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 WWE Backlash, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Kiana James & Giulia
Breaking up may ultimately turn out to be a good thing for one or both of these stars, but it’s not obvious that a big singles push
is waiting for either of them when that happens. In the meantime, they both look pretty incompetent in failing to use their numbers advantage well in losing recent matches against Tiffany Stratton.
Stock Down #2: Seth Rollins
After Seth Rollins lost his match against Bron Breakker at Backlash, the WWE post-show panel asked Seth what went wrong. Rollins said some nights you got it and some nights you don’t, and he just didn’t have it on this night. Perhaps that is encapsulated by this social media post going around of Seth botching moves while trying to impersonate Will Ospreay during the match.
Big E point-blank asked Seth if he has any gas left in the tank as he approaches 40 years old. That line of questioning caught my attention, and makes me wonder if WWE Creative is going in a direction where Seth is getting old and can’t keep up with the young stars anymore.
Regardless, after losing his return match against GUNTHER at WrestleMania, getting laid out by Bron Breakker on the go home show for Backlash, and then putting Bron over at the PLE, Seth sure could use a win right now if the idea is to keep him in world title contention.
Stock Down #1: Matt Cardona
Ricky Saints needed a win this week after losing his debut match on SmackDown. With that in mind, I asked the following question in the SmackDown preview: “Will WWE make sure to get Starks his first win tonight by matching him up against a jabroni like Matt Cardona?”
It turns out WWE didn’t have to search too hard to find a jabroni like Matt Cardona, because the man himself is right there on the roster and Alwayz Ready to do the job. It’s getting harder to distinguish Cardona’s current booking in WWE from Zack Ryder’s many years ago, to the point where beating him doesn’t really help Starks much at all. Keep in mind that other recent NXT call-ups like Jacy Jayne and Ethan Page have already pinned stars like Charlotte Flair and Penta, respectively.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week.
Stock Up #3: Royce Keys & Talla Tonga
WWE is pushing both of these guys right now, as part of a story where Solo Sikoa is trying to establish MFT as a force to be reckoned with on SmackDown. Talla picked up a win this week over former world champion Damian Priest, which is notable because it was Talla’s first singles match since beating Apollo Crews on Main Event in January. Meanwhile, Royce is brushing shoulders with Jacob Fatu and The Usos in backstage segments, which could eventually lead him right into a top level angle with Roman Reigns and The Bloodline.
Stock Up #2: IYO SKY
IYO SKY defeated Asuka at Backlash, possibly sending The Empress into retirement in the process. WWE gave them 18 minutes to work with bell-to-bell, and they blew away the quality of every women’s match at WrestleMania 42 as a result. With Stephanie Vaquer on the injured list and Asuka’s story now over, it seems like a no-brainer decision to push IYO into a world title program with Liv Morgan.
Stock Up #1: Jacob Fatu
Jacob Fatu got his chance to perform in a WWE PLE main event at Backlash, and he knocked it out of the park. WWE booked him about as strong as possible, short of having him actually win the match, and Jacob looked like a stud who deserves to be world champion.
Roman Reigns had to resort to desperate measures to beat the Samoan Werewolf, including an exposed turnbuckle spot in front of the referee that probably should have been a disqualification. Fatu continued his assault on Roman after the match, sending the clear message that he’s different from anyone else Reigns has faced, and won’t be falling in line to acknowledge the Tribal Chief like The Usos did years ago.
Even though Fatu didn’t win the match, it couldn’t be any more apparent that WWE now has a new main event star.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
