WWE Stock Report: Randy Orton is a very smart man

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 John Morrison being hit in the junk with a tomato, Nia Jax slipping from a bucket of water, and Charlotte Flair’s suspension ending without her missing a single week of television, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin

The former Raw tag champs have become total jobbers in the aftermath of their ouster from the Hurt Business. They have now lost tag matches on three consecutive episodes of Raw, with none of those matches reaching six minutes in length.

Stock Down #2: Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre lost two different matches on this week’s (Apr. 26) episode of Raw. He was counted out in a tag team match against Extinction early in the show, and was then pinned by Braun Strowman in the main event (after interference from Extinction). T-BAR and MACE still have not been given any impressive wins by pin fall or submission since RETRIBUTION broke up, so McIntyre mostly looks incompetent when they get the better of him like this.

Stock Down #1: Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan is now banished from SmackDown after failing to win the Universal championship this week. He was blasted with a Con-Chair-To on the way out, which suggests that we might not see Bryan on television for a while.

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

Stock Up #3: Humberto Carrillo

Carrillo has been an irrelevant jobber for most of his time on Raw. So when Sheamus obliterated him as part of a phony open challenge on Apr. 19, it looked like the start of a bit where Sheamus would regularly beat up low card wrestlers. But this week’s episode showed there might actually be a longer story developing for Carrillo here. He got right back in Sheamus’ face and knocked him over the commentary table, embarrassing the Celtic Warrior.

Stock Up #2: Roman Reigns

If there was even a sliver of doubt about the outcome of the Universal championship match between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan on last night’s (Apr. 30) SmackDown, it was removed as soon as Reigns’ came to the ring with new entrance music. The Tribal Chief scored a clean win over Bryan, cementing himself as the undisputed top star on Friday nights.

Stock Up #1: Randy Orton & Riddle

After dealing with one of the worst storylines of his career opposite Alexa Bliss and The Fiend, Randy Orton now finds himself in an odd couple tag team with Matt Riddle known as R-K-BRO. And in just one week, it’s already the best thing on WWE television.

Orton is a very smart man. He was originally advertised for a match against Braun Strowman on the Apr. 19 episode of Raw, but the rumor mill suggests that Randy may have pulled a few strings to move himself into a story with Riddle. Their first promo as a team was hilarious, with Orton sarcastically asking what planet Riddle is from, and Riddle matter-of-factly answering “Earth.”

Just that one segment alone showed there’s a lot of potential for R-K-BRO, with Orton playing the straight man to Riddle’s stoner shtick. Snakeskin Speedos will soon be everywhere, bro.

Please don’t break them up next week, WWE.

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