Stock Up, Stock Down For WWE's Champions Ahead of Royal Rumble 2026
With the end of 2025 comes the beginning of the most important season in WWE: the road to WrestleMania.
Everyone will be looking to mark their spot for The Show of Shows, guaranteeing a place on the card at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas come April 18-19.
While the pressure is on everyone, the champions in WWE are especially under a microscope.
From CM Punk and Cody Rhodes to Jade Cargill and Stephanie Vaquer, these are the stars who truly represent the company and expect a chance to compete at 'Mania.
However, not all of them will make it to the two-night premium live event with the gold, and some may not even make the card.
It is important to be rising and in focus as Royal Rumble 2026 approaches.
Stock Up: World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Dragon Lee
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It is typically a bad sign for the future of the tag team championships when a random pair is thrown together to take the gold.
However, after the initial shock wore off, AJ Styles and Dragon Lee have quickly showcased why WWE is relying on them to carry the Raw men's tag team division.
The Phenomenal One is a journeyman and a future class-leading Hall of Famer who is considering retirement, but he also remains one of the best pure in-ring workers of all time.
While Dragon has been typecast as a luchador at times in WWE, he is one of the company's best-kept secrets, unleashing his best offense in the ring when the spotlight is on him.
Together, they are two of the best wrestlers on Raw and have found quick chemistry, allowing them to deliver short but impactful title defenses against a variety of challenging opponents.
The World Tag Team Championships may never be at the top of the card again, but Styles and Dragon are delivering some of the best wrestling on Raw each week when they are booked.
Stock Down: WWE Tag Team Champions The Wyatt Sicks
2 of 11The SmackDown tag team division has received a consistently stronger focus than its Raw counterpart, highlighted by multiple crowd-pleasing multi-team contests for the gold.
However, as much as The Wyatt Sicks can easily main-event SmackDown when available, WWE has featured the group inconsistently since winning the WWE Tag Team Championships.
The feud between The Wyatt Sicks and Solo Sikoa's MFTs is moving in slow motion, awaiting the right spotlight for a title match.
While the stable conflict closed out on the SmackDown before Survivor Series, it does not feel like WWE has a clear plan to sell this rivalry.
This is not a story that is delivering much beyond aura-filled staredowns, and that isn't enough to make a compelling tag division, which has lost momentum over the year.
Fans still are invested in this group, though, and Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy have made the most of their opportunity when booked. This can turn around quickly.
Stock Up: Women's Tag Team Champions Kabuki Warriors
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For arguably the first time since WWE introduced the Women's Tag Team Championships in 2019, the women's tag division feels more important than the men's.
With Asuka and Kairi Sane at the top of a strong division, there are wide-ranging possibilities for who The Kabuki Warriors will face next.
Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss have become a credible team, looking to regain their gold.
Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky have aligned naturally as friends with a common enemy in The Kabuki Warriors.
Bayley and Lyra Valkyria have worked out their differences to sell themselves as a top tag team.
Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez feel even more dangerous than they did as tag team champions in the past with Liv Morgan back in their corner.
Nia Jax and Lash Legend are also beginning to put things together, with the former women's champion coaching the new NXT import to become the next big star in the division.
This is not even mentioning the great character work and in-ring style of the champions, who could be called the top heels in WWE.
Stock Down: Women's United States Champion Chelsea Green
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It has been an ignominious start for Chelsea Green as Women's United States champion.
Since becoming the first-ever two-time women's U.S. champion, she has struggled to get on TV and been embarrassed by WWE women's titleholder Jade Cargill.
No one seems interested in stepping up to The Hot Mess and challenging for a title that has struggled to find a steady presence on SmackDown each week.
None of this is the fault of Green, who only just got the championship back and is making the most of her minutes (maybe more appropriately, seconds).
However, WWE's complete disinterest in the title she has fought for since capturing it for the first time is telling of the likely future for Green.
On the positive side, she is technically a double champion, capturing the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championships with "All Ego" Ethan Page.
Even if WWE refuses to take her WWE title seriously, Green has more than solidified her importance as a character to SmackDown, NXT and AAA in recent months.
Stock Up: Women's Intercontinental Champion Maxxine Dupri
5 of 11One of the biggest moments WWE delivered all year was Maxxine Dupri dethroning Becky Lynch as women's intercontinental champion.
It was a classic underdog achieving the impossible moment that wrestling does so well.
There is significant pressure on Dupri to make the most of this chance, though, but she has yet to appear in the ring since her win.
The 28-year-old is training with Natalya to develop her resilience and toughness in order to compete with the biggest names in WWE.
The jury is still out on whether Dupri can pull it off, but she has never been in a better spot than right now.
