WWE Stock Report: Roman Reigns’ part-time status is bad news for Cody Rhodes

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 Omos challenging Brock Lesnar to a match at WrestleMania, Bray Wyatt bringing back the Firefly Fun House for a feud with Bobby Lashley, and Chelsea Green traveling to the wrong Ottawa, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Cody Rhodes

Now that Elimination Chamber is behind us, Cody Rhodes needs to be more directly involved in the story of Roman Reigns and The Bloodline. But Roman is a part-timer who wasn’t on WWE television this week, which meant Cody had to do another promo segment with Paul Heyman on Raw. This time the Rhodes/Heyman promo fell far short of the standard they set earlier in the month. Their promo segment also teased the possibility of Brandi Rhodes joining the story, which is an idea that can easily go wrong.

Cody’s whole angle is that he needs to finish the story, but right now the story is stalled out until he shares the same ring with Roman Reigns. It doesn’t look like that will be happening on next week’s episode of Raw, either.

Stock Down #2: Chad Gable

Chad Gable might be losing his number one guy Otis to Maximum Male Models. Gable came up short in a match against Bronson Reed on Raw while Maxxine Dupri was busy courting his top student. If Gable loses Otis, it takes away a valuable part of his current act in WWE.

Stock Down #1: Shotzi

Shotzi may have been away from last night’s SmackDown selling Ronda Rousey’s armbar from the week before. Natalya replaced her with Tegan Nox, and while the result of failure was still the same for Nattie, Tegan actually got to shine in a post-match angle when she knocked Ronda on her ass and sent her running off. Just like that, Tegan has taken Shotzi’s spot and is already more effective in the role.

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

Stock Up #3: Austin Theory

Austin Theory picked up a win over WWE Hall of Famer Edge on Raw this week, retaining the United States title for what is generally assumed to be an upcoming match against John Cena at WrestleMania 39. If Theory goes into that event as the champ and the title is on the line, there’s actually a decent chance that he will beat one of the most popular WWE stars of all-time.

Stock Up #2: Sami Zayn

Even though he lost in the Elimination Chamber main event in his hometown of Montreal, Zayn picked up right where he left off on WWE television as an integral part of top angles on both Raw and SmackDown. His attempt to repair his broken relationship with Kevin Owens on Raw led to a victory over Baron Corbin. He then had a very emotional exchange with Jimmy Uso in the main event segment on SmackDown, adding further intrigue to his ongoing drama with Jey Uso and The Bloodline.

Stock Up #1: Dominik Mysterio

Dom stole the show on SmackDown, engaging in witty banter with Charlotte Flair in a key segment in the middle of the show, before moving on to the more serious business of screwing his father over again later in the night. Dominik’s frequent stories about the lessons he learned in prison are always hilarious, and anticipation is building for Rey to finally punch this little shithead in the face and beat his ass at WrestleMania.

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