WWE Stock Report: There’s nothing worse than a stupid babyface

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 Finn Balor ruining Seth Rollins’ open challenge, Solo Sikoa injuring the Brawling Brutes, and Kevin Owens trying to keep his anger in check, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Natalya

Natalya was once again dominated and humiliated by Rhea Ripley, this time before their scheduled match on Raw ever began. If WWE’s goal is to get across the point that Natalya is in way over her head and doesn’t belong anywhere near the Women’s World Championship, then they are doing a great job.

Stock Down #2: Becky Lynch

Heels will always resort to cheating to gain an unfair advantage, and it doesn’t always reflect poorly on the babyface when those underhanded tactics are successful. What’s always very bad for a babyface, though, is when she makes a very stupid decision that helps the heels achieve their goals.

Becky Lynch was the stupid babyface on this week’s Raw when she put her hands on Trish Stratus during a Money in the Bank qualifying match, causing a disqualification and allowing Trish to win. Becky was shocked by this result, as she put her hand on her head and had her mouth open in disbelief when Trish was declared the winner.

This kind of booking is one of the more effective ways to make a badass character look less cool, because it’s typically hard to root for a stupid babyface.

Stock Down #1: Lacey Evans

Lacey Evans is no stranger to disappearing from WWE TV for long stretches of time and then receiving short-lived pushes upon her return. Lacey’s TV time in 2023 has still been sporadic, but WWE is no longer pretending to push her. She quietly did the job on SmackDown this week, putting over Charlotte Flair ahead of The Queen’s championship match against Asuka.

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

Stock Up #3: Liv Morgan & Tommaso Ciampa

Morgan and Ciampa both returned from injury this week. In the case of Ciampa, he turned babyface and broke away from being a sidekick for The Miz. Then there’s Morgan, who demonstrated Cena-like healing abilities to beat her rumored recovery timeline by a large margin, and is right back in the tag team championship mix.

Stock Up #2: Logan Paul

YouTube star Logan Paul returned to WWE and immediately entered the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match, without even needing to wrestle in a qualifying match. Paul is now the biggest star in the match, aside from megastar LA Knight, and it would not be surprising at all if WWE booked him to win the MITB contract.

Stock Up #1: Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler

Rousey and Baszler unified the WWE and NXT women’s tag team titles on SmackDown by defeating Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn. Rousey and Baszler now have all the power in the women’s tag division and can show up on Raw, SmackDown, or even NXT any time they want.

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