WWE Stock Report: No more title matches for Goldberg!

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 SummerSlam 2021 and all of its fallout, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Ricochet

Some people tricked themselves into thinking that Ricochet’s standout performance in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match would finally lead to better booking for him on Raw. This week’s (Aug. 23) episode squashed any remaining hope of that happening, with Ricochet losing to Karrion Kross and his terrible new ring gear in about 90 seconds.

Stock Down #2: Nikki A.S.H.

Nikki’s brief reign as Raw women’s champion came to an end at SummerSlam. Nikki’s promos always made it sound like she didn’t deserve to have the title, and her booking in the ring as a fluke champion followed suit. It’s as if WWE just wanted to get the women’s Money in the Bank contract angle out of the way as soon as possible, before resetting the championship scene back with Charlotte Flair on top.

Stock Down #1: Goldberg

Bill Goldberg’s performance in the ring at SummerSlam was once again awkward and underwhelming. He lost against Bobby Lashley due to a kayfabe leg injury that led to a referee stoppage. As a result, Goldberg came off like a feeble old man who has no business challenging for the top titles in WWE any more.

The post-match angle where Goldberg’s son was put in the Hurt Lock makes it clear that a rematch will happen at some point between Bill and Bob; Goldberg seeking revenge for what happened to his son is a good hook for another match with Lashley. But it’s really hard to justify how Goldberg deserves any more title shots. He’s lost three championship matches in a row, and looked particularly impotent in this one.

Unless Lashley drops the title between now and the rematch, it’s going to be hard to stomach Goldberg getting one more shot at championship gold when they meet again.

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

Stock Up #3: RK-Bro

Randy Orton and Matt Riddle won the Raw tag team titles from AJ Styles & Omos at SummerSlam. RK-Bro was then featured in a championship celebration during the main event segment of Raw. Riddle went on to defeat Styles in a singles match, with some help from Orton using a scooter to neutralize Omos.

Stock Up #2: Damian Priest

Damian Priest had a hell of a week. He first defeated Sheamus to win the United States championship at SummerSlam. Two nights later on Raw, he emerged as a potential new challenger for WWE champion Bobby Lashley. For what it’s worth, Priest has yet to lose a singles match on the WWE main roster.

Stock Up #1: Becky Lynch & Brock Lesnar

The biggest stories coming out of SummerSlam were the surprising returns of Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar. Lynch won the SmackDown women’s championship from Bianca Belair in 26 seconds, while Lesnar has been immediately thrust back into the Universal championship mix with Roman Reigns. It can be easily argued that Lynch and Lesnar are the two biggest stars in WWE, and they will now be a focal point at the top of the card going forward.

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