Stock Up: United States Champion Ilja Dragunov
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There is no doubt Ilja Dragunov has been positioned fully as a midcard champion, but there is also no doubt he has elevated SmackDown's midcard as its fighting champion.
Nearly every week, The Czar has headed out to the ring, challenged anyone to step up and delivered the best match of the night.
His return match and title win against Sami Zayn is a dark-horse contender for match of the year, but he has also delivered against Nathan Frazer, Axiom, Johnny Gargano and JD McDonagh in the following weeks.
No one on this championship list can match his in-ring output since his return in October.
The only issue for Dragunov is a limited pool of challengers. Only Tommaso Ciampa and Tama Tonga have made a clear case for themselves as future challengers.
He needs high-level competition to truly raise the prestige of the United States Championship and make it onto future WWE PLEs.
Stock Up: Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio
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Few men can boast as impressive a career rise as Dominik Mysterio in 2025.
The two-time intercontinental champion is also the current AAA Mega champion and works both Raw and AAA shows regularly.
Dirty Dom may be a cheating heel on paper, but his antics have actually gained him support from both audiences.
His biggest win to date was at Survivor Series where he regained his title from John Cena in The GOAT's second-last match of his career.
Mysterio's career trajectory is a steady rise that could lead to him winning even more gold in 2026 and beyond.
If there was Dirty Dom stock to invest in, he would be an easy buy for the foreseeable future.
Stock Down: WWE Women's Champion Jade Cargill
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Jade Cargill is on top of the world, but it feels like no one is paying much attention to her.
The Storm's return, heel turn and WWE Women's Championship victory should have been the turning point of her career.
She dethroned Tiffany Stratton, who had held the title for over 300 days, in dominant fashion to become SmackDown's top female wrestler.
While it is a major accomplishment, too little time has been spent on Cargill since her win to solidify her status atop the company.
She has yet to receive an honest challenge, let alone defend her title. SmackDown has shown multiple women grumbling backstage about her attitude, but no one is really stepping up.
Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax, former world champions currently on SmackDown, have more interest in the Women's Tag Team Championships.
This should eventually change, especially with small teases that The Queen might want her gold back, but those suggestions need to become something tangible.
Stock Up: Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer
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No woman in this current era of WWE has risen to the top faster than Stephanie Vaquer.
From the moment La Primera arrived in WWE, all signs pointed to her becoming one of the top stars in the business.
She won the Women's NXT and North American Championships, only to quickly let those go so she could head to Raw and win the Women's World Championship.
While the Chilean star does not feature enough in the ring as Raw's top woman, she has clear challengers across the roster, putting Nikki Bella behind her at Survivor Series and turning next to a returning Liv Morgan.
There is still plenty of room for WWE to book her better, but few wrestlers in all of the company feel more secure in their spot than Vaquer.
Stock Down: World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk
10 of 11CM Punk made the most of 2024, particularly highlighted by the WWE feud of the year with Drew McIntyre.
Going into 2025, all signs pointed to The Best in the World capturing a world title again and building new rivalries.
While that has come to pass, Punk's journey in 2025 has been a rocky affair. His feud with Seth Rollins was cut short by a fake then real injury to his rival.
His World Heavyweight Championship victory was somewhat marred by a lackluster match with Jey Uso, and most of the hype has turned to his next rival, Bron Breakker.
This was seemingly the time for Punk to show how great he can still be, but it has instead shown that the industry is close to passing him by.
When Breakker takes the World Heavyweight Championship off him, possibly on the first Raw of 2026, it may be the last time Punk holds gold in WWE.
This is likely for the best of the company as WWE desperately needs a youth movement with all of the established main event acts in the men's division in 2025 over 40.
Stock Down: WWE Champion Cody Rhodes
11 of 11On paper, Cody Rhodes has done everything right as champion. He has defended his title regularly against credible opponents and represented WWE everywhere as the face of the brand.
No one can argue he is the face of SmackDown and, by extension, the face of WWE as a whole.
Still, something does not feel right, and it hasn't for a while.
Ever since the dud of Rhodes vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 41, a question has lingered: Is The American Nightmare truly the man to lead WWE into the future?
His first WWE Championship reign was uninspiring, lacking for great moments or matches, before ending on a sour note.
When he won his title back from Cena at SummerSlam, he did not receive a grand ovation from a crowd that was more behind The GOAT at that point.
No one is stepping up to Rhodes with any real chance of dethroning him at least until WrestleMania 42 where signs are starting to point to a clash with Roman Reigns for the third time.
This could be a bad match for The American Nightmare because fans may still see The Tribal Chief as the true face of WWE, even if he takes long breaks off TV.
The high of WrestleMania 40's dramatic finish has long worn off, and unless something drastically changes on the road to WrestleMania, that may forever stand as the peak of Rhodes' career.
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