Some places do power rankings. At Cageside, we report on inventory.
In this weekly series, we identify three Superstars (or groups of Superstars) who are on the rise, and three who are moving in the opposite direction. After a busy week that featured Cody Rhodes going crazy over Drew McIntyre, Lyra Valkyria slapping Bayley to change her split personality, and another showdown between MFT and Wyatt Sicks, a lot of fortunes changed.
With that in mind, let’s see which stock declined the most this week:
Fenix looked like a fool when he didn’t see the MFT beatdown in a backstage segment on SmackDown. He then looked ineffective when he attempted to make a babyface save with a run-in that quickly failed against the same MFTs. Someone needs to get their ass kicked to replace Solo Sikoa’s new faction, and unfortunately for Rey, that’s her job right now.
Falling Stock #2: Jacob Fatu
Fatu was pulled from his main event match against Drew McIntyre on SmackDown this week thanks to a backstage Kayfabe attack, which a new report says is because he is 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 to be his first televised match since August. It looks like Fatu’s momentum will disappear again if this was indeed WWE’s way of keeping him off television for a while.
Falling Stock #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 report states that Rollins was injured at Crown Jewel and needs shoulder surgery. If WWE thought Rollins could only be sidelined in the short term due to this injury, they probably wouldn’t have pressed such a major betrayal angle that isn’t expected to happen until WrestleMania 42. This angle seemed to have been done to remove Rollins from the mix and open the door for a new top heel to potentially take his place on Raw, so it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see his World Championship vacant very soon.
Now let’s see which stock rose the most this week.
Punk won the 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 Australian crowd. Seth Rollins’ injury makes it more likely that Punk will cement this victory by becoming the next heavyweight champion of the world.
Stock Up #2: Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker
Ready or not, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed now lead The Vision, or whatever new name the group might take now that they’ve turned on Seth Rollins in what Michael Cole called “a coup of epic proportions.”
Paul Heyman is still there to largely do the talking for them, but it looks like WWE is giving the Brons a real chance to show that they are currently main event-level heels. Reed just beat Roman Reigns on PLE, so this isn’t necessarily a case of the Brons simply making a lateral move to find a new leader after abandoning Rollins.
Stock up #1: Ilja Dragunov
Dragunov returned to WWE after more than a year away and is already the new SmackDown United States Champion. He wrestled like crazy in his comeback match and looked extremely impressive in defeating Sami Zayn for the gold medal. Now all that’s left is for someone to talk to Dragunov about his fashion choices.
There you go, Cagesiders. Which title do you think has changed the most this week?
