10 Things We Learned From WWE Raw (May 22)
1. The Baylor Club
A mixed night for Finn Balor then, who was gifted the strongest moment of his post-WrestleMania stint courtesy of a Paul Heyman verbal love note shortly before a pedestrian victory over real life chum Karl Anderson.
Brock Lesnar's absence has inadvertently damaged Balor's comeback, removing a crucial visual aid that would have added levity to his heroic return. Fittingly, his advocate more than made up for it with a stellar reintroduction of 'The Demon King', subtly positioning him above his fellow contenders in Extreme Rules' fatal five way match despite the others holding court in the evening's main event.
It of course culminated in Heyman's ulterior motive of promoting his unstoppable 'Beast' despite his backhanded endorsement, but the hype job elevated Finn far beyond anything he's been permitted to do himself in the last six weeks.
If Heyman's promo seemed designed to tease some fire out of Finn as relates to the man holding a title he never lost, it was inadvertently extinguished by Kurt Angle's mispronunciation of his surname.
It may only seem a little thing, but Angle's popularity shouldn't mask a significant blunder others would have suffered abuse for. The occasional flub is understandable, but with a character on the precipice as Balor currently is, it was more than a little inconvenient.