WWE Stock Watch: Analyzing Who's Up and Who's Down After WrestleMania 28 and Raw

It's been one hell of a couple of days.

WrestleMania 28 was a great pay-per-view with a fantastic crowd, and last night's episode of Monday night Raw was yet another awesome show with yet another incredible crowd.

I honestly can't recall a time in recent WWE history where so many big things happened in such a short span: The Undertaker vs. Triple H inside Hell in a Cell, The Rock beating John Cena clean, Brock Lesnar's return and F5 on Cena, etc.

Anticipation and excitement in the WWE is at an all-time high, and so is the stock of some WWE superstars who are starting their climb to the top of the company.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some stars are plummeting down the WWE ladder. So, who's moving in the right direction, and who isn't?

Well, let's take a look with this week's WWE Stock Watch.

Note: I'm not going to include HHH, Undertaker or The Rock in these rankings because they are probably going to be gone from WWE TV for a while now.

5. Stock Down: Beth Phoenix

I don't think I've ever even mentioned the Divas in these power rankings, but I just had to do it this week because the way the WWE has booked Beth Phoenix lately has been atrocious.

As if leaving Beth completely off of TV on just about every Raw episode for the last couple of months wasn't bad enough, the creative team actually had her lose to a "celebrity" who isn't even trained to wrestle at the biggest pay-per-view of the year.

I never really got the point of seeing Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos taking on Eve and Beth to begin with, and I had this unnerving feeling that they were going to put the baby faces over like they usually do in celebrity matches. But I was pretty damn aggravated when Beth was pinned by Menounos.

I mean, Beth is the Divas Champion, after all. Maybe it's about time that she starts being booked like one.

5. Stock Up: Sheamus

Sheamus walked into WrestleMania 28 as the No. 1 contender for Daniel Bryan's World Heavyweight Championship, and just 18 seconds later, he left the stadium as the new titleholder.

The live crowd in Miami at both WrestleMania and Raw absolutely hated Sheamus after his victory and were booing him like he was a mega-heel at both shows.

But the bottom line is that the Celtic Warrior is now holding the second-most prestigious title in all of the WWE, the World Heavyweight Championship, and just won his first World title in nearly two years.

While he didn't exactly get a warm reception after his World title win, I think that had a lot more to do with Bryan's popularity and the 18-second match than it did anything to do with Sheamus.

The Great White has worked really hard to get where he is, and he's finally been rewarded with the top title on Smackdown.

4. Stock Down: Cody Rhodes

The WWE is famous for booking heels strongly leading up to a pay-per-view, only to have the baby face triumph over the heel at the PPV itself, and a perfect example of this is the case of Cody Rhodes.

Rhodes got the advantage over The Big Show just about every week before WrestleMania 28, but Show prevailed over Rhodes on the grandest stage of them all and ended his eight-month long Intercontinental Championship reign.

The creative team then followed that up by having Big Show distract Rhodes on Monday's Raw and cost him a match against Kofi Kingston.

That was two big losses in 24 hours for Rhodes, and the only way I see that having any benefit for the WWE was if it was meant to get the Intercontinental title off Rhodes and get him into the main event.

But at least for now, Rhodes is down and out, and the WWE has once again booked Show too strongly over future talent.

4. Stock Up: Daniel Bryan

I know what you're thinking: How can Daniel Bryan's stock go up after he lost his World Heavyweight Championship in just 18 seconds at WrestleMania?

But here's what I'm thinking: Did you see the way the crowd reacted to it both at WrestleMania and the next night on Raw?

The fans hated that Bryan lost the title that quickly, and as a result, they filled the arena with "Yes!" chants, "Daniel Bryan!" chants and even some "Si!" chants. Bryan was ridiculously over the last two nights, and I have no doubt that the "Yes!" chant is about to explode.

Is it the new "What?" chant? Probably so, and if it continues to get over like it was the last couple of nights, then big things are in store for Bryan.

He may have lost in near record fashion at WrestleMania, but he's more popular now than he ever would have been had that not happened.

