WWE Stock Report: Charlotte Flair is at it again

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 Jimmy Uso accidentally superkicking his brother Jey, Cody Rhodes dealing with Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley on Miz TV, and Seth Rollins defending the world heavyweight championship against Damian Priest, a lot of fortunes were changed.

With that in mind, let’s see whose stock decreased the most this week:

Stock Down #3: Shotzi

Shotzi’s style is a good fit for the Money in the Bank ladder match, but it looks like she will be missing out on it after losing this week’s qualifying match against IYO SKY. Damage CTRL needed to cheat to beat her, so there was at least an attempt to protect her in defeat.

Stock Down #2: Michin

The O.C. has been featured more on WWE television ever since AJ Styles returned from injury. That fact, combined with the impending breakup of Damage CTRL, appeared to give Michin a path towards beating Bayley and qualifying for the Money in the Bank ladder match. Michin still lost, however, which brings into question how much of AJ Styles’ push will actually trickle down to the other members of The O.C.

Stock Down #1: Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander

A lot of wrestling fans are still holding out hope for a reunion of The Hurt Business one day, but it’s hard to see how that can happen when Shelton and Cedric are presented as nothing more than fodder on TV. Indus Sher quickly beat the hell out of them on this week’s Raw, to the point where their scheduled match was called off before it could even begin.

Now let’s see whose stock increased the most this week:

Stock Up #3: Austin Theory

Austin Theory is very hard to beat these days, which isn’t surprising given that WWE did book him to go over John Cena at WrestleMania 39. Since that win over Cena, Theory has successfully defended his United States championship against the likes of Sheamus, Jey Uso, Bobby Lashley, and Bronson Reed. Which upper card babyfaces on SmackDown are left for him to beat?

Stock Up #2: GUNTHER

Roman Reigns gets almost all of the attention for his 1000+ day championship run on top of WWE, but GUNTHER is also in rarefied air, reaching one full year as Intercontinental champion. He made his mark on Raw this week with an outstanding match against Kevin Owens, giving WWE fans a glimpse of what the future of Raw could look like over the next few months as the Ring General attempts to become the longest reigning Intercontinental champion of all-time.

Stock Up #1: Charlotte Flair

Charlotte Flair returns to WWE and is immediately booked in a championship match. It’s a similar refrain we’ve encountered so many times before, and it’s happening again now that The Queen is back and challenging Asuka for the new WWE women’s championship later this month. Maybe Bianca Belair will turn heel and/or ruin Flair’s championship destiny, but I don’t think many folks would be surprised one bit if Flair is the new champion before the month is out. She does have to beat her father’s all-time championship record at some point, after all.

There you have it, Cagesiders. Whose stock do you think changed the most this week?