WWE Stock Report: Shayna Baszler was booked perfectly at Elimination Chamber

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 Elimination Chamber 2020, Drew McIntyre killing a fake spider, and no live audience for SmackDown due to the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: King Corbin

Corbin was a mainstay towards the top of the card from October 2019 through February 2020 when he was feuding with an actual main event star, Roman Reigns. That feud finally ended (we hope) a couple weeks ago, and now Corbin is already losing to Jeff Hardy in less than five minutes and appears destined for a feud with Elias. This is probably not what Corbin had in mind with WrestleMania right around the corner.

Stock Down #2: Rezar

Rezar reportedly suffered a torn right biceps on this week’s (Mar. 9) Raw. How much time he spends of the shelf will depend on whether or not surgery is required. The timing is especially bad for Rezar, considering his current role in the upper card as part of Seth Rollins’ disciples.

Stock Down #1: Braun Strowman

It’s hard to have any sympathy for Strowman’s Intercontinental championship loss in a 3-on-1 handicap match at Elimination Chamber. Braun willingly put himself in that disadvantageous position, and it turned out to be more than he could handle. Now he’s just the big dumb babyface whose first singles title reign ended up being a bunch of nothing.

Just a few weeks ago there was some speculation that Strowman could be matched up against Sheamus or maybe even Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 36. But now it’s possible that he’ll be stuck in a pre-show jobber Battle Royal for the second consecutive year.

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

Stock Up #3: Drew Gulak & Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan’s most impressive accomplishment since returning to active competition might just be the fact that he got Drew Gulak booked onto the main card of a WWE pay-per-view.

Bryan and Gulak had arguably the best match of the night at Elimination Chamber, and this week’s (Mar. 13) SmackDown suggests that Gulak will remain relevant in the storyline as an ally for Bryan. Gulak was struggling for television time towards the end of 2019, but now he’s doing quite a bit better. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Stock Up #2: Sami Zayn

WWE has barely used Sami Zayn as a wrestler over the last six months, which was a huge waste of his talents. His allies Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura were booked like a bunch of jabronis for all of 2020, continually getting their asses kicked by Braun Strowman and even Elias. It looked like their 3-on-1 handicap match against Braun at Elimination Chamber was just a setup for another humiliating defeat.

But that’s not at all what happened, and Zayn came away from it with his first championship on WWE’s main roster. So not only is he the obnoxious mouthpiece for his crew, but he is also now the defending champ. Zayn is a ridiculously gifted pro wrestler, and here’s WWE’s chance to finally give him a push that matches his talents.

Stock Up #1: Shayna Baszler

Baszler needed to be booked like a killer at Elimination Chamber, and that’s exactly what happened. She became the first wrestler to ever win a chamber match by eliminating every single one of her opponents. Nobody in that cage stood a chance, not even Asuka. Now Baszler is well positioned to pose a formidable threat to longtime Raw women’s champion, Becky Lynch, at WrestleMania 36.

For the most part this match was booked as it should have been. This wasn’t designed to be a four star epic match, it was designed to be a showcase for Baszler’s dominance. There were two chamber matches on that card, so it’s fine for one of them to be used for this purpose.

The main problem is that the card did not have any plausible main event match, so this one was placed in that spot. It’s completely reasonable for fans to expect a better match in the main event, and in that sense, WWE failed to deliver. But this is exactly the booking that Baszler needed to help make up for her bizarre debut as a vampire/cannibal and then a lackluster match on Raw with Kairi Sane.

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