face of Sikoa, but certainly we’re reaching a boiling point between the two.

Ever the craftiest slime ball in the room, Paul Heyman has appeared to keep his options open in recent months with everyone from C.M. Punk to Bron Breaker, all while fawning at the feet of the Tribal Chief. As for Reigns, I can think of nothing better than a continuation of the work schedule he’s carved out for himself over the past 18 months that keeps him feeling like the ultimate attraction, free of the criticism that comes with being the champion. If this were the Bloodline of 2022, I’d be begging for the story to continue. As things stand, though, the time finally feels right for change.

5. Gunther (4*)

It was a master stroke by the creative team to keep the Ring General on a completely separate path from Seth Rollins and his World Championship until the time you least expected their paths to cross. His interruption during Rollins show opening promo on last week’s Raw garnered the best possible reaction out of a live audience, the kind that sounds like an arena full of people simultaneously saying “Oh wow, why didn’t I see this one coming?” Now that the seed has been planted everyone’s mind, it’s hard to shift focus on any other program for Gunther.

As the company appears to exercise caution with the WrestleMania fate of Rollins, Gunther will continue doing what he does so well – commanding an audience and putting on match-of-the-week style exhibitions. With a potential showdown with Brock Lesnar at Mania now most certainly off the table, Gunther’s destiny will unfold over the course of the next several weeks. Fortunately for everyone, whether that leads to a WrestleMania matchup with anyone from Rollins to Punk to Chad Gable or even Ivar, the leader of Imperium will undoubtedly steamroll his way through April and onto this summer’s Bash In Berlin.

6. Damage CTRL (NR)

The coolest, most menacing faction in WWE pulled double duty this past week, harassing members of the Raw locker room on the eve of the Royal Rumble, then winning championship gold on Smackdown. Even free of the calculations of Bayley’s achievements, it was enough to put Iyo Sky and the Kabuki Warriors amongst the most prioritized of all performers in the company this week. Clearly, the expulsion of Bayley from the group is all but certain. What’s more exciting to consider is what direction Damage CTRL heads in once they’ve moved on from their Mean Girls association with the Rumble winner an into new feuds.

All three active members can compete as tag or singles competitors on the highest level. With Dakota Kai presumably returning to action later this year as well, it’s possible and probably likely that Damage CTRL will continue to break ground as a dominant all-woman faction straight through the remainder of the year. And with the Kabuki Warriors holding the tag titles, we should get to see it all happen twice a week at least up to WrestleMania.

7. Randy Orton (1)

There’s only so much room at the top. As over as Orton has been since his return, it seems his path to WrestleMania this time around will not be as a part of any title picture. For the past month, he’s been viewed as the one possible asterisk amongst the competitors in the Championship Four-Way match, with the resume, credibility, and reasonable path towards WrestleMania, were he the one to dethrone Reigns. It never felt like more than a long shot, though, and now we await the next development.

While a program against Solo Sikoa could serve as a nice elevation to the Enforcer, it almost feels as though it would be too much of a step down for Orton on the biggest show of the year. Assuming he steers clear of the men’s Elimination Chamber match, though, perhaps a period spend clearing out the rest of the Bloodline would be enough to get us into March and Orton off to something fresh. If WWE was keen to pair Logan Paul up with his brother Jake as a way of making WrestleMania feel more special, it could leave Kevin Owens in need of a partner. Regardless of his place in the title picture, Orton will continue to be one of the biggest segment-eaters on Friday nights going forward.

8. Jey Uso (NR)

WWE has perfected the art of taking some of their biggest stars and placing them on a back burner while they rotate in other major names. Main Event Jey Uso was the most recent recipient of that treatment, getting just a handful of backstage cameo appearances on Raw in the week’s leading up to the Royal Rumble. The mid-level program he’s now entered into with Bronson Reed is just enough to give the fans a taste of what they like with Jey without taking valuable time away from other tip performers.

You can look at this type of treatment either as a lack of confidence the creative team has in Uso so briefly into his run as a singles competitor or perhaps it’s more accurate to view it another way – as a vote of confidence. How many other wrestlers does the company trust to stay hot while giving that star-level rub to lower card acts like Reed or the lesser members of Imperium? As I’ve alluded to here before, it’s a delicate balance the company must find. The fact that he received the number 1 entry into the Rumble, squared off against his brother Jimmy in a likely WrestleMania preview, and then went on to log the longest in-ring time of the night for the men at nearly 51 minutes, tells us the writers likely see him more as a strength than a liability at this time.

9. L.A. Knight (6)

Of the four entrants in the Universal Title Match, Knight was probably the biggest surprise, carrying much of the load while the others sold injuries and took extended breathers. One night earlier, he was also the one standing tall at the close of Smackdown. The crowd still pops big for his entrance and sings along with the catchphrases, but it no longer feels as though he’s on a level separate from the rest of the rosters. That said, his positioning over the past week tells us the company still values Knight a great deal.

There was speculation he would be heading into a program against Logan Paul for the US title, perhaps at WrestleMania. With Paul’s match at the Rumble against Kevin Owens ending more in the fashion of an Act I than a blow-off, though, you have to wonder where Knight finds himself. There seems to be something left for him and A.J. Styles to dig into, but the two felt a bit like a mismatch during this past months run. It might be that his best bet is to continue going after the Bloodline, just more in the Solo Sikoa range than anything involving Roman Reigns.

10. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance (NR)

Their brief run as cross-brand champions has come to an end, but it feels as though they are leaving the tag titles better off than they found them. While the length of Piper Niven and Chelsea Green’s reign raised the significance of the belts, Carter and Chance did just as much with their in-ring performances. Their match against the Kabuki Warriors on Smackdown was an exciting battle that had PLE vibes and probably would have gotten there with an extra ten minutes.

They followed things up the next night with a combined 40 minute effort, spent largely making every woman they came in contact with look better. They gel so well in the ring as a team that it feels like it would be a serious hit to the women’s division for them to be scaled down at this point. There are plenty of teams to square off against on Raw, so fingers crossed they are given the opportunity to showcase their style at least a few times per month going forward.

Honorable Mention: Jade Cargill, Naomi, Andrade 

Three names without a show to call home coming out of the Rumble all find themselves very much on the map for having entered it. It took Jade Cargill roughly 11 minutes to lay the groundwork for not one, but two major feuds. As Nia Jax plowed her way through the Rumble with 8 eliminations, we had no way of knowing it was all to build the 28th entrant. Cargill blew the illuminated roof off the dome in Tampa simply by walking to the ring, only to unceremoniously dump the dominant Jax within seconds. Just as monumental was her face-off wither Bianca Belair, a long speculated potential foe. The commentary put the moment over big time, but the long-form storytelling the company has been specializing in of late tells us it’s the sort of program that may be worth waiting another year for.

Naomi’s return was the first big surprise of the evening and she took much more time than Cargill getting reacquainted with the WWE audience, setting a new Rumble record at 1:02:18 before having that feat toppled by Bayley a couple minutes later. While there’s plenty of talent for her to pair up against coming out of her big return, the problem appears to be, well, all the pairs. The majority of the women’s division outside of the main title picture right now is largely occupied by tag teams. Should Naomi continue to fly solo, she makes as good a case as any for the women’s roster finally receiving a secondary singles championship.

Andrade’s entrance into the men’s Rumble was one of the few surprises of the match, and he put in 20+ minutes reminding viewers of the special in-ring talent he possesses, which most recently served as one of the highlights of AEW’s Continental Classic. He appears to be settling in on the fan favorite side of things, after refusing the partnership of Santos Escobar during the match. Whether he gets involved with the LWO or pursues something else entirely, he can’t be much less prioritized than he was prior to his departure from the company. Let’s hope he gets a bit more support this time around.

Sami Zayn 

For a men’s Rumble match that lacked any major surprises, pulling off number 30 without disappointing the audience is no simple feat. Turns out Sami’s month long sabbatical was just the thing needed for fans to remember how much they love him.  Short of a likely revenge feud with Drew McIntyre, however, Zayn may find himself as rudderless as he appeared prior to his departure.

If the men’s Elimination Chamber match ends up being for a shot against the World Champion at WrestleMania, Sami would be a shoe-in as an entrant, though not a serious threat to win. The build would eat up nearly half of the TV time needed to get us to Mania, though, which should leave plenty remaining to build towards a Zayn-McIntyre grudge match. Should that feud play itself out between now and March, however, Sami would have another month to map out a course to the Showcase of the Immortals.

Becky Lynch 

She was one of the odds on favorites to win the Royal Rumble. A mic duel with Raw Champion, Rhea Ripley, two weeks ago laid the groundwork for a WrestleMania showdown, and Ripley’s taunting of Lynch following a beatdown by Nia Jax on the go-home episode let us know she is still on the champ’s mind. How she gets there from here, though, will take a bit of storytelling.

The Man’s elimination from the Rumble drew a huge response from the live crowd, as did her entrance and most of what she did during her 20+ minutes, for that matter. The manner in which she was knocked out was a surprise too, catching a stray boot from Naomi. Unlike some eliminations, it didn’t seem to set the stage for any ongoing issues heading towards the next big PLE and beyond. This leaves Lynch’s schedule clear for Philadelphia in April and should make for some memorable TV moments in the weeks and months to come.

---

Raw Top 10 1/22/24

1. Cody Rhodes (1, 1, 7)

2. C.M. Punk (NR, 2, NR)

3. Gunther (2*, NR)

4. Kayden Carter and Katana Chance (NR, 4, NR)

5. Jey Uso (NR, NR, 10)

6. Nia Jax (NR, NR, 4)

7. Seth Rollins (4, 3, 6)

8. Damien Priest (3*, 6*, 2*)

9. Drew McIntyre (8, 8, 8)

10. Dominik Mysterio (3*, 6*, 2*)

Smackdown Top 10 1/26/24

1. Bayley (8*, 3*, 5*)

2. Kabuki Warriors (8*, 3*, 5*)

3. Bloodline (2, 1, 1)

4. L.A. Knight (3, 2*, 2*)

5. Randy Orton (1, 2*, 2*)

6. Bianca Belair (NR, 4, NR)

7. Kevin Owens (7, 10, 3)

8. A.J. Styles (4, 2*, 2*)

9. Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits (NR, 6, 9)

10. Santos Escobar (NR, 7, 4)

Thanks so much for reading. Feel free to leave a comment or drop a line via email at jeffp.rush@gmail.com or on Twitter/X @jeffsjeffsyall.

---

RECOMMENDED NEXT: Lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon accusing him of sex trafficking and making payments to staffer to stay quiet

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: McGuire’s Mondays: We can’t stop talking about Vince McMahon