Some places do power ratings. Here at Cageside, we do an inventory report.
In this weekly series, we identify three Superstars (or groups of Superstars) that are rising and three that are moving in the opposite direction. After a busy week that included Dirty Dawgs winning the Smash tag titles, Angel Garza losing the title 24/7 and Legends Night in Crude, many fortunes have been changed.
With that in mind, let’s see which stock has decreased the most this week:
Stock Down # 3: Shayna Baszler
I thought Baszler was on the rise after last week’s dominance over Sexy Muscle Friends, but Shayna couldn’t get past the 50/50 drop on the yellow card. Dana Brooke arrested her this week (January 4) Crude, and then Mandy Rose joined Brooke in Baszler’s beating after the fight.
Down Actions # 2: Elias and Jaxson Ryker
It is not ideal to have a trick similar to that of another fighter and then be established as the lower version of that trick. This is essentially what has been happening with AJ Styles and Elias for the past two weeks. Both are jumping feet that have recently been accompanied by intimidating bodyguards, but it has become very clear in the past two weeks that Styles is a much better fighter than Elias, and Omos is a much more effective bodyguard than Ryker.
Stock Down # 1: Sami Zayn
Zayn is going through a rough patch right now. After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Big E to finish 2020, Zayn was defeated by Apollo Crews the following week and was defeated in less than 20 seconds by Rey Mysterio in this week’s episode (January 8) of Smash. Given Apollo’s strong performance in a title fight against Big E, there is no guarantee that Zayn is really in the line of a championship rematch against Big E.
Now let’s see which stock has increased the most this week:
Stock # 3: Drew McIntyre
It’s one thing to hold onto the WWE championship for a while and go over the high heels in pay-per-view. But you know it’s a major long-term event in the WWE when you become a guy for the best pay-per-view games against part-time players like Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Undertaker, etc.
After successfully defending the WWE championship against Keith Lee in Crude, Drew McIntyre was booked for a WWE championship game against Goldberg’s return in Royal Rumble 2021. McIntyre already has a win over Brock Lesnar, and now he has a chance to add Goldberg to the list of top part-time fighters he has won. WWE is not crazy enough to actually hire Goldberg to win this match, right?
Stock # 2: Adam Pearce
NWA’s five-time world heavyweight champion Adam Pearce won a gauntlet fight in Smash. As a result, he is set to challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal championship in Royal Rumble 2021. To say that it came out of nowhere would be an understatement.
Stock # 1: Shinsuke Nakamura
It was Seth Rollins in 2018. It was Kofi Kingston in 2019. Is it Shinsuke Nakamura in 2021?
Rollins and Kingston received great shoves in those years, after a memorable performance in a gauntlet fight. The most intriguing story that came out of the last gauntlet fight is that Shinsuke Nakamura can easily become a big deal in WWE once again. There are so many possibilities as to where he can go from here, including an obvious babyface run, as indicated by his handshake with Daniel Bryan. In the short term, fight against Jey Uso next week. Looking ahead, Nakamura will now be a significant player in the Royal Rumble 2021? About WrestleMania 37?
It is not a blockade that this will lead to a big push for Shinsuke. But considering that he couldn’t have lasted even three minutes in the ring with Otis less than a month ago, this is a big step for the King of Strong Style.
There you go, Cagesiders. What action do you think has changed the most this week?