WWE Stock Report: The debut of RETRIBUTION was a colossal failure

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 Shane McMahon debuting Raw Underground, a new look for Mandy Rose, and way too many disqualification finishes on WWE television, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Up #3: Apollo Crews

Apollo Crews returned from a brief absence to defeat MVP in a United States championship match and then steal MVP’s phony version of the championship. Crews then offered a solid explanation for why he will now be carrying around MVP’s custom designed title as the official United States championship going forward.

Stock Up #2: Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan

Riott and Morgan reformed the Riott Squad, at least for one night, and beat The IIconics in a tag team match on this week’s (Aug. 3) episode of Raw. Prior to the match, Ruby apologized to Liv for her betrayal earlier this year, and it appears that Liv is willing to give Ruby a chance to atone for her mistakes.

Stock Up #1: Dominik Mysterio

Dominik doesn’t have much experience but has already become one of the easiest babyfaces to root for on Raw. He’s done pretty well for himself with a kendo stick, and now has a huge match lined up for SummerSlam 2020 against the man who took his father’s eye, Seth Rollins. Dominik has been thrown right into the deep end despite his lack of experience.

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

Stock Down #3: RETRIBUTION

Nexus debuted in 2010 by annihilating John Cena, CM Punk, Jerry Lawler, Justin Roberts, and destroying much of the ringside area.

The Shield debuted in 2012 by triple powerbombing Ryback through a table on pay-per-view during a WWE championship main event match, allowing CM Punk to pin John Cena for the win.

RETRIBUTION debuted in 2020 by having their arrival on Raw announced ahead of time by WWE, and then dressing up like Akira Tozawa’s ninjas and throwing a molotov cocktail at a generator. Later in the week, they were nice enough to wait for the main event of SmackDown to be over before storming an empty ring, swinging around some weapons, spraying graffiti on surfaces, using a chainsaw to cut ring ropes, and beating up a few fake fans. The show was pretty much over by this point and their attack did not hurt any wrestler or WWE personality who matters.

Nexus and The Shield left a lasting impression with their debuts, and it was clear they had potential to change the landscape of WWE. RETRIBUTION debuted in a way that screamed out they are a bunch of geeks and mid-carders at best. Their debut angle came off like Vince McMahon just throwing shit at the wall because ratings are suffering, rather than a creative idea that has any long-term plan in place for making new stars.

Stock Down #2: Mustafa Ali

WWE already can’t find television time for Ali on a three-hour episode of Raw. Even worse, he lost a match on Main Event against Riddick Moss, who hasn’t been featured at all on Raw or SmackDown since empty arena shows began five months ago. This is not where any wrestler wants to be two weeks after a surprise return.

Stock Down #1: Shorty G

Shorty G interfered in a match on SmackDown this week (Aug. 7) between Sheamus and Matt Riddle, and then proceeded to get his ass thoroughly kicked by both Sheamus and Matt Riddle. This angle made it clear that G isn’t anywhere near good enough to collect King Corbin’s ransom. That Shorty G was booked like this just one week after a heel turn doesn’t bode well at all for his likelihood of rising up the card.

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