WWE Stock Watch: 10 Superstars Who Are Rising or Falling

WrestleMania season is the perfect time to gauge who's moving up, who's moving down and who's staying the same in the eyes of the WWE brass.

If you're a priority, like Sheamus or Cody Rhodes, chances are you'll be getting pushed and highlighted in a high-profile feud. But if you're a suffering mid-carder, you might be struggling just to get a win every once in a while.

Clearly, the WWE is going to use this time to get some stars over while it humbles others.

So, who's benefiting from the creative team's booking? And who's having a hard time because of it?

Here's the latest WWE Stock Watch: A look at five superstars going up and five superstars going down.

5. Stock Down: Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston seemed to be getting a decent little push earlier in the year, when he had that memorable handstand spot in the Royal Rumble and was one of the best performers in Raw's Elimination Chamber match.

But it's clear that he is still nothing more than the guy that the WWE throws into matches to improve the quality of them.

The same is going on once again as Kingston will be on Team Teddy at WrestleMania and likely will be the "spot" guy as usual. Unfortunately for Kingston, his stance as the athletic guy on the babyface team didn't result in a win on this week's Raw.

After beating David Otunga on Friday's Smackdown, Kingston was pinned in a tag team match by Dolph Ziggler on this week's Raw. Why not let R-Truth take that pin?

I guess Kofi's back to the same old spot he's been in for three years now.

5. Stock Up: Kane

Kane hadn't been in action since Elimination Chamber until this week's Raw when he faced The Big Show in the best match I've ever seen.

Just kidding. The match lasted barely more than 30 seconds, but Kane did get the win thanks to a distraction by Cody Rhodes, who was sitting at ringside.

Obviously, Kane's win was tainted, but it was a win, nonetheless. Not to mention it was a win over Big Show, who seems to destroy everyone as of late.

Considering that The Big Red Monster hasn't gotten in the ring at all over the last several weeks, his victory over Show was a good way to at least try to build up some momentum as he heads to WrestleMania for his match with Randy Orton.

4. Stock Down: The Big Show

Speaking of The Big Show, what a terrible night he had on Raw this Monday.

After losing his match to Kane, he was attacked by Cody Rhodes, handcuffed to the ropes and destroyed with a Disaster Kick and a series of Floyd Mayweather-esque punches.

This was just the latest episode in a long line of embarrassing moments for Show during his feud with Rhodes. I mean, Rhodes has gotten the upper hand pretty much every night since their feud started, by either embarrassing Show with those video packages, costing him his matches or beating the holy crap out of him.

It's made Show look weak for the first time in a while, and after dominating the main event scene on Smackdown for much of late 2011 and early 2012, it appears that Show's time at the top could finally be coming to an end.

4. Stock Up: Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger

Finally, a good night for Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger.

After a rough couple of weeks for both superstars, this Monday's Raw actually made them seem important again. Ziggler and Swagger were announced as the latest members of Team Johnny for WrestleMania 28, and following that announcement, they picked up a win in tag team action over R-Truth and Kofi Kingston.

I know a lot of diehard Ziggler fans (including me) and even some Swagger fans aren't exactly thrilled that they're going to be relegated to a 12-man tag team match at WrestleMania, but hey, at least they're on the card now.

While Swagger and Ziggler aren't going to get the singles matches I'm sure they were hoping for, they will probably be on the winning team at WrestleMania.

3. Stock Down: Santino Marella

If you want proof of just how little the WWE cares about the United States Championship, then look no further than Santino Marella.

Since winning the title a couple of weeks back, Santino has been booked like absolute crap on Monday Night Raw. On the last two episodes, he's been pinned by Mark Henry in tag team action and David Otunga in a singles match.

Why? I don't get it.

This would make sense if Santino was purely a comedy character, but he's a mid-card titleholder and the captain of Team Teddy at WrestleMania. He shouldn't be booked like a total loser.

Yet, that's exactly what's happened.

3. Stock Up: Daniel Bryan

Things are certainly looking up for Daniel Bryan.

After interfering in the main event on last week's Smackdown and costing Sheamus the match, Bryan followed that up by squashing Zack Ryder in less than a minute on Monday's Raw.

For those fans who were worried about how Bryan might be booked as World Heavyweight Champion, I think it's OK to stop freaking out. Bryan plays the role of a cowardly champion, sure, but he's held the title for three months now and just squashed a rising superstar.

It looks like Bryan's excellent run as a heel World champion has essentially forced the WWE to keep the title on him, and if he keeps up this awesome bad guy act, then he should continue to rack up victories as well.

2. Stock Down: Zack Ryder

The idiotic booking of Zack Ryder continues.

After being booked atrociously when "feuding" with Kane, Ryder's rough go-round continued on this week's Raw when he tapped out to Daniel Bryan in a match that lasted less than a minute.

For the life of me, I don't understand why or how this happened.

Ryder's supposed to be making his way back up the card, yet he was jobbed out to Bryan when any number of WWE lower-card workers could have gotten squashed instead.

I get the logic behind having Bryan squash someone, but I don't get the logic behind having Ryder be the one who gets squashed.

It feels like 2010. 

2. Stock Up: Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes finally seems to be getting that huge push that he deserves.

While he's clearly not challenging for World titles or anything like that, he's being booked like an unstoppable young heel.

The creative team decided to use The Great Khali the right way for once last Friday when they had him job out to Rhodes, and then Rhodes had perhaps an even bigger Monday when he cost The Big Show his match and laid a serious beatdown on him afterward.

The WWE is finally getting it right, and Rhodes is building up a ton of momentum as we head to WrestleMania. It'll be interesting to see if that hot streak continues or if Big Show destroys Rhodes like I fear he will, but for now, I'm enjoying watching Rhodes slowly rise up the card.

1. Stock Down: The Miz

I don't think The Miz's stock can drop any further.

The former WWE Champion was fed to a top superstar again on this week's Raw, this time to losing to Sheamus, and I believe that means he's lost something like 11 or 12 straight matches on WWE TV now.

Oh yeah, did I mention that he still doesn't have a match at WrestleMania 28?

The Miz is obviously going to be involved in the pay-per-view in some way, but until that happens, he's going to continue to fall down the WWE ladder faster than anyone in recent memory.

A year ago, he was headed for the main event of WrestleMania 27, and today, he's headed for Jobberville.

1. Stock Up: Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho is on fire.

Last Monday, he delivered the best promo since his return when he blasted CM Punk, his alcoholic father and his Straight Edge lifestyle, and he followed that up with yet another terrific promo on last week's episode of Smackdown.

Not to be outdone by himself, however, Jericho won the main event of that Smackdown and then delivered a third phenomenal promo on this week's Raw.

No one in the WWE, not even The Rock, has matched what Jericho has done on the mic over the last couple of weeks, and Y2J has clearly established himself as the top heel in the entire company.

He's managed to reinvent himself as a heel, win matches and generate more fan interest in his feud with Punk, and he did this all in the span of just eight days.

Maybe Jericho really is the best in the world.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.