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 Ricky Saints winning the rubber match against Carmelo Hayes, Damian Priest & R-Truth retaining WWE tag championship gold against MFT, and Danhausen starting to work his strange magic on Zack Ryder, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Blake Monroe
Several NXT stars like Ethan Page, Ricky Saints, Sol Ruca, Fatal Influence, and Joe Hendry were called up to WWE’s main roster right after WrestleMania 42. At that same time on April 24, WWE also announced that “The Glamour” Blake Monroe was “coming soon” to SmackDown. He we are nearly two months later and Monroe is still “coming soon,” even though she already came for less than 20 seconds in a backstage segment last month.
I don’t know why WWE is stalling so much on Blake Monroe eventually appearing live in a SmackDown ring, but I think it’s gotten to the point where these weekly hype videos aren’t helping. Blake needs to debut in the ring already to stop becoming the next Veer Mahaan, especially with SmackDown reportedly being cut down to two hours at the start of July.
GUNTHER is a giant dumbass who chose Sami Zayn to be the referee in his WWE championship rematch against Cody Rhodes. I’m convinced this guy would waste a genie’s wish on something really stupid like asking for candy nipple tassels. Not surprisingly, Zayn couldn’t maintain his cool, and the match devolved into a mess. GUNTHER didn’t do himself any favors by powerbombing his hand-picked ref while the match was still underway.
The Ring General went home empty-handed for the second time in less than one month, and he has nobody to blame but himself for being such a terrible strategist. His momentum has taken a big hit since he sent John Cena into retirement, and the timing probably isn’t right for him to win the belt in his third try coming up at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia.
Stock Down #1: Rhea Ripley
WWE didn’t offer much of an update on Rhea Ripley this week, which has greatly increased concern that her absence due to injury may be a lengthy one that could force her to vacate the WWE women’s championship. At the very least, WWE appears to now be preparing for SummerSlam as if Rhea won’t be around.
Sami Zayn ultimately made the WWE title rematch between Cody Rhodes and GUNTHER all about himself, and he is now being rewarded for it by getting a WWE championship match at Night of Champions. Zayn might just be there as the fall guy in the match, but you can never say never about Sami winning the big one in Saudi Arabia.
Stock Up #2: Oba Femi, IYO SKY, Jey Uso, Liv Morgan
This is a bit of a cop out, but I’m putting all four King & Queen of the Ring finalists here since there is a decent argument that can be made for any of them going on to win the crown at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. For whatever reason, there’s a big difference in scoring the two victories that separate a wrestler from being just another jabroni eliminated in the first round and a big deal star who made it all the way to the final match of the tournament.
Jey Uso’s critics are now worried about him winning another world title, IYO SKY’s fans are reminding everyone that she is the best worker in WWE, Oba Femi’s fans are hyped about him already challenging Roman Reigns for the world title in the main event of SummerSlam, and Liv Morgan can add some weight to her claim of being the greatest world champion in WWE history by becoming a double champion at SummerSlam, especially if Rhea Ripley needs to vacate her belt.
Fatu was officially welcomed inside The Bloodline by Roman Reigns this week. The Samoan Werewolf quickly proved to be a reliable assassin, taking out LA Knight with the Tongan Death Grip after the Usos’ approach didn’t get the job done. Earlier in the night, he beat the shit out of celebrity Eric Andre just for the hell of it. Roman immediately liked the destruction he saw and whispered something in Jacob’s ear, which could be the name of his next victim.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?