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 Sheamus saying goodbye to WWE, Jacob Fatu giving Solo Sikoa an ultimatum, and GUNTHER snapping on GM Nick Aldis, a lot of fortunes were changed.
With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:
Stock Down #3: Seth Rollins
Rollins opened up this week’s Raw by practically putting the audience to sleep with a very boring and monotone promo trying to hype up his title match at SummerSlam against World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns. After Seth rambled on for close to 10 minutes, LA Knight thankfully interrupted to shit all over Rollins and the absentee Tribal Chief, while putting himself over in the process. Most of the megastar’s points about their lackluster feud were spot on, and the audience loved him for it.
This reaction is also related to the fact that it’s still hard to get fully behind Rollins as a babyface given the messy circumstances of how he got there. The end result is that there is now less hype and intrigue to see Reigns vs. Rollins. That reality is reflected in SummerSlam’s slow ticket sales.
Stock Down #2: Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn’s 9-day run as the top guy in WWE came to an abrupt end this week on Raw when he lost the WWE championship to CM Punk in his first title defense. It’s pretty clear from the way Sami’s title reign was booked that WWE never took him seriously as a money player at SummerSlam; he was just a transitional titleholder to get the belt from Cody Rhodes to Punk and put the focus on their upcoming program.
Rather than coming right back to confront Punk on SmackDown, Zayn is now taking a kayfabe mental health break from WWE. That’s the equivalent of saying he’s taking a break from chasing the title while the real top stars in WWE feud over the belt heading into WWE’s biggest show of the summer.
Stock Down #1: Street Profits
There was so much digital ink spilled over Zayn’s championship loss that it’s easy to overlook the Street Profits had a similarly garbage run with the world tag team championship. They lost the belts right back to The Vision in their first title defense, just 14 days after winning the gold.
Zayn’s title loss was at least featured in a fantastic main event match on Raw that went over 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins dropped the belts in a match that was about half as long and ultimately about The Vision trying to redeem themselves. Sami won’t have a problem getting meaningful TV time going forward without the belt, but the same can’t be guaranteed about the Street Profits, who WWE creative often forgets about for months at a time.
Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week:
Stock Up #3: Maxxine Dupri
Maxxine Dupri was going nowhere in 2026 while sticking with her babyface role aligned with Otis and Akira Tozawa, but major changes are on the way now that she has joined The Vision and is making out with Austin Theory. Maxxine is a better promo as a heel, and she should definitely get a chance to show that off now. Her work in the ring still lags far behind most women in WWE, but simply being in Paul Heyman’s faction might be enough to get her a new push on that front as well.
Stock Up #2: Baron Corbin
Corbin made his surprise return to SmackDown this week when he took out both Carmelo Hayes and United States Champion Trick Williams with his End of Days finisher. It might be easy to dismiss Corbin as just a basic mid-card heel who is ultimately here to put guys like that over, but he has a past record of getting bigger pushes and a ton of TV time in WWE.
Stock Up #1: CM Punk
After being away from WWE for a couple of months to get jacked, CM Punk returned on this week’s Raw in Chicago and won the WWE championship on his first night back. By the end of the week he was booked in a SummerSlam main event title defense against Cody Rhodes. This kind of booking is about as good as it gets for any star in WWE.
There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?
