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 Zack Ryder returning to WWE, Chelsea Green holding R-Truth’s balls, and Drew McIntyre ignoring his suspension to join War Games, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Charlotte Flair
Not only was Flair pinned to lose the WWE women’s tag team championship on Raw, but she then pulled herself out of the women’s War Games match on SmackDown. Even if this is just a very-short term angle before Flair rejoins the babyface team, she was booed when she made the announcement, and I’m not sure that’s the reaction WWE is looking for her to get right now.
Stock Down #2: Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez
Rodriguez failed to win the women’s world title from Stephanie Vaquer on this week’s Raw. Perez and Rodriguez went in for a post-match attack on the champ, but they were sent packing by Nikki Bella. Bella then turned heel on Vaquer, and the Judgment Day was quickly forgotten about. It looks like Raquel and Roxanne will be moving out of the world title story for now so that Bella can be the lead heel.
Stock Down #1: Damian Priest
You’d never know Damian Priest was a former world heavyweight champion given the way he was eliminated by Rusev in the opening round of The Last Time Is Now tournament.
WWE tried to protect Priest in defeat by making it clear that his eye is still not recovered from Aleister Black’s recent fireball attack. Damian constantly sold his eye throughout the match, leading to this verbal exchange between Raw commentators Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett.
Tessitore: “He was unable to defend himself. I don’t think he could see the right hand coming in with that damaged left eye.”
Barrett: “Yeah. In all honestly, I don’t think Damian Priest should be anywhere near a ring right now…coming in with what, 50% vision? This may be a suicide mission for Damian Priest.”
That doesn’t sound like a wrestler who should be medically cleared to compete. It didn’t really do much to protect Damian, who looked awkward in the match due to all the eye-blinking. He was ultimately defeated by a Machka Kick, and the audience seemed surprised that he didn’t kick out of the pin.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week.
Stock Up #3: Sheamus
GUNTHER is the favorite to win John Cena’s The Last Time Is Now tournament, but if you’re looking for a dark horse wrestler to go all the way, what about Sheamus? Cena won the Intercontinental title on Raw, and that’s good news for the Celtic Warrior, who has a years-long story about how badly he wants to win that belt. Perhaps there’s a chance it will be Cena vs. Sheamus next month at Saturday Night’s Main Event?
Stock Up #2: Nikki Bella
Nikki Bella has been thrust right into the women’s world title picture on Raw after turning heel on Stephanie Vaquer. Nikki is sick of putting over other women in WWE, and there’s a real chance that she may become the world champion again during this feud. Bella is a WWE Hall of Famer, after all, so a future title reign is certainly on the table as she tries to establish herself as the top heel on the women’s roster.
Stock Up #1: Kabuki Warriors
Asuka and Kairi Sane won the WWE women’s tag team championship on Raw and will lead the heel squad in the women’s War Games match at Survivor Series. They even showed up on SmackDown to attack the babyfaces, just for good measure. There’s no denying that the Kabuki Warriors are really hot right now.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
