WWE Hierarchy of Superstars

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Haven't come across this yet, but as always, if the mods are aware of a pre-existing thread of similar nature, feel free to merge it.

We all know that there are "main event" guys, "midcard" guys, and "jobbers", but clearly there are different levels on the ladder that is the WWE within those 3 categories. What I'm proposing is that we figure out just where the overall standing is of every wrestler they currently have.

To start it off, I looked through the roster and wrote down how I think the WWE sees their talent and are willing to book them. Now, this is based off of just showings on how their matches go down on TV and ppvs, NOT based on favorites. If I had it my way, Kenny Dykstra would be a solid midcarder instead of borderline jobber, Morrison would be in the main event, and Khali would be fired, but that's not what we're going for here...we already have enough "who's your favorite" type of threads out there.

So, yadda yadda, blah blah blah, here is what I think the WWE pyramid looks like right now:

HIERARCHY

1. MAIN EVENT
High-Tier: HHH, Undertaker, John Cena, HBK
[The guys that, at any given time, could be given a title and the WWE would trust them to run with it.]
Mid-Tier: Chris Jericho, Batista, Edge, Randy Orton, Big Show
[Guys that are given their titles and title shots, but aren't as trusted.]
Low-Tier: Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Kane, JBL, Umaga, Khali
[Guys that are mostly given title shots, but not many title wins.]

2. LIMBO: MVP, Mark Henry, Big Daddy V, CM Punk, John Morrison, Mr. Kennedy, Finlay, Shelton Benjamin
[Those that are constantly teetering on the edge of upper midcard and lower main event. Some may go down, some may go up.]

3. MIDCARD
High-Tier: Matt Hardy, Elijah Burke, Carlito, Chavo Guerrero, Tommy Dreamer
Mid-Tier: Chuck Palumbo, Jimmy Wang Yang, Shannon Moore, The Miz, Festus, Edge-Heads, Jamie Noble
Low-Tier: Vladimir Kozlov, Boogeyman, Jesse, Kenny Dykstra, Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Hardcore Holly, Snitsky, Paul Burchill, Cade & Murdoch, London & Kendrick, Cryme Tyme

4. LIMBO: D.H. Smith, Deuce & Domino, Mike Knox, Santino Marella

5. JOBBER
High-Tier: Val Venis, Stevie Richards, Highlanders
Mid-Tier: Nunzio, Funaki, Super Crazy, Colin Delaney, Charlie Haas
Low-Tier: James Curtis, Hacksaw Jim Duggan

6. UNKNOWN: Chris Harris, Ron Killings, Kevin Thorn, Drew McIntyre




Your thoughts? Who should I have placed up or down? The hardest category for me to place guys, clearly, was the mid/low midcard regions, because so many of them are sort of in between. You have a guy like Kofi, all wins so far, so he should be in the middle, but he's only defeated jobbers, so he can't receive the same credit as Festus, who just stood toe-to-toe with the Undertaker. Remember...this isn't about favorites or trying to predict who will eventually go into what spot, its about who is currently where. I'd like to see (and think I will see) MVP move up to the main event by the end of 08, but currently he isn't, so I can't put him at the low end of that tier.

[MrScott]

the edge heads have potential to be mid carders, but currently there pretty much Jobbers to who ever edge is feuding with. so id of moved them down. to high tier Jobber.

Also id move Edge to High Tier Main eventer, as they have shown alot of trust in him as well. Its pretty much title reign after Title reign for him.

Big Show could also be moved up, as they have alot of trust in him as well, and have given him pretty much every single title, and was in charge of pretty much bringing a new Brand to the front. as when he was ECW it meant something more then it does now.

Cody and Hardcore id move to Mid Tier, mid Card, there given titles, but the company just dosen't push the tag titles, if the titles were pushed id make them High Teir mid card.

JBL needs to be up atleast one level, to Mid Tier Main Eventer. also outside of his last push and screw up jeff hardy should be Mid Carder, High Tier with the fan support, tag titles and IC gold. I like the guy, hes intresting to watch at times, but has far from proved himself to be worthy or even capable of being trusted with the top Gold


One last thing, i don't really quite agree with how you put it in terms of trusting a person. its more so a gauranteeded Draw i think as opposed to trust issues. look at Orton, a big time fuck up before. But keeps getting shots and gold. it seems to be more about potential and Draw then it is about Trust. Jeff hardy is another fine example. drug suspension after drug suspension and he was more then likely going to end up with top gold with in the year...

[turbomonkey484]

Thats a pretty spot on list, and i agree that some people are difficult to place. but here are some of the changes i would make to that list.

First of all i would swap around Chris Jericho and JBL. it seems that the are pushing JBl as the second top heel of raw as he is being included in the backlash main event, whereas Chris Jericho just seems to be lost in the mix and a lot of people have forgotten about him and he is the intercontinental champion which is a mid-card title, i dont think this makes him a fully fledged mid-carder but at the moment i would say he is definitely at the lower end of the main event group.

