5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (10 July - Results & Review)
2. Finn Bálor Clicks As A Babyface
Last week, this writer had a bit of a fit about the way Finn Bálor has been used since jumping from Raw to SmackDown. Teasing a reunion with Damian Priest and R-Truth felt rather rubbish, and this mini-feud with Tama and Talla Tonga probably has limited scope. On the plus side, the actual match between Finn and Tama was rock solid.
To their credit, the live crowd undoubtedly helped matters by greeting Bálor so warmly. You’d honestly think he was a main event babyface given that reaction. Kudos to Tama for doing his bit too. Yep, the Bullet Club backdrop is pretty uninteresting, if only because WWE will never go all in on telling that story so it comes across as half-arsed. Without proper context, that side of things is pretty useless, but the action was watchable.
Hopefully, Bálor moves on from this quickly into a feud worth seeing. He deserves to do something massive after being a bit part player for so long in Judgment Day over on Raw. Finn stood aside so others like Priest, Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio and even his protege JD McDonagh could shine, but he's overdue a bit of a push himself. Maybe that'll come on Fridays.
WWE must be happy enough with how fans responded to Bálor on this occasion. It's a real good sign that he's able to get such strong reactions even when he's warring with workers who aren't especially over. Now, trim away that New Japan plot if you're not going to properly explore it.