Stock Report: LA Knight is broken, and I don’t know if WWE can fix him

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 Survivor Series: WarGames, a lot of fortunes were changed.

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

Stock Down #3: Jade Cargill

When I wrote about Jade last weekend, WWE had yet to provide a kayfabe update on her injury and status for Survivor Series. That update came a short while later, and not only was she ruled out for War Games, but WWE posted a ridiculously long list of injuries that makes it sound like she will be gone for quite a while.

Since then, there’s been a lot of rumors and mixed reports about what’s the real story that led to this injury angle on SmackDown. Most of the stories indicate that she is legitimately injured. I guess we’ll find out soon enough what’s going on with Jade whenever WWE makes a decision about possibly vacating the WWE women’s tag team championship.

Stock Down #2: Damian Priest

Here’s what WWE commentator Michael Cole said about Priest in the middle of his match against World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER at Survivor Series:

“This is a desperate situation for him, because if he loses this match, he goes back in the middle of the pack. He’s no longer the number one contender. Who knows when he gets another championship opportunity. This is so important for Priest to stay in this match.”

Well, Priest did go on to lose the rematch for the belt that GUNTHER originally took from him in August. Even though WWE tried to protect Damian to a degree via interference that led to his downfall, the bottom line is that he should fall out of the title picture now.

Stock Down #1: LA Knight

Knight’s run as United States championship ended with a whimper at Survivor Series. Not only did Shinsuke Nakamura get the better of Knight every week on TV leading up to the event, but he pretty much dominated the megastar during the actual title match too.

LA has significantly cooled off in recent months as the champion; his stories with mid carders like Santos Escobar, Carmelo Hayes, and Andrade just never really clicked or felt important. His work in the ring as champion never really stood out. WWE’s decision to take the belt off of him after a very short build with Shinsuke is essentially an acknowledgment that his title reign was a bust.

Now that his push has hit this major snag, it’s time for Knight and WWE to work on figuring out what went wrong and how they can try to fix it.

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

Stock Up #3: Finn Balor

Balor’s recent actions indicate that he is trying to take charge as the leader of The Judgment Day. Finn had a pretty good week overall, as he retained the World tag team championship on Raw with a win over the War Raiders, and then screwed Damian Priest out of winning back the World heavyweight championship at Survivor Series. GUNTHER attacked Balor after he interfered in the match, so there’s a chance that Balor is returning to the world title picture as part of this story.

Stock Up #2: Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura has only been back on WWE television for a few weeks, but he’s already the new United States championship after dismantling LA Knight at Survivor Series. Shinsuke’s new presentation bodes well for this sudden push up the card, as does the way the commentators are talking about how we’re finally seeing the real Nakamura for the first time since he signed with WWE many years ago.

Stock Up #1: CM Punk & OG Bloodline

Punk and The OG Bloodline defeated Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline at War Games. WWE made a big deal out of the fact that Paul Heyman now owes CM Punk a favor, which opens the door for Punk to get involved in Roman’s business again whenever the time is right.

War Games was the climax of the Bloodline civil war, and now everyone knows that Roman Reigns is the real Tribal Chief. Even though Solo Sikoa still wears the Ula Fala, the decisive war games victory makes it feel inevitable that Reigns will be taking it back whenever they do meet again one-on-one.

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