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 Penta returning to save Rey Mysterio from The Vision, Sami Zayn welcoming Trick Williams to WWE, and Jordynne Grace confronting Jade Cargill, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Judgment Day
Injuries continue to hurt the Judgment Day, with Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio now joining JD McDonagh on the sidelines. Raquel Rodriguez then came up short in her bid to win the women’s world championship in a triple threat match against Stephanie Vaquer and WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella on Raw. On the bright side, Liv Morgan returns to the ring on Raw next week, and she will probably have to carry the group for the rest of this month.
Stock Down #2: Chelsea Green
Chelsea Green dropped the women’s United States championship back to Giulia on this weeks’ (Jan. 2) episode of SmackDown. Green won the belt from Giulia on November 7 and never defended it on WWE’s main roster until this loss, so she comes off like an unworthy champion stuck in a pointless game of hot potato.
The live audience didn’t have much of a reaction for the title change, which shows that the women’s United States title still needs a lot of help going forward. Perhaps SmackDown’s return to three hours will mean more time for WWE to showcase this belt and gets fans to care about it? We shall see.
Stock Down #1: Aleister Black & Zelina
The story between Aleister Black and Damian Priest finally ended on this week’s SmackDown in an Ambulance Match. It was the best match in their mediocre feud that lasted way too long, and Black came out of it as the loser.
The last time Aleister won a match was on October 10 when Zelina Vega turned heel to join him in the fireball angle during Last Man Standing against Priest. At the time, it seemed like a WWE championship feud with Cody Rhodes could have been on the table for them. That Black and Zelina have won zero matches since WWE paired them up together in kayfabe suggests this kind of push is not happening any time soon.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week.
Stock Up #3: Randy Orton
WWE kicked off the new year with Randy Orton’s surprise return to SmackDown. After making quick work of The Miz with Happy New Year RKOs, Orton confronted WWE Champion Cody Rhodes to make it clear he’s coming for his belt ASAP. That indicates Randy is in line for a big push with the road to WrestleMania 42 coming up very soon.
Stock Up #2: The Usos
The Usos are already the new world tag team champions, just a few weeks after officially returning to the tag team division in WWE. This is obviously good news for Jimmy Uso, who would likely be lost in the shuffle or simply not pushed if Jey was still chasing the world title.
And while some may think being a tag team wrestler is a demotion for Jey (given he won the Royal Rumble last year and beat GUNTHER for the world title at WrestleMania), there’s still a good chance that this story will eventually tie back into his singles pursuit of the top prize on Raw, or potentially be part of a Bloodline reunion with Roman Reigns down the line. Until then, Jimmy and Jey will continue to be pushed as the best tag team in WWE history.
Stock Up #1: Matt Cardona
Matt Cardona is finally back in WWE for good, nearly six years after being fired as Zack Ryder. Cardona has worked his ass off since that day reinventing himself on the indies, and now he’s back exactly where he wants to be on the WWE roster. He even gets to work alongside his wife, Chelsea Green.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
