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 Logan Paul getting the better of Kevin Owens, Randy Orton hitting Bobby Lashley with an RKO, and WWE teasing the return of The Demon, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock has decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Jinder Mahal
Mahal’s role this week (Aug. 30) on Raw was to put over the Viking Raiders and re-establish them as a threat in the tag team division. Mahal even took the pin in the tag match, rather than his partner (and subordinate) Veer. That’s a pretty big drop from where Jinder was two weeks ago, which was sharing the ring on pay-per-view with former WWE champion Drew McIntyre.
Stock Down #2: John Morrison
It’s tempting to think last week’s angle where The Miz betrayed John Morrison was going to lead to a push for Johnny Drip Drip. Instead, Morrison was immediately fed to Omos on this week’s Raw. Omos has no business wrestling singles matches given his atrocious selling, so it was a terrible match where Morrison couldn’t even look good in defeat. It’s obvious that Morrison is going nowhere on Raw, whether he is aligned with Miz or not.
Stock Down #1: Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler was booked like a low card jobber on SmackDown, falling to Rick Boogs in about 90 seconds. Boogs only needed two moves to put Dolph away, including a pumphandle slam that wasn’t anything special or out of the ordinary.
Whether it’s tag team or singles action, Ziggler hasn’t won a match in over four months. It’s no wonder Toni Storm wants nothing to do with this loser.
Now let’s see whose stock has increased the most this week:
Stock Up #3: Bianca Belair
A lot of fans feared the worst for Belair given her booking at SummerSlam where she lost to Becky Lynch in 26 seconds. But Bianca’s promo last night (Sept. 3) on SmackDown went a long way towards undoing the damage and cementing her as a babyface everyone can get behind in this story opposite Lynch. This one talking segment between Belair and Lynch was more compelling than anything that’s happened in months in the Raw women’s division.
Stock Up #2: Nia Jax
All it took was one episode of Raw for Nia Jax to crush the women’s roster and become the top contender for Charlotte Flair’s women’s title. She capped off the night with a clean win over Flair in a non-title match. The match was a mess and seemingly broke down into a shoot at one point, but the end result is that Jax is a force to be reckoned with once again.
Stock Up #1: Damian Priest
Damian Priest has built up an impressive undefeated singles record on Raw with a steady diet of wins over fodder like The Miz and John Morrison. This led him to a United States championship victory over Sheamus at SummerSlam.
But this week’s Raw may have been the best moment for Priest on the main roster since Bad Bunny left the scene at WrestleMania 37. Priest successfully defended the title in an incredible triple threat match against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre. It’s easy to assume Priest was going to pin Sheamus in this one, but WWE actually had him pin McIntyre’s shoulders to the mat. That’s a big deal for Priest, and moves him one step closer to the top of the card.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think has changed the most this week?