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 The Usos demanding an apology from CM Punk, Seth Rollins hiding among his army of masked man to run away from a YouTuber, and the Bella Twins receiving an automatic tag team title match after returning to WWE, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With
that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Wyatt Sicks & MFT
Without looking it up, what’s your guess for how long ago the Wyatt family lantern was stolen by MFT? The actual answer is that it happened on January 9, which is a little over two months ago. Then why does it feel like this story has been going on for at least twice as long? Because it’s a very boring angle, that’s way.
On last night’s episode of SmackDown, Solo Sikoa told Tama Tonga to protect the lantern with his life because the Wyatts are nothing without it. However, the kayfabe results don’t really match Solo’s words when Uncle Howdy has now pinned him in their last two matches together, including last night. Sikoa doesn’t come off like an effective faction leader losing like this, and Howdy looks like a fool every time he gets the lantern back only to fumble it away seconds later.
This story sucks. Change it.
Stock Down #2: Drew McIntyre & Jacob Fatu
Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu are probably headed to a match against each other at WrestleMania 42. Now that Cody Rhodes and the WWE title are out of their story, WWE decided to do a rehash of the angle where sore loser McIntyre quits the company, only to return later and attack his enemy. Drew doesn’t look any good for using a tired tactic he’s already done before, while Fatu looks at least a little dumb for letting Drew’s ruse cost him a match against Trick Williams.
Jacob has yet to win a match since returning over two months ago, which means WWE fans haven’t seen him win on TV since August. That includes a recent loss against a YouTube douchebag. This is not a great way to build anticipation for a match at WrestleMania 42, so hopefully WWE has a better angle in mind next week when they are scheduled to fight each other on SmackDown.
Stock Down #1: Rusev
Rusev was beaten by Oba Femi in a match on Raw that lasted about three minutes. Rusev probably got more offense in than Oba, but it only took one series of moves at the end for Femi to put him away.
The Bulgarian Brute has mostly been an afterthought since returning to WWE last year, but he had enough cachet from his previous WWE run to put over one rising star like this. Now that the job is done, it’s hard to see where Rusev fits into WWE’s creative direction going forward.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week.
Stock Up #3: Finn Balor & Dominik Mysterio
Finn Balor finally got booted from the Judgment Day on Raw, after he said Rey Mysterio might be right about his son Dominik being a spoiled little shithead. The angle helps both characters, especially Balor, because he has a higher ceiling in WWE as a babyface. There is a lot of history to draw on now as Balor and Dirty Dom are likely lined up for a match against each other at WrestleMania 42. Who knows, we may even get the return of The Demon out of it.
Stock Up #2: Kit Wilson
When Cody Rhodes recently name dropped Kit Wilson as one of the reasons why fans should check out WrestleMania 42, I didn’t take his words seriously. Yet here we are just a few days later, and Kit is now in the middle of a feud with Grammy Award winner Jelly Roll. Whether it ends up being a singles bout, or perhaps a tag match involving Miz and Danhausen, it’s the kind of celebrity match that fits in very well at WrestleMania. And even though Wilson is unlikely to beat Roll, the fact that he’s even in position for such a match is a huge credit to how he’s gotten over with the WWE audience ever since going solo with his anti toxic masculinity gimmick.
Stock Up #1: Randy Orton
Stretching out a babyface vs. babyface program between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton over the next five weeks doesn’t make for the most captivating WrestleMania main event. That’s probably why WWE didn’t waste any time this week pulling the trigger on an Orton heel turn. The Viper immediately flipped the switch back to the heartless, sadistic version of his character that we haven’t seen in years as he spilled Cody’s blood all over the place on SmackDown. Rhodes was never going to turn heel, so this was the next best option available. I guess the next question is, when does Randy bring back the punt?
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
