WWE Stock Report: Samoa Joe got his ass kicked, and it was the best thing that could have happened to him

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 Santa Claus winning the 24/7 title, Daniel Bryan earning another shot at the Fiend, and Becky Lynch agreeing to defend her Raw women’s championship against Asuka, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Viking Raiders

The Viking Raiders are no longer the invincible juggernauts who are putting foes away with ease. After wrestling to a double countout at TLC, they have now taken losses on the last two episodes of Raw. Neither man was pinned in their most recent defeat, so it’s still not all that bad for them. But considering how fans have never truly gotten behind this bizarre gimmick, all it takes is a brief down period like this to introduce some uncertainty into how long their push will last.

Stock Down #2: Dana Brooke

Brooke’s move to SmackDown during the WWE Draft hasn’t resulted in better luck. She is firmly established in a jobber role right now, taking losses on three consecutive episodes of SmackDown. This week (Dec. 27) she was the obvious weak link in a tag team match with Lacey Evans against Bayley and Sasha Banks.

Stock Down #1: Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins

These guys are still total losers with no hope for a rise up the card. Both men were physically wiped out by Drew McIntyre on Raw this week (Dec. 23), and then verbally humiliated by him afterwards.

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

Stock Up #3: Andrade & Zelina Vega

Andrade defeated Rey Mysterio for the United States championship at the holiday house show in Madison Square Garden. With Universal champion Brock Lesnar off television most weeks, this title should theoretically increase Andrade & Vega’s prominence in the storylines on Raw. But we’ll still have to keep an eye on whether or not this is the sign of a legitimate strong push, or just a way to remind fans that sometimes house shows matter.

Stock Up #2: Carmella

Carmella is in the midst of a winning streak on SmackDown, with victories in consecutive weeks over Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose, respectively. If Lacey Evans fails to dethrone Bayley as SmackDown women’s champion, it looks like Carmella has jumped ahead of other babyfaces (like Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross) when it comes to who is next in line.

Stock Up #1: Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe got his ass kicked at the end of Raw this week, and it was the best thing that could have happened to him. Joe refused to budge when confronted by Seth Rollins and the Authors of Pain, and he was clearly willing to fight them all. This angle thrusts Joe right off the commentary desk and into a lead babyface spot on Raw, alongside Kevin Owens and Rey Mysterio. We haven’t seen Joe as a babyface in WWE, so there should be some compelling television coming our way from this storyline.

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