WWE Stock Report: Kurt Angle’s retirement story was a complete dud

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 WrestleMania 35, the debut of Lars Sullivan, and the return of Sami Zayn, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle’s retirement storyline came to an underwhelming end at WrestleMania 35 when he lost a six minute match against a mid-card heel. This story seemed to lack detailed planning right from the start, when Kurt simply showed up on Raw one month ago to announce that his farewell match would occur at WrestleMania. One week later he quietly announced that he chose Baron Corbin as his final opponent, a decision which wasn’t well-received. And then Kurt went on to lose in a very forgettable match at WrestleMania, without any dramatic twists along the way.

Considering how WrestleMania retirement stories for other legends like Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair turned out, Kurt’s final match stands out as a huge disappointment and a surprisingly bland conclusion to his in-ring career in WWE. Is this really the best that WWE could come up with for an all-time great superstar?

Stock Down #2: Bayley & Sasha Banks

Sasha and Bayley dropped their Women’s tag titles at WrestleMania to the IIconics, and then Bayley did the job for Alexa Bliss the following night on Raw. Later in the week it was reported that Banks may have tried to quit WWE over WrestleMania weekend, stemming from her unhappiness with losing the tag titles. Considering how poorly Sasha and Bayley were booked on Raw throughout 2018, it’s easy to see why both superstars would be upset with WWE over this booking decision to undercut them yet again.

Stock Down #1: The Revival

The Revival lost two matches (and their Raw tag titles) this week against a team of complete losers, making this the second straight year where the Raw tag titles have been treated as a joke at WrestleMania. Being the team that finally lost a match to Curt Hawkins is the most Revival thing possible, given Dash and Dawson’s woeful booking history on the main roster.

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

Stock Up #3: Seth Rollins

It would have looked silly if WWE sold all those BeastSlayer t-shirts only for Seth Rollins to lose against The Beast Incarnate at WrestleMania. Thankfully that’s not what happened, and now the Universal championship is back on Raw on a full-time basis. It’s about time!

Stock Up #2: Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch lived up to her moniker as The Man when she became the first woman in WWE to ever pin Ronda Rousey. Oh yeah, and she did this in the first ever women’s main event in WrestleMania history, bringing home both the Raw and SmackDown women’s championships.

Stock Up #1: Kofi Kingston

After waiting eleven long years, Kofi Kingston pinned Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania to finally become the WWE Champion. Kingston gets the top spot here due to the impressive quality of his match and how well received it was by the live audience compared to everything else on the card. WrestleMania 35 truly was KofiMania.

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