10 WWE Quick Fixes To Save Finn Bálor
7. Old Demons
A critical smash that came to define the main event scene of NXT during the brand's most acclaimed period, the Finn Bálor/Samoa Joe rivalry spanned more TakeOver main events than any other pairing, and with good reason.
Crafted carefully over a period of several months, Joe's turn on Finn was executed with meticulous menace after 'The Samoan Submission Machine' felt slighted by his friend and tag team partner when it came to receiving a shot at the NXT Title.
Like all great heel turns, the switch was rooted in misjudged logic and drive from the villain, with Bálor at no point refusing the match but hardly putting the idea out there as the two teamed to win the first ever 'Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic' in 2015.
Elevated by Joe's assault, their matches were diverse wars all adjusted to fit the narrative of their rivalry at the time. In their December 2015 outing in London, Finn took the fight to Joe with an inner darkness he had to unlock even just to survive. In their Dallas brawl the following April, a legitimate cut to the challenger's eye in the first few seconds transformed the battle into a brutal war of attrition, until barely a piece of the retaining champion remained.
Joe knew it, and having dethroned Finn on a house show weeks later, had the measure of him enough to conclusively finish the job in a cage match at June's 'The End' special.
Bálor's 2017 has yet to feature embedded diegesis on such a scale. A renewed conflict with his old foe could provide exactly that.