As fashionable as it may be to crap on everything that WWE does, it is
impossible to deny that the Draft and the resulting fallout have been
great thus far (at least from the perspective of the Raw brand). While the world's leading wrestling company have been
criticised in recent years for not giving fans what they want and
demand, the initial impression is that this 'New Era' is more than just a
catchy tagline. From what we've seen so far, it could even potentially
be the catalyst for a boom period akin to the 'Rock & Wrestling'
movement that spawned WrestleMania or, dare I say, the hugely celebrated
'Attitude Era'. Of course, there's still plenty of time for the company
to squander that potential (if you want to be a pessimist about it),
but this incredibly auspicious start deserves credit and high praise.
There seems to be a concentrated effort to give the fans what they want
and give the superstars of each brand a chance to make themselves stand
out. Nothing demonstrates this better than the introduction to the main
roster of Finn Balor.
The groundwork for Balor's debut began with his hugely successful run in NXT. By giving him this platform, they had already introduced the internationally renowned and seasoned star to a large section of the WWE audience and created a mythos which they can draw upon to legitimise him in the WWE realm. After all, one constant in the wrestling business is that having the ability to be a regional star doesn't necessarily translate to being able to do the same on a larger stage, especially a worldwide one. By affording him this opportunity, it gave Balor the chance to create a legacy of great matches, a loyal cult following for himself and, more importantly on a business level, a reputation for being able to carry the ball and be a franchise player. The rumblings soon began amongst the wrestling community, with rarely a bad word said about the performer or his matches, everyone was talking about the charismatic prince of NXT and the almost weekly speculation of a call-up to the main roster. It got to the point where rumours of his promotion were almost as frequent as the ones about CM Punk returning (or finally debuting in the UFC).
Reports were abound that while Vince McMahon himself was keen to bring Balor to the main roster, Triple H had fought to save his debut until WWE creative had something fittingly big in store for him. Seeing a megastar in the making, Triple H reportedly didn't want to lose the cornerstone of the ultra-hot development brand only for Balor to end up being lost in the shuffle. With how his call-up has been handled, there is little danger of that happening now.
The groundwork for Balor's debut began with his hugely successful run in NXT. By giving him this platform, they had already introduced the internationally renowned and seasoned star to a large section of the WWE audience and created a mythos which they can draw upon to legitimise him in the WWE realm. After all, one constant in the wrestling business is that having the ability to be a regional star doesn't necessarily translate to being able to do the same on a larger stage, especially a worldwide one. By affording him this opportunity, it gave Balor the chance to create a legacy of great matches, a loyal cult following for himself and, more importantly on a business level, a reputation for being able to carry the ball and be a franchise player. The rumblings soon began amongst the wrestling community, with rarely a bad word said about the performer or his matches, everyone was talking about the charismatic prince of NXT and the almost weekly speculation of a call-up to the main roster. It got to the point where rumours of his promotion were almost as frequent as the ones about CM Punk returning (or finally debuting in the UFC).
Reports were abound that while Vince McMahon himself was keen to bring Balor to the main roster, Triple H had fought to save his debut until WWE creative had something fittingly big in store for him. Seeing a megastar in the making, Triple H reportedly didn't want to lose the cornerstone of the ultra-hot development brand only for Balor to end up being lost in the shuffle. With how his call-up has been handled, there is little danger of that happening now.
The official introduction of Finn Balor to the larger WWE Universe
started with the Draft on SmackDown, where he was chosen as the third
pick for Raw (the 5th draft choice overall). This meant he was chosen
ahead of the likes of Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Brock
Lesnar and even John Cena. This might have left some of the more casual
fans scratching their heads and wondering 'who is this guy and why is he
so high on the list of priority picks?' Meanwhile, any fans of Balor or
NXT were happy to see the company pin this trust and value on such an
elite performer, underlining his importance and showing faith in him
from the outset. Either way, the positioning was a fantastic way to create some buzz and anticipation for the debuting superstar.
This prudent move to highlight Balor as one of the company's most valuable players was capitalised upon with his official debut on the following episode of Raw. With the brand split completed, Raw figureheads Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley announced their intention to create a new main event title, the WWE Universal Championship, to compensate for SmackDown having nabbed the WWE World Heavyweight title. Seth Rollins would automatically be entered into the final at SummerSlam, with his opponent to be decided by two fatal four ways and a singles bout between the winners of each.
