WWE Stock Report: This was never gonna work out well for Commander Azeez

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 WWE releasing Toni Storm, Edge ruining Miz & Maryse’s renewal of their wedding vows, and Grayson Waller showing up on Raw, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Up #3: Street Profits

Montez Ford returned to Raw with a splash, pinning Dominik Mysterio in a tag team match to win the RK-Bro-nament and put the Street Profits in a tag title match at Day 1 against Orton and Matt Riddle.

Stock Up #2: RK-Bro

The odd couple tag team had a great night carrying the first hour of this week’s (Dec. 27) Raw. Riddle beat Chad Gable, Orton beat Otis, they hugged afterwards, and Orton even teased an RKO for his partner. There’s a lot of juice left to squeeze here, and it looks like Orton and Riddle will be an important part of the road to WrestleMania.

Stock Up #1: AJ Styles

Instead of doing the job for Omos on Raw, AJ Styles instead beat Apollo Crews in a match and then took out his giant, Commander Azeez. The match wasn’t great, but Styles needed some strong booking after months of being presented as the weak link in his tag team with Omos. Styles is also dipping his toes into the NXT waters, so he’s a busy man in WWE right now.

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

Stock Down #3: Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin

These guys were Raw tag champs one year ago at this time, and now they are jobbers scrambling to prove their worth to MVP, and coming up short against one man. Kevin Owens beat Cedric Alexander in a singles match on Raw, and then followed that up by stunning Benjamin. I don’t think this failure will earn Cedric or Shelton any points with Bob Lashley.

Stock Down #2: Otis

The one thing Otis had going for him during this heel run is being protected from taking falls. That stopped on Raw, as he was pinned by Randy Orton’s RKO. There’s no shame in being pinned by a guy who Vince McMahon has pushed on top for nearly 20 years, but this result potentially opens the floodgates for Otis to take more falls going forward.

Stock Down #1: Apollo Crews & Commander Azeez

Crews and Azeez had a rather confusing angle with AJ Styles on Raw. Azeez issued a challenge to AJ for a match, Styles immediately accepted, the commentators told us the match was on, but for some reason Crews was suddenly fighting Styles when Raw returned from commercial break.

Apollo lost against AJ, which isn’t surprising given he recently also lost against T-BAR on Main Event. As for Azeez, well, he was positioned here as the clear inferior giant to Omos. Styles nailed him with a Phenomenal Forearm after beating Crews. Azeez came back for more, so AJ knocked him back down on his ass with a blow to the head.

It’s bad news for Azeez that he’s on the same brand as Omos, because now he’s the crappy giant who is there to be used as a stepping stone for the babyface who is dealing with the real giant, Omos. That draft decision was never going to work out well for Commander Azeez.

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