10 Booking Steps Leading Finn Bálor To WWE Title
5. Styles Clash
A neat exhibition match with which to sell the hardcore set on SummerSlam - WWE tends to promote at least one such "dream" match on a major show, in order to generate grassroots hype - this also acts as a major turning point for Finn Bálor, if not the turn.
Styles and Bálor wrestled a very good match at TLC; as the veneer of respect and sportsmanship disintegrated, it felt like a genuine fight when Styles drove the Demon over the announce desk ahead of the closing stretch. This is a match predicated on a similar narrative, but better; the (understandable) kinks in the opening five minutes of the original are ironed out on the preceding house show loop. The length of the sequel also exceeds the 20 minute mark; this is framed as a major selling point of the card because it is a guaranteed belter and because the events that follow must carry as much dramatic weight as possible. Bálor challenged Styles because he thought he had his number. He also, for the first time since WrestleMania, wrestles as the alter-ego. The Demon is an altogether different - unbeatable - proposition.
But Finn Bálor, for the first time, loses under the paint of the Demon. The paint was only ever the manifestation of his insecurity.