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 Edge accidentally spearing Dominik Mysterio, Becky Lynch being ambushed by Bayley’s new group, and Shinsuke Nakamura earning a title match against Gunther, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Aliyah
Following up on her loss to Shotzi last week, Aliyah was the first woman eliminated in last night’s (Aug. 5) gauntlet match on SmackDown. It looks like her job right now is to put over everyone else on the roster.
Stock Down #2: Omos
Omos hasn’t been featured on Raw ever since Vince McMahon resigned and Triple H took over creative. The big man did beat Ezekiel on Main Event this week, for what it’s worth. It’s easy to assume Triple H doesn’t know what to do with this guy, given he’s the worst worker on the roster. At the very least, Omos appears to be lost in the shuffle right now.
Stock Down #1: Liv Morgan
Popular underdog babyface Liv Morgan was loudly booed last night on SmackDown when she gave a bad excuse for tapping out to Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam. Liv isn’t a good promo and wasn’t able to turn the situation around. To be fair, that might have been an impossible task, given the position Triple H put her in when he damaged her credibility as SmackDown women’s champ in order to protect Rousey.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week:
Stock Up #3: Ricochet & Shayna Baszler
Ricochet vanished from WWE television in July, while Shayna Baszler has mostly been stuck in the lower card ever since she ran away scared from a stupid doll last year. These two wrestlers always faced an uphill battle under the booking direction of Vince McMahon.
But Triple H is in charge of WWE creative now, and he didn’t waste any time trying to repair the damage done by McMahon. Ricochet beat Happy Corbin on SmackDown, while Baszler won a gauntlet match to earn a women’s championship match at Clash at the Castle.
It’s too early to assume massive pushes are coming their way, but there’s at least optimism for better booking going forward. Baszler’s situation is particularly interesting given her connection to Ronda Rousey and the dominant booking she received under Triple H’s creative vision in NXT.
Stock Up #2: Tommaso Ciampa
This week’s (Aug. 1) episode of Raw was largely built around establishing Ciampa as a credible challenger for Bobby Lashley’s United States championship. Ciampa won two matches on the show to earn the title match, including a victory over the phenomenal AJ Styles.
Ciampa was pretty much a nobody with Vince McMahon messy booking, but he’s quickly rising up the card under the new regime. Like with Baszler, it’s tempting to look at Ciampa’s booking history in Triple H’s NXT and believe the future is now bright for him on the main roster.
Stock Up #1: Karrion Kross & Scarlett Bordeaux
Karrion Kross is yet another former NXT top star who Vince McMahon buried into the ground (and then released) with terrible booking on the main roster last year. Kross and Bordeaux made the biggest splash of the week when they shockingly returned to WWE on SmackDown and inserted themselves right into the main event story between Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre. Triple H booked Kross to be an undefeated NXT champion one year ago, so the clock might actually be ticking down on the 700 day championship run of Roman Reigns.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
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