15 Ups & 6 Downs For WWE NXT In 2019
8. The Return Of Finn Bálor
Finn Bálor's return to NXT was all things to all viewers, even critics.
Used in a transparent attempt to capture buzz and numbers as the show was roundly trounced by AEW in the first week of the wednesday night wars, the feeling of the prodigal son returning home was brilliantly subverted when he turned heel on Johnny Gargano with a brutal attack just weeks later.
Exhilarating stuff, but the best and most controversial was yet to come. In the bilious worked shoot promo that followed, Finn raged on the roster that had reshaped the black-and-gold brand in his absence. Like a contemporary Undertaker, self-appointed conscience of the company Bálor was cloaked not in the flesh of his victim but in the darkness that mirrored his stifled self-loathing.
It was the instant propulsion back to relevance that could be felt on the night he returned, but yet again WWE's best brand serviced his story in a way far more captivating than anybody could have crafted.