WWE Stock Report: Carmella’s luck changes after criticizing the women’s booking

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 teaser video for the return of Eva Marie, Angel Garza sticking flowers up butts, and Charlotte Flair being added to yet another championship match, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: New Day

New Day challenged AJ Styles and Omos for the Raw tag titles this week (May 3). It was almost the same exact match from WrestleMania 37, with Omos easily destroying the former champs. With the New Day failing twice against Styles & Omos, and other babyface teams like R-K-Bro and the Viking Raiders now in the mix, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods will likely be removed from the championship scene in the short-term.

Stock Down #2: Shinsuke Nakamura

Some fans are hoping that Nakamura will be one of the babyfaces who is elevated on Friday nights in the aftermath of Daniel Bryan’s departure from WWE. After all, Roman Reigns is going to need some fresh new opponents for the remainder of 2021, so why not push Nakamura?

That’s not where things are headed based on this week’s (May 7) episode of SmackDown, where Nakamura was pinned by King Corbin in a 10-man tag match. 10 possible wrestlers could have taken that fall, and WWE chose Shinsuke as the one to beat. Ouch.

Nakamura’s star-making performance in a gauntlet match earlier this year feels like a super long time ago.

Stock Down #1: Humberto Carrillo & Mansoor

WWE fooled me with Carrillo’s booking last week when he got the better of Sheamus. This week made it pretty clear that Carrillo is still a nobody; he ambushed Sheamus at the end of a match, only for the heel to make a comeback and leave Carrillo laying with a Brogue Kick.

Mansoor didn’t have it as bad as Carrillo, but his debut match on Raw doesn’t bode well for his future booking. His non-title match with Sheamus didn’t get enough time for Mansoor to stand out as a particularly resilient or sympathetic babyface. Perhaps that will come in the future, but it wasn’t accomplished here. And it’s one thing for the match to have a lackluster disqualification finish, but Mansoor ate a completely unnecessary Brogue Kick from Sheamus in the aftermath.

The visual of Sheamus standing tall over Carrillo and Mansoor made it clear that the purpose of Mansoor’s debut was to give the United States champion a showcase moment to beat up a couple of jabronis.

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

Stock Up #3: Carmella

Carmella has recently been criticizing WWE’s handling of the women’s division. She might be happier this week after she found herself back in the winners’ column in a match against Ruby Riott on a special Throwback edition SmackDown. It was Carmella’s first victory since the very first day of 2021.

If Bianca Belair’s current story with Bayley doesn’t continue past WrestleMania Backlash on May 16, perhaps Carmella will start building up wins now to put her in position to challenge Bianca next.

Stock Up #2: Jimmy Uso

Jimmy Uso returned to WWE after missing one year due to injury. His refusal to be Roman Reigns’ bitch instantly makes him one of the most intriguing characters on WWE television.

Stock Up #1: Cesaro

Cesaro defeated Seth Rollins again in the opening match on SmackDown. The Swiss Superman then closed out the night by beating the hell out of Roman Reigns and The Usos all by himself. This is the best booking that Cesaro has ever received during his WWE career.

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