WWE Stock Report: Scripted promos have ruined Lars Sullivan

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 culminated with Super ShowDown, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Up #3: Randy Orton

The Viper defeated Triple H at Super ShowDown with an RKO. Considering that Randy Orton hasn’t been a focal point of any major storylines since WrestleMania 35, perhaps this is a sign that Randy is about to receive a big push.

Stock Up #2: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross make for an interesting new duo in the women’s tag team division, and they are undoubtedly on the rise. Cross defeated women’s tag champ Peyton Royce in a singles match this week (June 3) on Raw, with some involvement from Bliss, Billie Kay, and coffee. The next night on SmackDown, Bliss defeated Carmella and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match to become the number one contender to Bayley’s SmackDown women’s championship. Bliss is suddenly in the mix for two separate titles, while Cross can easily benefit from the TV time that comes with being paired up with a top talker like Bliss.

Stock Up #1: Shane McMahon

What more can be said about Shane McMahon’s current run as the top heel in WWE? The boss’s son continues to dominate television time, win big matches, and make WWE’s babyfaces look incompetent. McMahon got the better of Roman Reigns this week on Raw, SmackDown, and Super ShowDown. Now that Shane McMahon has pinned Roman Reigns and strengthened his gimmick as Best in the World, it feels like a matter of time until Shane takes out Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship.

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

Stock Down #3: Goldberg & The Undertaker

The match between Goldberg and Undertaker at Super ShowDown was mostly a disaster. Watching these two legends stumble through this mess of a match was sad, alarming, and the latest reminder that it’s necessary for WWE to move away from this kind of main event match.

Stock Down #2: Roman Reigns

Each week I try to give all the selections for Stock Up and Stock Down their own individual flavor, but it’s really hard to do that this week with Roman Reigns and Shane McMahon. Everything written above about Shane’s position being strengthened is strongly tied to Roman’s terrible booking this week. Can you imagine Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, The Rock, or John Cena being booked like this in their prime years? Roman Reigns is supposedly the top male star in the company today, but this week’s booking made the Big Dog look like a total chump.

Stock Down #1: Lars Sullivan

Lars Sullivan can no longer be taken seriously as a monster. He came out on SmackDown this week (June 4) with a promo that involved a nightingale’s sweet song, the primary function of a lion, a nursery rhyme, and bodily fluids. The scripting was beyond awful and there was no way any performer could make this material work. It was hard to listen to this garbage without thinking of Jon Moxley’s impression of Vince McMahon saying “It’s such good shit!”

Later in the week at Super ShowDown, Lars wasn’t booked like a dominating monster against the Lucha House Party; he won the match after an underwhelming disqualification. I have no idea if WWE actually thinks this kind of booking is going to help Lars Sullivan. The presentation of Lars as a monster heel was significantly damaged this week.

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