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 Alexa Bliss introducing a new doll for Charlotte Flair to play with, Becky Lynch ruining Bianca Belair’s homecoming, and Naomi no longer putting up with Sonya Deville’s excuses, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock has decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Tamina & Natalya
The losses continue to pile up for the Women’s tag team champions, this week losing in separate singles matches on Raw against Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley.
Stock Down #2: Dominik Mysterio
Dominik Mysterio has lost three singles matches against Sami Zayn in recent weeks and is presented as a wrestler whose lack of experience is being quickly exposed. Given how ineffective he is in the ring right now, it’s a wonder that Dominik was able to go eye for an eye toe-to-toe with Seth Rollins for 20+ minutes last year at SummerSlam, and was actually a tag team champion on SmackDown just a couple months ago.
Stock Down #1: Eva Marie
Eva Marie was scheduled for a match with her former ally Doudrop on this week’s (Sept. 13) episode of Raw. Eva would surely find a way out of it, because that’s her gimmick. Right?
Nope. Eva was easily beaten clean by Doudrop in two minutes. It’s possible this could be the end of her story with Doudrop, and if that’s the case, I can’t see where Eva goes from here on Raw.
It’s not clear what WWE is hoping to get out of Eva Marie’s return to the company. Live fans don’t seem to be responding much at all to her, and drawing that kind of mega heat is supposed to be her strength. It’s hard to argue with Raw commentator Byron Saxton when he noted, “Something tells me this is the beginning of the end of the Eva-lution.”
Now let’s see whose stock has increased the most this week:
Stock Up #3: Roman Reigns
Long term booking isn’t WWE’s thing, but Roman Reigns is important enough to be the exception to that rule. WWE has matches lined up or teased for Roman on the next three pay-per-view events - Finn Balor at Extreme Rules, Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, and Big E at Survivor Series. The WWE Universe really does revolve around the Tribal Chief.
Stock Up #2: Rick Boogs
It looks like Boogs is getting a push considering WWE has given him singles victories over Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode this month. When you add on the tag team matches that he’s also competed in, Boogs’ record on SmackDown television is a sparkling 5-0, with exactly one win per episode over the last five weeks. Boogs was responsible for the winning pin via his new finisher (Boogs Cruise) in four of those five matches. It’s good to be the king of WWE, but being the king’s hype man ain’t too bad either.
Stock Up #1: Big E
Was there ever any doubt about number one? Big E called his shot ahead of this week’s episode of Raw, declaring his intention to cash in the Money in the Bank contract. And that’s exactly what he did, defeating Bobby Lashley at the end of the night to become the new WWE champion. Big E also confronted Universal champion Roman Reigns on last night’s (Sept. 17) SmackDown, marking his territory as being on the same level as the top guy in WWE.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think has changed the most this week?