WWE Stock Report: Kofi Kingston looks really strong

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 Undertaker saving Roman Reigns from Shane McMahon, Ricochet winning the United States championship, and Seth Rollins being a condescending jerk on Twitter, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Miz

WWE continued to bury the Miz this week on SmackDown (June 25) when he once again couldn’t get past Shane McMahon’s henchmen. Miz is the hapless babyface who can never figure out how to get one over on his rival; he has now appeared in this Stock Down column in five of the last six weeks. Babyface Miz has been repeatedly sacrificed to elevate Shane McMahon, and it feels like the only thing that can get Miz out of this rut right now is a heel turn.

Stock Down #2: Ember Moon

After being picked on by Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville for weeks, Ember Moon came up short in a very brief match against Sonya on SmackDown. Considering that WWE hasn’t done much with Moon ever since she was called up to the main roster over one year ago, she really needs wins to build up her credibility. Losing a match in less than two minutes is pretty much the opposite of that.

Stock Down #1: Dolph Ziggler

It looks like Dolph Ziggler’s time in the WWE championship picture has finally run out. After failing to win the title on the last two pay-per-view (PPV) events, Dolph lost on SmackDown this week and failed to qualify for the WWE championship match at Extreme Rules. It remains to be seen how Dolph will be used going forward, but one thing that seems clear is he will be dropped down the card.

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

Stock Up #3: AJ Styles

AJ Styles has been out of action ever since he failed to take the Universal championship away from Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank. But he returned to the ring on Raw this week (June 24) in the main event with a definitive win over the United States champion (Ricochet). It looks like the Phenomenal One is still going to be positioned at or near the top of the card even without a championship around his waist.

Stock Up #2: Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston won all four of his matches this week spanning Stomping Grounds, Raw, and SmackDown Live. According to Cagematch.net, Kofi Kingston has won his last 21 matches on TV and PPV, starting with his WWE championship victory over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. Kingston’s last defeat occurred over three months ago, when he lost a Gauntlet match on the March 19 episode of SmackDown Live.

Kofi is still waiting to main event a PPV in singles match, but outside of that, he’s been booked about as strongly as possible. His booking especially stands out in WWE, where it’s commonplace for champions to take losses in non-title matches.

Stock Up #1: Eric Bischoff & Paul Heyman

Seemingly out of nowhere, Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman were named the Executive Directors of SmackDown and Raw, respectively. Both of these men are now in position to heavily influence the direction of WWE going forward, at least until Vince McMahon changes his mind about the whole thing. WWE’s decline in popularity is likely related to this decision, and now Heyman and Bischoff have gained a ton of power as a result.

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