10 Booking Steps Leading Finn Bálor To WWE Title
8. Shadowplay
Unlike that filler bout with Ziggler, what comes next for Finn Bálor is a veritable dream match in which deciding upon a winner is, for the fans, a virtually impossible task - i.e., something of major intrigue requiring considerable investment. At Payback, Finn Bálor faces the promoted Andrade 'Cien' Almas in what is the main roster debut for El Ídolo - which renders the prospect of a loss unthinkable. Dripping with swagger despite the customary and necessary relinquishment of his NXT Title, Almas arrives on SmackDown with the big push. He is Alberto Del Rio, but emphatically over and capable of delivering Best In The World-level performances.
It is an unthinkable scenario for Bálor, too. He just reestablished his credentials as a headliner. One star must lose - and, since WWE is pushing ahead with dual-branded pay-per-views in order to avoid the boring glut of rematches, one star must lose decisively. It is Bálor who loses, following the awesomely-timed interference that is Zelina Vega's stock-in-trade.
It isn't crisis point - it was Vega and Vega alone who separated the two men after an electric 20 minute minor classic designed to enhance them both - yet...