10 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 25)

by Scott Carlson

1. A Tremendous Debut

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When was the last time a wrestler received such a significant, momentous debut in WWE? Even the Shield didn’t make this kind of impact in their first night on the main roster.

Finn Balor finally debuted on Raw Monday night, and he made his first appearance count. The former NXT Champion was immediately thrust into one of two fatal four-way matches to crown a new #1 contender for the newly created WWE Universal Championship. Balor won his fourway in the opening match, then faced Roman Reigns in the main event, with the winner going on to SummerSlam to challenge Seth Rollins for the new title.

Balor overcame the bigger, more powerful Reigns, countering a spear with a Slingblade, and finishing with a Coup de Grace for the win. In both matches, Finn got to showcase his skills, with both wins being earned, not looking like he lucked into either victory.

It’s unclear if WWE is ready to fully pull the trigger at SummerSlam and make him a world champion right out of the gate, but the company certainly got Balor’s WWE career off to an incredible and memorable start.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.