6 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's Raw (April 17)

2. Fact Or Fiction?

finn balor curt hawkins
WWE.com

Coming back from a commercial, Curt Hawkins was in the ring - meaning that fans knew nothing important was about to happen. Hawkins acknowledged that he lost to The Big Show last week, but pointed out that Show was going to be in Raw's main event - that meant that Hawkins made him a star. With that in mind, Hawkins made an open challenge to whomever wanted to become a star next.

Finn Balor, who was hurt by Jinder Mahal last week, answered. Like all of Hawkins's opponents, he made short work of the former Tag Team Champion. After a Sling Blade and a dropkick into the corner, a Coup de Grace finished Hawkins off.

It's good that Balor wasn't out of action - there was concern that he had a concussion, which could have put him on the shelf indefinitely. That said, it's kind of surprising how badly he was wasted - and for the second week in a row. WWE should be setting up a match for Balor for Payback, but he's just been squashing jobbers. Plus, if they had no ideas for him on Raw, they could have easily sent him to Smackdown last week.

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013