The next change i would make would be to remove Mark Henry, Big Daddy V and Shelton Benjamin from the limbo group, not because im racist lol but because these guys all just seem like mid-carders to me. Big Daddy V and Mark Henry only seem to be used when they want to make the undertaker look good and also it doesnt look like the WWE will bring back Big Daddy V unless he loses a lot of weight. And although shelton should be in that spot, they never do anything with him and nobody seems to care about him. to make room for these on the mid-card i would move Elijah and Carlito down a level.

The person i had the most difficulty placing was Santino Marella. this is because although yer he loses all the time but he does get exposure and T.V. time, alot more than most of the lower tier mid-carders so i would be tempted to put him that that group.

So those are the changes i would make to your lists. But these are just my opinions from what i see on WWE programming.

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Originally Posted by MrScott

the edge heads have potential to be mid carders, but currently there pretty much Jobbers to who ever edge is feuding with. so id of moved them down. to high tier Jobber.

Also id move Edge to High Tier Main eventer, as they have shown alot of trust in him as well. Its pretty much title reign after Title reign for him.

Big Show could also be moved up, as they have alot of trust in him as well, and have given him pretty much every single title, and was in charge of pretty much bringing a new Brand to the front. as when he was ECW it meant something more then it does now.

Cody and Hardcore id move to Mid Tier, mid Card, there given titles, but the company just dosen't push the tag titles, if the titles were pushed id make them High Teir mid card.

JBL needs to be up atleast one level, to Mid Tier Main Eventer. also outside of his last push and screw up jeff hardy should be Mid Carder, High Tier with the fan support, tag titles and IC gold. I like the guy, hes intresting to watch at times, but has far from proved himself to be worthy or even capable of being trusted with the top Gold


One last thing, i don't really quite agree with how you put it in terms of trusting a person. its more so a gauranteeded Draw i think as opposed to trust issues. look at Orton, a big time fuck up before. But keeps getting shots and gold. it seems to be more about potential and Draw then it is about Trust. Jeff hardy is another fine example. drug suspension after drug suspension and he was more then likely going to end up with top gold with in the year...

Edge moving up to the high tier, along with Orton, were two things I was struggling with. Edge more so than Orton, as he seems to have designated the spot, but Orton's receiving a monster push this time around.

The "trust" thing was just a lack of further explanation on my part. I pretty much meant "trust that you'll draw and maintain the audience", not so much steroids and everything...though that does play a part in it, as if you're injured or suspended all the time, they wouldn't be able to trust you to withhold a top title for a few months.

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Originally Posted by turbomonkey484

Thats a pretty spot on list, and i agree that some people are difficult to place. but here are some of the changes i would make to that list.

First of all i would swap around Chris Jericho and JBL. it seems that the are pushing JBl as the second top heel of raw as he is being included in the backlash main event, whereas Chris Jericho just seems to be lost in the mix and a lot of people have forgotten about him and he is the intercontinental champion which is a mid-card title, i dont think this makes him a fully fledged mid-carder but at the moment i would say he is definitely at the lower end of the main event group.

The next change i would make would be to remove Mark Henry, Big Daddy V and Shelton Benjamin from the limbo group, not because im racist lol but because these guys all just seem like mid-carders to me. Big Daddy V and Mark Henry only seem to be used when they want to make the undertaker look good and also it doesnt look like the WWE will bring back Big Daddy V unless he loses a lot of weight. And although shelton should be in that spot, they never do anything with him and nobody seems to care about him. to make room for these on the mid-card i would move Elijah and Carlito down a level.

The person i had the most difficulty placing was Santino Marella. this is because although yer he loses all the time but he does get exposure and T.V. time, alot more than most of the lower tier mid-carders so i would be tempted to put him that that group.

So those are the changes i would make to your lists. But these are just my opinions from what i see on WWE programming.

Jericho and JBL...I can see that. They're two that are sort of "let's see what's going on here". JBL being in the main event for Backlash came out of left field. I don't think anybody was expecting that. And Jericho's IC title hasn't been defended yet, so we don't know what type of a program he'll receive. If he has one with Kennedy, I'd keep him at the mid-ME, but if he goes down to Carlito, I'd have to demote him to low-ME. Same goes for JBL. If he stays in a title feud, I'd put him up to mid-ME and if he fades away after Backlash, he'll stay in low-ME.

Henry/BDV...I only put them in Limbo because they seem to challenge main event guys a lot (Taker, Batista, Kane, etc) but we all know that they'll never be in the running for the top belt. Limbo is a very generic category, but I didn't feel like breaking it up into tiers. If I did, I'd put Henry/BDV/Shelton in the low tier, Morrison/Kennedy/Finlay in the mid-tier, and MVP/Punk in the high-tier, just as Punk has the Money in the Bank and MVP is guaranteed to be in the main event scene soon. I suppose I'll just add those tiers in later to help differentiate.

