WWE Extreme Rules 2012: Stock Up, Stock Down for Every Wrestler on the Card

So long, WrestleMania. It's time for Extreme Rules.

The WWE will head to Chicago this Sunday for the annual Extreme Rules pay-per-view, the first post-WrestleMania PPV of 2012.

In all likelihood, we'll see the conclusion of a number of WrestleMania feuds on Sunday, as well as the start of some new rivalries.

As we draw ever so close to the PPV, though, it's pretty clear that some guys on the show's card are moving in the right direction while others are really struggling.

Today, we're going to take a look at who's doing what with a breakdown of all the Extreme Rules competitors.

Here is the Stock Watch for every wrestler on Sunday's pay-per-view card.

Note: I'll only be looking at the six matches (five on the main card and the pre-show YouTube match) that have been announced so far.

Stock Down: The Miz

What a plunge The Miz has taken.

After squashing Zack Ryder on the first Raw after WrestleMania, The Miz has wrestled exactly zero matches on either Raw or Smackdown, appeared in one backstage segment and was left completely off Raw this week.

Yet he somehow is going to face Santino Marella for the United States Championship in a pre-show match on YouTube. I don't get it.

The WWE clearly seems down on The Miz at the moment, but they're giving him a title match?

Maybe they'll put the US title on The Miz to restore some of its credibility, but it looks like those "big plans" that John Laurinaitis supposedly had for The Miz aren't very big at all.

Stock Up: Santino Marella

Santino Marella continues to defy the odds.

On last week's Raw, he successfully defended his United States Championship against David Otunga, and on this week's show, he and Zack Ryder picked up a tag team victory over the WWE Tag Team Champions, Epico and Promo.

Santino is as over as any mid-carder in the WWE at the moment, and he keeps piling up some signature wins when I'm sure many expected him to already have dropped the US title by now.

Although Santino may primarily be a comedy character, the crowd is always into his matches and his character, and as long as that continues to happen, his stock should continue to soar.

Stock Down: Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes has been booked absolutely horribly since losing to The Big Show at WrestleMania 28.

Though Rhodes has had his bright spots (like costing Show his match against Alberto Del Rio last week), he's generally been embarrassed by Show, and even his father, Dusty Rhodes, week after week.

Big Show has cost Rhodes matches against forgotten mid-carders like Kofi Kingston and R-Truth, and Rhodes' lengthy Intercontinental title reign has become a distant memory.

My hope is that this rough stretch for Rhodes is leading to a mega-push in the immediate future, but at least for now, the creative team is making him look pretty damn terrible as we inch closer to Extreme Rules.

Stock Up: The Big Show

As much as we hate on guys like John Cena, Randy Orton and Sheamus for the way they are booked, The Big Show deserves just as much, if not more, criticism than all three of those guys.

Show is booked so strongly that it has become absolutely ridiculous.

He doesn't lose his matches unless there's some sort of interference, he constantly squashes lower and mid-card workers (oh yeah, and the WWE Tag Team Champions) and he's made a joke out of Cody Rhodes.

It's good for Big Show because he's building up a ton of momentum and looking really strong heading into Extreme Rules.

But for the rest of the WWE? It sucks to see Show destroy half of the roster.

Stock Down: Kane

Although I've always been a Kane fan and was incredibly excited when he returned under the mask, I think it's safe to say that the 2012 version of masked Kane has been nothing short of a a colossal failure.

It was evident during his feud with John Cena, and it's become even more evident during this atrociously-booked rivalry with Randy Orton.

Kane's promos have been ridiculously corny and campy ("I'm a sucker for family reunions"), he doesn't come across like a monster at all and right now, he's lost just about all of the momentum he got after his WrestleMania win over Orton.

Like I said, I'm a Kane fan, but he just isn't doing it for me at the moment, and not even appearing on last week's Smackdown certainly isn't helping his case.

Stock Up: Randy Orton

Randy Orton has been the victim of some really bad booking lately, the climax of which was his dumbfounding WrestleMania loss to Kane.

But at least since that pay-per-view, Orton has begun to rebound a little bit and start being booked like the top star that he is.

Sure, Orton's rivalry with Kane still sucks. But he got the win over Kane in that No DQ match on Smackdown after WrestleMania and got the pin in that big six-man tag team main event on last week's Smackdown show.

He's had his low points (Being attacked by Kane with that pipe), but for the most part, Orton is slowly recovering from that WrestleMania loss and heading to Extreme Rules looking strong.

I'd be absolutely shocked if he didn't win on Sunday. 

