This could be the end of Brock Lesnar

Some places do power rankings. Here at Cageside, we do a stock report.

In this weekly series, we identify three Superstars (or groups of Superstars) who are on their way up, and three that are moving in the opposite direction. After a busy week that included Royal Rumble 2024, a lot of fortunes were changed.

With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:

Stock Down #3: Becky Lynch

Lynch talks a big game but hasn’t been backing it up in the ring thus far in 2024. She started the year off with a loss to Nia Jax on the Day 1 episode of Raw. On last week’s episode, her claims about winning the Royal Rumble looked weak after she was tossed over the top rope by Nia. During the actual Rumble match itself, Becky only eliminated one person and didn’t make it to the final six wrestlers in the match despite entering at a relatively favorable number of 21. The Man is cold right now, despite rumors of a planned WrestleMania match with Rhea Ripley.

Stock Down #2: AJ Styles

The Phenomenal One was laid out with an RKO at the end of the Jan. 19 episode of SmackDown. He was laid out with another RKO at the end of the Jan. 26 episode of SmackDown. Then he was speared and pinned by Roman Reigns in the WWE Universal title 4-way match at Royal Rumble. Add it all up, and Styles comes off as a pretender in the main event storyline on SmackDown.

Stock Down #1: Brock Lesnar

Brock has been away from WWE since last summer and was expected to return in the Royal Rumble match, to presumably set up a program for WrestleMania 40. But Lesnar was reportedly pulled from Royal Rumble plans very late in the week, following the horrific allegations made in the Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit. In the short-term, there’s a decent chance Lesnar will be kept away from WWE for enough time where he misses WrestleMania 40. In the long-term picture, it’s possible this is the end of Brock Lesnar’s WWE career.

Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week:

Stock Up #3: Jade Cargill

Cargill looked like a star during her WWE debut at Royal Rumble. Not only did she eliminate the dominant Nia Jax from the ring, but she also teased future matches with top stars like Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch. Cargill played a key role in eliminating Lynch and Naomi from the Rumble, while lasting to the final three and making it seem like she really did have a chance to win the whole thing.

Stock Up #2: Damage CTRL

It was a huge week for Damage CTRL, starting things off with a women’s tag team championship win for The Kabuki Warriors on SmackDown, and capping it off with a Royal Rumble victory for Bayley. The story of Damage CTRL is peaking on the road to WrestleMania; it’s become clear that the group will receive a major spotlight at the biggest pro wrestling event of the year.

Stock Up #1: Cody Rhodes

The Rock’s return to WWE at Day 1 created some uncertainty about Cody Rhodes’ assumed main event spot at WrestleMania 40, but those concerns were put to rest when he eliminated CM Punk to become a back-to-back Royal Rumble winner. Cody is now in the rarefied air of legends like Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, and Shawn Michaels with that accomplishment, and more importantly, is well-positioned to finish his story and finally end Roman Reigns’ 3+ year run as the top champion in WWE.

There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?