WWE Stock Report: Liv Morgan was exposed as champion

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 was capped off by Extreme Rules 2022, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Drew McIntyre

In the build up to Extreme Rules, most of Drew McIntyre’s segments with Karrion Kross ended with Drew getting laid out. Sometimes the heel gets all that heat because the babyface is going over on the pay-per-view match. But that’s not what happened at Extreme Rules, where McIntyre was pinned by Kross. Drew is on the way down from being a guy who just one month ago looked like a threat to beat Roman Reigns for WWE Universal championship.

Stock Down #2: Damage CTRL

Bayley hit a bump in the road at Extreme Rules when she was outclassed in a ladder match by Bianca Belair. Belair didn’t have Asuka or Alexa Bliss around to help neutralize IYO SKY and Dakota Kai, but it didn’t even matter. Belair single-handedly wiped out Bayley’s entire faction en route to victory, suggesting that Bayley should go to the back of the line for another title shot. Looking ahead to next month’s WarGames, it also brings into question the effectiveness of Damage CTRL as a unit when one person can take them out.

Stock Down #1: Liv Morgan

Liv Morgan’s run as SmackDown women’s champion is over after a disappointing match against Ronda Rousey at Extreme Rules. I don’t expect Liv will win that title back any time soon given that she was rarely presented as a deserving champ. Liv never recovered after WWE booked her to tap out (as the babyface) in a quick one-sided match against Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam.

But it’s not all about bad booking; Liv’s time in the spotlight exposed her shortcomings both on the microphone and in the ring. The SmackDown women’s roster has a lot of problems that will take some time to address, and that didn’t do Liv any favors either, but it’s pretty clear right now that she just isn’t at the level of many other women’s champions like Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Asuka, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, and Naomi.

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

Stock Up #3: Solo Sikoa

WWE is feeding Solo Sikoa a steady diet of wins on both Raw and SmackDown, this week defeating Angelo Dawkins and Ricochet on those respective shows. Solo has looked impressive in the ring every single time he’s been out there. He fits right in with The Bloodline and is off to a great start on the main roster.

Stock Up #2: The Judgment Day

The Judgment Day showed what truly despicable human beings they are at Extreme Rules by sadistically forcing Edge to watch them deliver a brutal conchairto to his wife, Beth Phoenix, even after Edge surrendered in a desperate attempt to save her. Rhea Ripley in particular is thriving as part of The Judgment Day, Finn Balor is recovering from Vince McMahon’s very bad booking, and Dominik Mysterio plays a great little shithead who you just want to see get his ass kicked.

Stock Up #1: Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt led everyone down the (white) rabbit hole over the last few weeks like only he can, culminating with his return to WWE at the very end of Extreme Rules 2022. The audience pop was deafening when he took off his new mask, reminding everyone that this man was a huge deal in WWE not too long ago, and he can instantly be that caliber of star once again.

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