Santino was really hard, too. As far as exposure goes, the guy's a top midcard guy, but he's won like 3 matches and they were fluke pins, so I wouldn't be able to picture him being a midcard title holder like US/IC champion.

I'll try to make some adjustments later on after Raw, cause that will give us an even fresher viewpoint of the hierarchy.

[FTS]

First, HBK is a Jobber to the Stars now. It's his choice. From everything I've read, he wants to put people over. That's why Flair chose him to be the man. To be the man, you've got to beat the man, and he did. HBK gets his wins, but in feuds, i.e. Kennedy, he loses to elevate others. The reduced travel schedule means that he exists solely to help elevate. He lost clean to Hardy, Batista will beat him, and so will Y2J after that. I personally think that's awesome of him. Kane has been doing it for years. To make someone look good have them beat the legend, HBK, or the monster, Kane.

The top guys right now are Cena, Orton, HHH, Taker, Edge
The next tier of guys are Batista, Y2J, Kane, Rey, JBL, HBK (I know I called him JTTS, but his matches are high-profile, so the role he serves doesn't influence his place in the company.)
Then there are the up and comers to the Main Event. Jeff Hardy, Kennedy, and MVP

The midcard guys are your Matt Hardy, Morrison, Miz, Punk, Finlay
These guys can get promoted or demoted as seen fit and fit well into matches where needed.
The next group of midcarders are your monsters and athletes. Henry, Big Show, Khali, Shelton, Burke, Palumbo, Bob Holly, Carlito, Big Daddy V
Finally the rest of the midcard is filled out by guys getting a chance, but that mostly do the job, i.e. Burchill, DH Smith, Rhodes, Santino, Cade, Murdoch

At the bottom you have Super Crazy, Duggan, and most of ECW.

[turbomonkey484]

Hey NoFate007, i liked your idea of organizing the current WWE superstars into a hierarchy but i think it would be better if each wrestler had an individual ranking. so heres my take on the Hierarchy in the WWE.

1. Triple H
He pretty much controls the landscape in the WWE, and he is a proven draw that can bring credibility to any match.

2. The Undertaker
The same case as HHH but Taker is on the B show so he only gets the number 2 spot.

3. Shawn Michaels
Another veteran and a huge star but hasn't been in the title picture for a while and he has jobbed to a few people so he gets no.3

4. John Cena
Before triple H returned he was the top guy on raw, and he is always in the title picture.

5. Randy Orton
the top heel on raw and he got the win at mania which pushes him up the hierarchy.

6. Edge
The best heel in the WWE, but again he is on Smackdown so is below orton.

7. Batista
a big star with multiple title reigns

8. JBL
getting a big push on raw at the moment

9. Chris Jericho
an established star but a bit of a lame return means he gets 9

10. Big Show
always seem to stick around the main event.

So thats just the first ten ill do the rest later, but what do people think? do ya like the idea of the rankings and do you think iv got the order right? any opinions would be appreciated.

[MrScott]

Edge is alot more valuable then Orton, and i don't really think what show there on should matter all that much. this A and B show stuff i never really understood. They may do more from time to time on Raw cause it was the first show and it is live, but each show brings a different quality to it. and alot of the time Smackdown can put on alot better show then Raw.

the stigmatisim that one show is better then the other is what makes one look better then the other. treat them equally and maybe smackdown would pull down the same ratings as raw

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Actually, turbo, I was hoping that we could solidify the groupings and then do exactly what you just were talking about, so good idea. Its a little too early to assign everyone a number, as this is just the premature hierarchy and nothing's been decided on as a whole yet, but that'll be the eventual end-goal - that even the categories of the pyramid will have designations in ranks within them.

As far as the choices you pointed out, I have to agree on all of them except one. I would probably put Edge above Orton at the moment, as he's consistently been given more opportunities than Orton. But yeah, we'll see how the hierarchy ends up being agreed upon and then we can break it down even further.

[turbomonkey484]

Basically i put Orton above Edge because first of all raw gets higher ratings therefore Orton gets more more exposure than edge. And because the WWE championship is supposedly the most prestigious title in the WWE so in theory Orton should be number 1. however he obviously isn't the the top guy in the WWE but i still think he deserves to be high up on the list just because hes carrying the belt.

Originally Posted by MrScott

the stigmatisim that one show is better then the other is what makes one look better then the other. treat them equally and maybe smackdown would pull down the same ratings as raw

Yer this is probably true but the WWE would need to do more things to make smackdown and equal brand such as move some top stars to smackdown and put smackdown main events at the end of more pay per views like they did with edge/taker at WM