WWE Stock Report: Ember Moon’s push was sacrificed for Tamina

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

In this weekly series, we identify three Superstars (or teams of Superstars) who are on their way up, and three that are moving in the opposite direction. After a busy week that featured Braun Strowman chasing Baron Corbin around, Seth Rollins losing the tag team titles to Authors of Pain, and both brands building their teams for Survivor Series, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Up #3: Daniel Bryan & The Miz

The feud between Bryan and Miz noticeably stalled about a month ago, but both superstars shined this week in their role as co-captains of the SmackDown men’s team at Survivor Series. Their interactions throughout the night in choosing the rest of the team were far more interesting than the way Baron Corbin ran things on Raw. The added wrinkle of Bryan being the hot-head in contrast to Miz remaining level-headed was a welcome change to the story.

Stock Up #2: Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch is still the hottest thing in wrestling. This week she cut a great promo on Ronda Rousey for their upcoming match at Survivor Series, and then she forced the debuting Nikki Cross to tap out. What else can I say other than Becky Lynch is still The Man?

Stock Up #1: Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre dominated and humiliated an Olympic gold medalist in the main event of Raw. It’s clear that WWE is protecting Drew for big things down the line.

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

Stock Down #3: Finn Balor

Finn Balor and Bobby Lashley continued their pattern of fighting each other in meaningless matches on Raw. Balor’s loss this week wasn’t so bad, since Balor did win the previous two bouts. However, Balor looked like a gullible naive fool afterwards when he trusted Drew McIntyre. Balor paid the price for his poor judgment when McIntyre laid him out with a Claymore Kick. It’s hard to root for a dumb babyface, so hopefully this doesn’t become the norm for Finn going forward.

Stock Down #2: Kurt Angle

This week on Raw, Kurt Angle was presented as a former great who sadly no longer has it. This could be the beginning of an interesting long-term story where Kurt eventually overcomes this adversity. But in the short-term it will be hard to take Kurt seriously as a threat to win any kind of meaningful match.

Stock Down #1: Ember Moon

Ember Moon was a heavy fan favorite during the Battle Royal at Evolution. Since then WWE has cooled Ember off by sending her out there to be destroyed by Nia Jax and Tamina. On the surface it looks like Ember has been sacrificed so that Nia has a formidable ally watching her back the next time she gets a shot at Ronda Rousey. Considering Ember’s upside, I’m still scratching my head over this booking decision.

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