Stock Up, Stock Down for Ricochet and WWE's Top Young Stars

The landscape of WWE is fascinating heading into the summer.

With the fallout from Extreme Rules still settling, there are a number of stars on both Raw and SmackDown who have seen their stock change drastically in recent weeks.

For some, it has been a positive period, with either title wins or major pushes elevating their status in the company.

However, others have struggled to make an impact for the right reasons during that time too.

Here's a look which at which WWE young stars have seen their stock either rise or fall in recent weeks.

It's been a strong couple of weeks for Cedric Alexander.

He had previously struggled to make an impact on Raw since being drafted over from 205 Live in April, but he has lately shown signs of real promise.

His surprise appearance as Roman Reigns' tag partner on July 8 was a good start, but then things jumped up a notch even further on Monday night.

Alexander picked a fight with Drew McIntyre. Not only that, he went and defeated one of Raw's main stars in the process.

That sets the tone nicely for what should be a big summer for Alexander. He seems set for the push many believe is long overdue.

Despite a shaky couple of weeks in terms of his stock, Ricochet is still well on the way to becoming a major star in WWE.

The former United States Championship champion surrendered his title to AJ Styles at Extreme Rules, which was a shame. A lengthy run with the belt would have done his standing no harm, and though he scored a win alongside The Usos on the latest edition of Raw, he was beaten down by The Club post-match again.

Ricochet has to show that he's got it in him to match The Club when times get tough and get the upper hand on Styles at least once more to prove he deserves to remain in the title picture.

Only then will fans learn just how big a summer it could be for The One and Only.

Having spent the early part of the summer in the wilderness on SmackDown Live, Ember Moon returned with a bang on Tuesday.

Not only was she on the winning side when teaming with women's champion Bayley, but she was also immediately thrown into a feud with her in the aftermath of the bout.

For someone who spent so long dominating the women's scene in NXT, this is great news.

Moon is a bona fide main event player on the main roster, even if she hasn't been given too many chances to flex her muscles.

But that could be all set to change. The future looks bright for Ember.

To say it's been a poor few weeks for The IIconics would be an understatement.

Most of the time, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay haven't even been seen on television to defend their Women's Tag Team Championships. And when they do show up, there's little in the way of storyline development.

The idea of the tag titles was to afford more on-screen time to the female wrestlers who were perhaps struggling for meaningful opportunities.

But when one of the few genuine teams can't get a run on TV with the belts, it's far from a ringing endorsement for the future of the concept.

Even worse for Royce and Kay is that when they did show up on SmackDown on Tuesday, they were beaten by The Kabuki Warriors. It seems like a matter of when, not if, they drop the belts after that early promise.

Is anyone more popular in WWE right now than Kevin Owens?

Owens spent the early part of 2019 floundering in the midcard without any real storylines to speak of, but that has all changed in July.

With Shane McMahon, and arguably the McMahon family as a whole, in his sights, there is momentum behind Owens as he looks to take down the power-hungry prodigal son.

Fans are buying into it too—though it's not hard when you consider Owens vs. Shane has all the hallmarks of perhaps WWE's greatest rivalry, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon.

It's probably only going to get bigger and even more exciting as the summer rolls on.

For Owens' fans, it's the well-overdue push into the main event they have been craving for him.

Arguably no wrestler has had a worse fortnight than Finn Balor.

Dropping the Intercontinental Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura on the Extreme Rules pre-show was just the start of his woes.

Since then, he has been beaten by Samoa Joe in quick fashion on Raw before then being targeted by the returning Bray Wyatt.

It all culminates into a disastrous period for Balor's on-screen booking. It's difficult to imagine where he goes from here, as a return to the title picture with Nakamura is highly unlikely.

Furthermore, given the hype and energy WWE has invested into Wyatt's on-screen return, Balor will almost certainly be on the losing side of any feud with him.

So where next for Finn? It's anyone's guess.