3. Stock Down: Randy Orton

Poor Randy Orton.

I already felt like the dude got the shaft by not being involved in the World Heavyweight Championship match and by being placed in a pointless feud/match with Kane at WrestleMania 28. But then the creative team decided, for some reason, to actually have Orton lose to Kane.

I'm sorry, but isn't this the same Kane that got beat by John Cena in relatively easy fashion at Elimination Chamber last month?

I just don't see the point of having Orton losing to someone like Kane or how it benefits anyone in any way, and I'm truly shocked that Kane winning was ever even considered by the creative team.

Unless this is leading to something bigger for Orton (which I doubt), then this was simply stupid booking.

3. Stock Up: CM Punk

CM Punk suffered an embarrassing and vicious beating at the hands of Chris Jericho last night, but that doesn't take away from Punk's last two matches.

At WrestleMania 28, Punk and Jericho put on one hell of a match that saw Punk retain his WWE Championship, and on Raw, Punk had another great match with someone who obviously isn't known for his in-ring work, Mark Henry.

While the lasting image of Punk we have is him lying next to the ring covered in alcohol and a smashed glass bottle, I'd say that two really impressive matches outweigh that.

Punk looked as good as ever over the past couple of days, and two wins over two of the WWE's top heels would be a great week for anybody.

He proved that he is indeed "the best in the world" and extended what's already been a lengthy WWE title reign.

2. Stock Down: Zack Ryder

I wouldn't want to be Zack Ryder right now.

He's had an incredibly embarrassing week thus far. He got kicked in the grapefruits by Eve Torres at WrestleMania, took the pin for Team Teddy and then followed that up with yet another loss to The Miz on last night's Raw.

In a 24-hour span, Ryder suffered a broken heart and broken private parts, and he's going to have a hard time breaking out of this funk he's in.

Ryder has taken a dramatic plunge over the last several months, and if getting his back broken by Kane wasn't bad enough, he's now had to serve as The Miz's personal jobber over the last couple of days.

Ouch. That sucks.

2. Stock Up: The Miz

For anyone wondering if The Miz's lengthy losing streak was leading somewhere, I think we have our answer.

The Miz ended that streak at WrestleMania 28 when he got the pin and win for Team Johnny, and then he started his own little winning streak when he nailed Zack Ryder with the Skull-Crushing Finale and beat him again on Monday's Raw.

It looks like that losing streak is doing a 180 and being turned into a winning streak, and that, of course, is great news for The Miz.

He hadn't picked up a win on WWE TV since early in December, but now he's gotten two big victories in a row. Things are certainly looking up for The Miz, and he may be in line for a sizable push in the coming months.

1. Stock Down: John Cena

John Cena fans are probably freaking out right now, while Cena haters are likely rejoicing.

Why? Because this has been as rough a stretch for Cena as any in recent memory.

He failed to deliver on his promise to beat The Rock at WrestleMania 28, and after cutting a promo that damn near put me to sleep on Monday's Raw, he was nailed with an F5 by the returning Brock Lesnar.

I, for one, thought for sure that Cena would beat The Rock on Sunday, and even though I had read rumors about a Lesnar return, I still didn't expect Lesnar to end Raw by planting Cena with a huge F5 in the middle of the ring.

So the last two images we have of Cena are him getting Rock Bottomed and pinned, as well as him getting laid out with an F5.

Cena really is going to have to rise above hate now.

1. Stock Up: Brock Lesnar

Brock is back.

Former WWE Champion and UFC star Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE on last night's Raw and made a huge statement without saying a word.

He entered the arena, went to shake John Cena's hand, pulled it back and instead, hit Cena with his F5 finisher that we haven't seen in nearly a decade.

It looks like Lesnar is going to have a program with Cena that will culminate at either SummerSlam or WrestleMania 29, and this is a great move for the WWE and for Lesnar as well.

It only took him about three minutes to make a major impact on the WWE and lay the foundation for what should be a great feud with Cena.

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.