WWE Stock Report: Roman didn’t waste any time putting Jimmy Uso in his place

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 Nick Aldis being named the new GM of SmackDown, Kevin Owens traded to the blue brand, and Ivar winning a Viking Rules match against Kofi Kingston, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: JD McDonagh

McDonagh has become something of a punching bag for The Judgment Day in recent weeks, first getting beat up by all the top babyfaces on the Fastlane go-home show, and this week being fed to Drew McIntyre.

Stock Down #2: Brawling Brutes

The Brawling Brutes are without leader Sheamus, who might be out for a while with a shoulder injury. That means it’s time for the group’s lower ranking members (Ridge Holland & BUTCH) to do a lot of jobs, just like they did this week to put over the inspirational return of Pretty Deadly.

Stock Down #1: Jimmy Uso

Jimmy Uso has been trying to throw his weight around as a big shot in the Bloodline over the last two months, but Roman Reigns immediately shut that shit down when he returned to SmackDown last night. A couple years ago, Jimmy defiantly stood up to Roman’s power by wearing a shirt that said “Nobody’s Bitch.” But now that the Tribal Chief is back, it’s very clear that’s exactly what Jimmy is.

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

Stock Up #3: Drew McIntyre

There’s some kind of alternate WWE universe where Drew McIntyre is palling around with fellow goofball Matt Riddle in a comedy act known as McRiddle. Thankfully for Drew, he dodged that bullet and is instead talking shit about top babyfaces Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso while also being positioned in a world heavyweight championship match against Seth Rollins at Crown Jewel. Raw needs a top heel to take over the place, and Drew might be on his way to becoming that guy.

Stock Up #2: LA Knight

LA Knight finally crossed paths with WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns last night on SmackDown. Knight went toe-to-toe with WWE’s top star on the mic, after being fully endorsed by John Cena. Knight then pinned Solo Sikoa in the main event, which is a difficult thing to accomplish in kayfabe. It sure looks like we’re headed to a title match between Reigns and Knight very soon; a whole lot of fans will want WWE to scrap whatever longer term plans are in place for Roman in order to put the strap on the hottest star on the roster.

Stock Up #1: Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso

Rhodes and Uso have quickly demonstrated their skills in the ring together as the new best tag team in the company. They defended the WWE tag team titles against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens on Raw, before doing it again on SmackDown against Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. Cody and Jey had an intense staredown with Roman Reigns and The Bloodline after their latest title defense, foreshadowing big matches to come when we get on the road to WrestleMania.

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