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 Cody Rhodes going insane on Drew McIntyre, Lyra Valkyria slapping Bayley to switch her split personality, and another confrontation between MFT and Wyatt Sicks, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased
the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Rey Fenix
Fenix looked like a fool when he didn’t see the MFT beatdown coming in a backstage segment on SmackDown. He then looked ineffective when he tried to make a babyface save with a run-in that quickly failed against the same MFTs. Someone has to get their ass kicked to put over Solo Sikoa’s new-look faction, and unfortunately for Rey, that’s his job right now.
Stock Down #2: Jacob Fatu
Fatu was pulled from his main event match against Drew McIntyre on SmackDown this week thanks to a backstage attack in kayfabe, which a new report indicates is because he’s legitimately injured and will be out for an extended period of time. The Samoan Werewolf had just returned to WWE after an unexplained absence and this was set to be his first televised match since August. It looks like Fatu’s momentum will once again vanish if this was indeed WWE’s way to write him off TV for a while.
Stock Down #1: Seth Rollins
This week’s episode of Raw had a shock ending where the rest of The Vision suddenly turned on Seth Rollins. The latest reporting says Rollins got injured at Crown Jewel and needs shoulder surgery. If WWE thought Rollins might only be sidelined in the short-term due to this injury, they probably wouldn’t have pulled the trigger on such a major betrayal angle that wasn’t expected to happen before WrestleMania 42. This angle looked like it was done to take Rollins out of the mix and open the door for a new top heel to potentially take his spot on Raw, so it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see his world championship vacated very soon.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week.
Stock Up #3: CM Punk
Punk won a number one contender’s match in the main event of this week’s Raw against Jey Uso and LA Knight, where CM clearly got the loudest reactions from the live audience in Australia. The Seth Rollins injury makes it more likely that Punk follows through on this win by becoming the next world heavyweight champion.
Stock Up #2: Bronson Reed & Bron Breakker
Ready or not, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed are now running The Vision, or whatever new name the group might get now that they’ve turned on Seth Rollins in what Michael Cole called “a coup of epic proportions.”
Paul Heyman is still there to do a lot of the speaking for them, but it looks like WWE is giving The Brons a real chance to show that they are main event level heels right now. Reed just defeated Roman Reigns on PLE, so it’s not necessarily a case where The Brons just make a lateral move to find a new leader after ditching Rollins.
Stock Up #1: Ilja Dragunov
Dragunov returned to WWE after more than a year away, and he’s already the new United States champion on SmackDown. He wrestled like a madman in his comeback match and looked extremely impressive in defeating Sami Zayn for the gold. Now someone just has to talk to Dragunov about his fashion choices.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
