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 Hell in a Cell 2019, Bobby Lashley and Lana in bed together, and a brawl between Tyson Fury and Braun Strowman, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock has increased the most this week:
Stock Up #3: Natalya
Natalya remains a steady force in the women’s division. Instead of putting over the newer star Lacey Evans, as might be expected from someone in Natalya’s position, the Queen of Hearts actually picked up two victories over Evans this week. This included an impressive victory in a hard-hitting Last Woman Standing match on Raw (Oct. 7), where Natalya prevailed by powerbombing Evans off the stage.
Stock Up #2: Bayley
It was looking like a down week for Bayley at Hell in Cell when she lost her SmackDown women’s championship to Charlotte Flair. But Bayley reclaimed the gold on Friday Night SmackDown (Oct. 11) with a new look, new music, and a new mean streak. She capped it off by telling the fans “screw all of you” during her celebration.
Stock Up #1: Kabuki Warriors
The Kabuki Warriors suddenly turned heel and used the green mist to win the Women’s tag team championship from Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross at Hell in a Cell. Asuka and Kairi Sane followed that win up by defeating Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a tag team match on Raw. Asuka took Lynch out with the green mist, and it’s apparent from Becky’s pre-match promo that Asuka could be next in line for a shot at Becky’s Raw women’s championship.
Now let’s see whose stock has decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Cesaro
Night one of the draft is in the books, leaving a whole bunch of undrafted lower card acts like Heath Slater, Eric Young, EC3, Tamina, The B-Team...and Cesaro. I know that Cesaro is never booked above mid-card status as a singles wrestler in WWE, but being lumped into this group of jobbers is certainly not a good look for the Swiss Superman.
Stock Down #2: Sasha Banks
After four months away from WWE, Sasha Banks returned to television with a new hair color but the same questionable booking. She has now failed to win championship gold on both of her pay-per-view matches since she came back. Banks tapped out to Becky Lynch at Hell in a Cell after a terrific match, and this is consistent with how Banks has often been booked in WWE. She puts on the best matches but usually isn’t positioned as the top star.
Lynch is arguably the hottest star in the company, so it’s not like Sasha was out there losing to Lacey Evans. However, Sasha’s absence from WWE was one of the biggest stories of the year, and her surprising return in August seemed like a great opportunity for WWE to go all-in on a push for Banks. The booking at Hell in a Cell made it clear that Vince McMahon isn’t quite ready to pull that trigger just yet.
Stock Down #1: Seth Rollins & The Fiend
WWE booked a main event match at Hell in a Cell between Rollins and The Fiend where the company clearly wanted to keep the Universal championship on Rollins but also wanted to protect The Fiend, who is one of the most over characters on the show. The end result was a confusing mess of a finish where it initially looked like a disqualification, but now WWE says it ended with “Match Stoppage.”
Rollins must have nailed The Fiend with close to a dozen curb stomps before taking things too far with chairs, a tool box, and a sledgehammer, which prompted the referee to call off the match. Yeah, the big scary monster needed to be saved by the referee’s discretion, while the heroic babyface was loudly booed by the frustrated audience, who chanted for AEW and a refund. WWE actually found a way to significantly damage both of these top stars.
Maybe Vince McMahon thinks this whole thing is hilarious, but this is the type of booking that can potentially drive away your audience.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think has changed the most this week?