10 Positive Developments In This AWFUL Post-WWE WrestleMania 35 Season
5. Finn Bálor
Finn Bálor spent virtually all of last year trapped in a chinlock.
He also feuded with Baron Corbin for approximately four months in a programme that yielded mundane, repetitive action, lame verbal segments and, naturally, no clear winner. Neither man emerged from it a bigger star. Bálor then feuded with Bobby Lashley, and then Bobby Lashley again, in matches similarly turgid and unflattering in layout. Bálor isn't a naturally sympathetic nor emotive performer, despite his status as a genuinely nice chap. He seemed to spend more time doing the Ricky Morton sell more than Ricky Morton ever did, and Ricky Morton has wrestled for 41 years.
Bálor excels in explosive matches against similarly super-athletic opponents, and he proved this almost immediately upon his switch to SmackDown. In a very good effort opposite Ali, this was hammered home when Bálor hammered Ali into the turnbuckles with a front missile dropkick, which Ali launched himself halfway across the ring to sell. Finn Bálor looked actually capable of really hurting somebody in that context, so watch Vince feed him to Lars Sullivan.
Nobody is ever going to "bring the prestige back to the Intercontinental Title". The framework of the creative prohibits that.
But it looks splendid around his waist, nonetheless, and there are several heel opponents on the brand with which to remind us of his dormant super-worker ability.