Stock Down: Sheamus

Sheamus is the new World Heavyweight Champion and hardly ever loses, but his big WrestleMania win has sort of backfired on him.

I guess that the WWE thought having Sheamus beat a whiny little heel like Daniel Bryan in just 18 seconds would get him even more over as a baby face, but ultimately, it's seemed to do the exact opposite.

Don't get me wrong, Sheamus is still one of the WWE's most over baby faces. But I just feel like his character has lost a lot of steam since WrestleMania, and in some cases, he's almost been treated like a heel by the fans.

When you combine that with the fact that Sheamus had a couple of big losses recently (Alberto Del Rio and Mark Henry) and has been outclassed by Bryan on the mic, it's hard to make the case that Sheamus is better off now than he was before WrestleMania.

In an extremely rare situation, he actually seemed to take a step back by becoming the World Heavyweight Champion. 

Stock Up: Daniel Bryan

There isn't a pro wrestler walking this planet whose stock is higher than Daniel Bryan's.

He has become the WWE's must-see attraction, and he's done it in amazing fashion.

While Bryan has developed into a great all-around heel performer, he's simultaneously managed to become the most over wrestler in the company and start a revolution with his "Yes" chants.

Bryan can get the entire crowd behind him with his "Yes" chant, but all he has to do is cut a promo or act like a sneaky little bastard in his matches to get them to hate him again.

Bryan's uncanny ability to make crowds both hate and love him is something I can't really recall seeing before, and it's made him the hottest act in pro wrestling.

The Chicago crowd will likely be fully behind him at Extreme Rules, even though he's technically a heel.

Stock Down: Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho doesn't wrestle much these days, so most of his impact is going to have to be made on the mic and via backstage segments.

While some of his beer baths on CM Punk have been entertaining—and he did get a nice victory over Kofi Kingston last night—I've still felt like his feud with Punk is falling a bit flat lately and has relied almost too much on targeting Punk's family.

It was interesting at first, but it's become the same old, same old over the last couple of weeks and hasn't managed to really keep my interest.

Jericho is still gold on the mic and as a heel, but he hasn't stepped in the ring enough to increase his stock, at least in my eyes.

He's lost his three major matches since his return (the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber and WWE title match at WrestleMania) and really needs that signature victory (at Extreme Rules perhaps) to prove that he is indeed the best in the world.

Stock Up: CM Punk

A couple of weeks ago, CM Punk's stock was down dramatically, as he had just lost two straight WWE Championship matches (although not the WWE title itself) to Mark Henry.

But Punk made up for those two losses in a major way last week when he beat Henry in a great No DQ/Countouts match to retain his title.

Punk then followed that up with an unforgettable acting performance in that field sobriety test segment on last night's Raw.

While I didn't particularly care for the segment itself, Punk did an excellent job in it, and this was his second straight memorable Raw performance after a fantastic showing against Henry last week.

With Punk heading to his hometown of Chicago for Extreme Rules, he's looking really strong and doesn't figure to lose his WWE Championship anytime soon.

It'll be up to Chris Jericho to change that.

Stock Down: John Cena

What was once the best of times for John Cena has become the worst of times.

He's in the midst of perhaps his roughest stretch in recent memory, as he just seems like a different man (and not in a good way) ever since he lost to The Rock at WrestleMania 28.

Once The Rock beat Cena, Cena's confidence was shaken, and it was shaken even more when he lost to Lord Tensai on last week's Raw.

You could see the fear in Cena's eyes last night, and it's clear that he's feeling the pressure of not wanting to lose to another part-timer like Brock Lesnar.

But Lesnar has gotten the best of Cena just about every time they've crossed paths so far, and it looks like Cena isn't so super after all.

It'll be incredibly interesting to see how this match will be booked on Sunday, because Cena simply doesn't seem like his head is in the right place.

Stock Up: Brock Lesnar

While Brock Lesnar's promo at the end of last night's Raw dragged on about 10 minutes too long, he's been booked very well overall since his return.

Although Lesnar should probably stay away from the mic or get a manager, he's completely owned John Cena so far.

Lesnar has destroyed Cena with two F5s and bloodied Cena's lip, while Cena hasn't done any really damage to Lesnar whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Lesnar has also established himself as one of the WWE's top heels in a relatively short span and has forced John Laurinaitis to give in to some of his ridiculous demands.

Lesnar is definitely on top of the WWE right now, and with Cena looking a little nervous and confused by his recent struggles, I don't think Cena will be able to stop "The Next Big Thing" at Extreme Rules.

Drake Oz is the WWE Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. You can follow him onTwitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions (to be answered in the B/R Mailbag) on Formspring.