Balor first defeated Cesaro, Rusev & Kevin Owens in a strong match to start to the show, then faced Roman Reigns in the main event. Reigns (who had defeated Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn and Sheamus in his own fatal four way) seemed to be a shoo-in for the match with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam, going by the usual WWE booking formula. After all, even putting Balor through to this stage would have effectively made their point of him being one to watch, providing it was booked as a competitive contest with some near falls for the newbie. Instead, it will go down in the history books as one of the most memorable, impactful and effective debuts of recent memory, if not in the history of Raw. With clean, decisive pinfalls over the current US Champion Rusev and then former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, the point was made and underlined; Finn Balor is here to be a major player and everyone should take notice.
This debut will no doubt be mentioned on the various list programmes on the WWE Network and DVD releases for years to come, listed alongside those of Chris Jericho, The Nexus and John Cena et al. While the matches themselves (particularly the main event with Reigns) were not Balor's best work, they were still good enough to show that he is an incredible performer and served as a suitable introduction to what he is capable of. His resulting match against Seth will undoubtedly blow the Raw matches out of the water in terms of overall quality, but it is the booking and positioning that is most important with regards to his debut, as they have taken a relative unknown (to at least some of the audience) and catapulted him into being one half of the main event on the second biggest show of the year.
This prudent move to highlight Balor as one of the company's most valuable players was capitalised upon with his official debut on the following episode of Raw. With the brand split completed, Raw figureheads Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley announced their intention to create a new main event title, the WWE Universal Championship, to compensate for SmackDown having nabbed the WWE World Heavyweight title. Seth Rollins would automatically be entered into the final at SummerSlam, with his opponent to be decided by two fatal four ways and a singles bout between the winners of each.
Balor first defeated Cesaro, Rusev & Kevin Owens in a strong match to start to the show, then faced Roman Reigns in the main event. Reigns (who had defeated Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn and Sheamus in his own fatal four way) seemed to be a shoo-in for the match with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam, going by the usual WWE booking formula. After all, even putting Balor through to this stage would have effectively made their point of him being one to watch, providing it was booked as a competitive contest with some near falls for the newbie. Instead, it will go down in the history books as one of the most memorable, impactful and effective debuts of recent memory, if not in the history of Raw. With clean, decisive pinfalls over the current US Champion Rusev and then former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, the point was made and underlined; Finn Balor is here to be a major player and everyone should take notice.
This debut will no doubt be mentioned on the various list programmes on the WWE Network and DVD releases for years to come, listed alongside those of Chris Jericho, The Nexus and John Cena et al. While the matches themselves (particularly the main event with Reigns) were not Balor's best work, they were still good enough to show that he is an incredible performer and served as a suitable introduction to what he is capable of. His resulting match against Seth will undoubtedly blow the Raw matches out of the water in terms of overall quality, but it is the booking and positioning that is most important with regards to his debut, as they have taken a relative unknown (to at least some of the audience) and catapulted him into being one half of the main event on the second biggest show of the year.
Whether Balor wins or loses at SummerSlam (and let's face it, he will probably be putting Seth Rollins over on the big show), the foundations are in place to make him one of the biggest stars in the industry. Providing he moves on from the assumed loss into strong feuds with other big names and opponents who will compliment him enough to show the full range of his abilities, he will be able to keep the momentum going long enough to be accepted as a regular main event player by the uninitiated while keeping the interest of the fans who already support him. There is no doubt at all that Balor is more than capable of carrying himself in the role and perhaps even surpassing expectations. Not only does he have the backing of the 'smart-marks' of the internet wrestling community due to the credibility he has earned from his independent years and tenure in New Japan, but he is inherently likeable and interesting, meaning he will win over the key sections of the audience without any problems. He has everything the mums and kids cheered for in the likes of John Cena, has the wrestling ability of the likes of Daniel Bryan and with the Demon aspect of his character, brings something completely different and unique to his presentation which will make him stand out. With all these factors in place, he could potentially become one of the biggest stars the company has ever had. There won't be the large sections of the audience showing their contempt or apathy for a sustained push, plus the casual fans will easily be able to buy into him as a Championship level competitor.
Essentially, with the huge endorsement that Finn Balor has received thus far, WWE has set him up to be one of the faces of the Raw brand in a single night. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that they could completely screw this up (like they did with the Nexus, for example), but everything is certainly on the right track to make Balor a main eventer for many years to come. I for one couldn't be happier with that and I suspect that the majority of fans will agree.
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