Who Had the Best Week in the WWE?

Over the last week, we saw a new WWE Champion crowned (twice), a new contender for the World Heavyweight title, and a few big-time players make their mark.

Daniel Bryan defeated the face of professional wrestling, John Cena, for the WWE title before Randy Orton cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Triple H aligned himself with Orton, giving way to a reincarnation of The Corporation. Over the week since Summerslam, Orton has appeared sparingly on television, only showing up to praise The Corporation members, and knock out Bryan with two RKO’s, once to close Raw and the second to close Smackdown.

Bryan, on the other hand, held the title for mere minutes, nearly beat down The Shield on his way to the ring at the end of Raw, and beat Wade Barrett in a steel cage match on Smackdown.

Rob Van Dam notched a disqualification victory over United States Champion Dean Ambrose on the Summerslam preshow. He somehow catapulted himself into the No. 1 contender for the World Heavyweight title, and surprisingly aligned himself with former associated of World Heavyweight Champions Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez.

Bray Wyatt made easy work of Kane at Summerslam, and continued his tear of destruction throughout the WWE this week. He's developed a terrifying persona, along with the Wyatt Family, and made his Raw debut this week. In just under two minutes, Wyatt took care of R-Truth.

Cody Rhodes was impressive in three contests this week, losing only to the Intercontinental Champion, Curtis Axe. After two solid victories against the Smackdown Money in the Bank briefcase holder Damien Sandow, Rhodes was rolling heading into Friday night’s show.

Ahead is a power ranking of who had the best week in the WWE.

Raj Prashad is a WWE Writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter @RajPrashad and join his network on Google.

Bray Wyatt

Wyatt has been the perfect match for Kane.

He's been fantastic on the mic and presents an excellent secondary story line, eerily reminiscent of the old Mankind/Undertaker story lines.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes in the coming weeks, with the last sight of Kane being the Wyatt family holding him up in an undisclosed location.

Cody Rhodes

If not for a loss Friday night against Axel, Rhodes might have been near the top of the Power Rankings this week.

It's clear that WWE is prepping Sandow as a future World Champion, but in one night they were also able to make Rhodes look incredibly strong as a contender. Since turning his face at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Rhodes has taken the fight to Sandow on multiple occasions. He beat Sandow at Summerslam, then beat him again the next night on Raw. He'll be a near guarantee as a contender once Sandow cashes in.

Rob Van Dam

RVD would be closer to the top of the rankings if Bryan wasn't so heavily included on both shows, and Orton hadn't looked so dominant.

After winning by disqualification against the current United States Champion, Ambrose, RVD aligned himself with Del Rio's former associate, Rodriguez. As Rodriguez stormed to the stage Monday night to announce his partnering with RVD, it was clear who would be the No. 1 contender for Del Rio's title. RVD was announced again Friday night, only this time Christian would hit a missile dropkick on Del Rio, setting up RVD's five-star frog splash. That's twice now that he's gotten the best of the world champ.

Daniel Bryan

Bryan should have had the best week in the WWE last week, if it wasn't for Orton.

After beating Cena for the belt, he came out looking incredibly strong on the roster, despite later losing minutes to Orton. Bryan would nearly fight his way to the ring Monday night, in an effort to get to The Corporation, before receiving an RKO from the WWE Champion. Friday night, after beating Barrett in a steel cage match, Orton would slither out from beneath the ring to hit him with another RKO.

Randy Orton

Orton absolutely had the best week in the WWE.

He became the WWE Champion by simply covering Bryan for an easy three count. He followed that up with two RKO's on the former champion, as he closed both shows standing over Bryan, holding the belt.