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 Crown Jewel 2021, Brock Lesnar being suspended by WWE, and a very dumb title swap that may have led to a legitimate backstage incident between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock has decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley
Nikki and Rhea are currently the Women’s tag champions, which means they can wrestle on both Raw and SmackDown. They should theoretically be all over our television screens given their freedom to move between brands at will. Instead, the championship has sentenced them to obscurity, because there are zero other women’s teams on the WWE main roster. With nobody else around for them to wrestle, they are stuck backstage watching John Morrison meditate and being the Raw welcoming committee for Bianca Belair. WWE doesn’t appear to have any urgency to address this problem.
Stock Down #2: Shayna Baszler
Shayna Baszler was recently being built back up as a killer when she viciously dislocated or broke the elbows of Eva Marie and Nia Jax. Unluckily for her, she was inserted into the Queen’s Crown Tournament, where the finals were scheduled for Saudi Arabia. Shayna ended up doing the job for Doudrop on Raw this week to take her out of the tourney, and she was completely irrelevant last night when the “new era” of SmackDown began.
Stock Down #1: Bobby Lashley
At Crown Jewel, Bobby Lashley was beaten (and almost murdered) by an old man who was hobbling around on a bad knee that requires surgery. The All Mighty former WWE champion might need to adopt a new moniker because the losses are piling up lately. After losing the WWE championship to Big E on the Sept. 13 episode of Raw, Lashley’s matches have gone like this:
- Sept. 20 (Raw): Lashley is pinned by Roman Reigns in a triple threat match
- Sept. 26 (Extreme Rules): Lashley is pinned by Big E in a six man tag team match
- Sept. 27 (Raw): Lashley is pinned by Big E in a Steel Cage match
- Oct. 21 (Crown Jewel): Lashley is pinned by Goldberg
It’s not all gloom and doom for Bob, since it’s not like he’s getting beat by mid-carders. But without MVP by his side, it feels like Lashley is moving further away from his former spot on top of the mountain.
Now let’s see whose stock has increased the most this week:
Stock Up #3: Mansoor
At Crown Jewel, Mansoor and Mustafa Ali were given the tough task of following a great Hell in a Cell match between Edge and Seth Rollins. However, both guys went out there and put on a damn good match for the time they were given, with Mansoor showing off really impressive babyface fire. Instead of falling off the face of the earth following his expected win in Saudi Arabia, Mansoor beat Ali again the next night on SmackDown.
Stock Up #2: Zelina Vega & Xavier Woods
Zelina and Xavier are now the Queen and King of WWE, respectively, after winning tournaments at Crown Jewel. For Vega, this is the kind of kick-start she needs to escape the lower card and go full obnoxious heel. For Woods, it’s the realization of a lifelong dream and the sort of booking result that can open the door to something bigger for him down the line.
Stock Up #1: Roman Reigns & Paul Heyman
Roman Reigns pinned Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel, and Lesnar was indefinitely suspended from WWE the following night on SmackDown. Now that Lesnar is gone for a while, it’s a lock that Reigns will hold on to the Universal championship for at least the next three months, assuming he avoids injury. Keep in mind that Lesnar, John Cena, Edge, and The Demon all failed against Roman in recent months. Even with Drew McIntyre on the blue brand, there’s simply nobody on the SmackDown roster who ranks among that group of wrestlers and can realistically pose a threat to the Tribal Chief while Lesnar is away. So WWE will be biding time until Lesnar or another part-timer shows up to get a piece of Reigns. Roman’s spot on top is as secure as it’s ever been.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think has changed the most this week?