Roman Reigns became a super over babyface without even lifting a finger

Roman Reigns became a super over babyface without even lifting a finger

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 Uncle Howdy interviewing Bo Dallas, Damian Priest and Seth Rollins raising the stakes at Money in the Bank, and NBA stars getting in the ring on SmackDown in Madison Square Garden, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Santos Escobar

Santos Escobar failed to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match this week, and he appears to be stuck in a lower card story with Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews.

Stock Down #2: The Miz & R-Truth

The Miz and R-Truth had a mostly forgettable run as World Tag Team Champions, and it came to an end on this week’s Raw in a mostly forgettable main event match.

Stock Down #1: Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair

Neither Cargill nor Belair will participate in this year’s Money in the Bank ladder match after losing their respective qualifying matches. This does free them both up to continue chasing the WWE women’s tag team titles, but those belts don’t really mean much. Unless WWE is about to split this team up ASAP, it looks like they won’t be involved in a major program at SummerSlam.

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

Stock Up #3: Tiffany Stratton

It may have been a coincidence, but Stratton’s push appeared to stall out following last month’s controversial social media post. She got back track on last night’s (June 28) SmackDown by qualifying for the Money in the Bank ladder match. Tiffany is a strong candidate to win the MITB contract, and she might also have Nia Jax by her side to help her win more matches in the coming months.

Stock Up #2: Liv Morgan

Liv isn’t kidding around when she says she wants to take everything away from Rhea Ripley. Not only is she trying to take Dirty D away from Rhea by turning up the heat on Dominik Mysterio, but Liv might also be trying to outright replace Rhea in The Judgment Day.

To that end, Morgan was heavily involved in The Judgment Day’s business throughout this week’s Raw, and even pulled the strings to put together the match that resulted in Finn Balor and JD McDonagh winning the world tag team titles in the main event. Damian Priest is one member of The Judgment Day who isn’t really falling for Liv’s schemes, but he might not be in position to stop her if he gets kicked out of the group by losing to Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank.

Stock Up #1: Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns has been gone from WWE television ever since he lost the undisputed WWE championship to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40. Despite Roman’s current absence and status as the top heel in WWE when we last saw him in April, last night’s episode of SmackDown made it quite evident that Reigns is already super over as a babyface. And he did it without even showing up or lifting a finger!

Did you hear how loudly the live audience popped when Paul Heyman refused to acknowledge Solo Sikoa as his Tribal Chief? The Bloodline’s heated attack on Heyman indicates that Reigns will be back on TV sooner rather than later, and WWE fans can’t wait to cheer for the real Tribal Chief.

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