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 the return of Sheamus, Chad Gable turning heel after losing to Sami Zayn in Montreal, and AJ Styles earning a title shot against Cody Rhodes at Backlash, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley was forced to vacate the Women’s World Championship this week due to injury. There’s a decent chance she’ll pick up right where she left off whenever she is healthy, but it’s going to be a number of months before we see her back in action.
Stock Down #2: Katana Chance & Kayden Carter
Katana Chance and Kayden Carter did the job for Piper Niven and Chelsea Green on this week’s Raw. With yet another loss, the former tag champs haven’t won a televised match on Raw or SmackDown in three months.
Stock Down #1: New Day
It will be interesting to see how well the New Day fits into WWE’s new era. The group is on a cold spell over the last couple of months, losing a feud-ending Street Fight with Imperium in February, failing to win either set of tag team titles at WrestleMania 40, and then taking the fall in this week’s 4-way tag team championship number one contender match.
New Day is often described as one of the greatest teams in WWE history. However, sometimes a pro wrestling act that has been successful for so many years gets a little stale and needs to reinvent itself in order to keep up, and it feels like Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston might be in that place right now.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week:
Stock Up #3: Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga
WWE is trying to establish a new era in The Bloodline, and that means Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga need to be pushed hard right now as very dangerous men who leave a trail of victims behind them. Kevin Owens joined Jimmy Uso on that list of victims this week, and there will surely be more to come.
Stock Up #2: Tiffany Stratton
Coming out of WrestleMania, WWE could have gone the standard route of booking Bayley in championship rematches with IYO SKY, but the ending of last night’s SmackDown made it clear that Tiffany Stratton isn’t waiting around for her turn. Stratton crashed the main event match between Bayley and Naomi, taking both of them out and looking like a big star in the process. This booking left the impression that it might already be Tiffy Time in the WWE women’s championship scene.
Stock Up #1: Liv Morgan
As is evident with Drew McIntyre and CM Punk, sometimes one wrestler’s major injury directly leads to a big push for another wrestler. A similar dynamic could be playing out now between Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley. Liv is the one getting all the heat for Rhea’s injury, and this could be setting her up for a run atop the women’s division so that Ripley can return to get her revenge down the line.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
You must be logged in to post a comment Login