WWE Stock Report: Ricochet is a pretender in the Royal Rumble match

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 a wild brawl between Lacey Evans and Bayley, The Fiend signing a contract in his own blood, and Randy Orton nailing Drew McIntyre with an RKO, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Up #3: The Miz & John Morrison

These guys are on a roll, with repeated wins over the New Day in singles action on SmackDown in recent weeks. It might not be too long before they are wearing tag team gold on Friday nights.

Stock Up #2: Andrade, Zelina Vega, Rey Mysterio

Andrade and Rey had a tremendous ladder match on this week’s (Jan. 20) episode of Raw, with Zelina Vega once again proving that she is the key to Andrade’s success. Andrade retained the gold, Rey continues to show why he is perhaps the best babyface on the roster, and Andrade’s next feud was established in the aftermath. More of this, please.

Stock Up #1: Seth Rollins & Buddy Murphy

Rollins & Murphy defeated the Viking Raiders to win the Raw tag team titles. With the WWE championship no longer being defended these days, this is probably the next best way to add a potentially meaningful accolade to the Monday Night Messiah’s stable, while also immediately rewarding Buddy Murphy for seeing the light.

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

Stock Down #3: Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura

This is the third consecutive week that The Artists are on the Stock Down side of the ledger here. It’s already been well-established that they don’t have a prayer against Braun Strowman, but this week’s (Jan. 24) episode of SmackDown presented an opportunity for them to sneak a win over Braun by defeating his partner Elias in a tag team match.

So how did it play out? Elias pinned Cesaro. Yep, these guys are now losing falls to Elias.

Stock Down #2: Viking Raiders

It feels like the Raw tag titles were initially put on the Viking Raiders to help them get over, and because the tag team scene on Raw was so abysmal. Well, Erik and Ivar never got over as champs, which doesn’t bode well for them now that they are no longer the champs. However the tag team scene on Raw is still abysmal, so all hope is not lost yet for their continued push.

Stock Down #1: Ricochet

I just don’t understand what WWE is doing with this guy.

The reason Brock Lesnar decided to enter the Royal Rumble match is because he and Paul Heyman firmly believe that nobody on the roster is worthy of facing him in a one-on-one match. Ricochet confirmed as much this week by confronting Lesnar and posing no threat whatsoever to the Beast Incarnate. Ricochet actually asked Brock if he was scared of him.

Lesnar kicked Ricochet in the junk and left him in a heap on the mat, demonstrating there was no reason to be intimidated by Ricochet. Ricochet came off as a total pretender in the upcoming Royal Rumble match.

Ricochet’s own words on the mic implied that he doesn’t have much of a chance to make the WrestleMania card if he doesn’t win the Royal Rumble match. That’s pretty much the exact opposite of the way one should speak when trying to look like a superstar. I don’t know what WWE was going for in that segment, but all it did was make Ricochet look like an idiot.

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