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 Saturday Night’s Main Event in Salt Lake City, Utah, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Drew McIntyre
McIntyre was screwed over yet again in a WWE title match when he lost to Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Drew screwed himself over this time, though, because he’s the guy who brought the WWE championship into the ring as a weapon, only for Rhodes to use it against him.
Maybe the finish was done so Drew can complain and get one more title match with Cody out of it, but when someone comes up short all the time in title matches like this, the fan perception is that the guy is a loser. Just think about a real sport where a good team or player always comes up short in the biggest games. Sometimes the losses can be logically explained by a bad ref call or bad luck in a short series, but whether it’s fair or not, the fan perception will be that the team or player just can’t get the job done when it matters the most. That’s Drew McIntyre right now, and it makes it harder to take him seriously the next time he goes after the gold.
Stock Down #2: Rey Fenix & Shinsuke Nakamura
One of the worst ways to book a babyface is to have them get their asses kicked while running in to make a save. That’s exactly what happened to Rey Fenix this week on SmackDown when he tried to save Motor City Machine Guns during a post-match beatdown by MFT. Shinsuke Nakamura didn’t get the hint from the prior week and also ran in for the save, and he was also laid out. It’s hard for fans to get behind babyfaces who are ineffective and fail like this.
Stock Down #1: LA Knight
LA Knight needed to find some way to remain relevant in the world title picture after losing the number one contender’s Battle Royal, but his job on this week’s Raw was to put over Bron Breakker in a singles match. With babyface CM Punk now as the new champ, there’s less of a need for another fan favorite to chase after the title, and it looks like Knight may be taking a backseat in that regard.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week.
Stock Up #3: Ilja Dragunov
Dragunov retained the United States championship on SmackDown in a terrific match with Nathan Frazer. These weekly open challenges recently worked out really well for Sami Zayn, and the concept can have an even bigger positive impact for Dragunov, who is still trying to establish himself as an important star on the WWE main roster.
Stock Up #2: Jade Cargill
Cargill completely dominated Tiffany Stratton in a quick match at Saturday Night’s Main Event to become the new WWE women’s champion. WWE is now playing to Cargill’s strengths as a heel working short matches to show off her power advantage, and that’s great news for Jade as she kicks off her reign as the top women’s champion in the company.
Stock Up #1: CM Punk
CM Punk defeated Jey Uso clean to become the new world heavyweight champion at Saturday Night’s Main Event. CM stands out as the biggest star among the men on Raw now that Seth Rollins is out injured, and it looks like WWE will book him accordingly in title matches at the top of the card as the face of Raw.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
