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 Becky Lynch’s proposal for Lyra Valkyria, Roman Reigns addressing Paul Heyman’s betrayal, and Jelly Roll standing in the ring while Logan Paul runs into him, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the
most this week:
Stock Down #3: Rusev
On this week’s episode of Raw, Rusev took his first singles loss since returning to WWE three months ago, falling victim to a Brogue Kick from Sheamus.
Rusev has only had a handful of matches since coming back to WWE, and he’s made close to no impact on the product. His work is fine, but watching him and Sheamus do battle does sort of seem like it’s a time warp back to a decade ago, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. Nothing really stands about Rusev’s gimmick today that seems like it’s going to catch on and warrant a big push over the current crop of stars on the WWE roster.
Stock Down #2: Austin Theory
A-Town Down Under abruptly broke up this week after what felt like at least one full year of their story going nowhere. The official split happened in a backstage segment on Raw where Grayson Waller tried to align himself with the New Day after saying he was glad to finally have the “dead weight” of the injured Theory off his back. Just like that, Waller has a new creative direction in WWE, while the guy who beat John Cena at WrestleMania 39 has never been more irrelevant.
Stock Down #1: LA Knight
The megastar is nowhere to be seen on WWE programming since losing in a gauntlet match on the July 14 episode of Raw. His absence is tied into the strange circumstances surrounding Seth Rollins’ knee injury. The bottom line is that WWE creative has nothing for LA right now, and it looks like he won’t be booked in a match at SummerSlam.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week:
Stock Up #3: Karrion Kross
Kross is finally gaining traction on Raw as part of a program with Sami Zayn. Their feud is even getting a spotlight on the SummerSlam card, which is a pretty big deal for Karrion. There are a lot of rumors and reports about Kross’ WWE contract status, and it’s happening at a good time as more fans are rallying behind him.
Stock Up #2: Kiana James
After being gone from WWE for over one year, Kiana James returned to SmackDown in a managerial role of sorts for Women’s United States Champion Giulia. This is a very good spot for James to land in, because it should guarantee regular TV time for her during Giulia’s current push. James would likely be lost in the shuffle in the women’s division otherwise, but this spot gives her a good chance to show off her talking skills and get fans invested in her character.
Stock Up #1: AJ Styles & Dominik Mysterio
The build to SummerSlam has generally been rushed and underwhelming, but one of the bright spots is the angle between Styles and Mysterio. The comedy of Styles hanging around backstage in disguise to keep an eye on the cowardly Mysterio has been very effective at building interest in their Intercontinental title match at WWE’s biggest party of the summer.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
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