10 WWE Storylines From 2017 That Will Never Be Resolved
8. The Demon Vs. The Beast
WWE storylines, understandably, are roundly criticised for their brutal treatment of continuity, tedious overwriting, and for often devolving into sheer pointlessness as a result of dreaded 50/50 booking.
To the credit of the writing staff - well, Paul Heyman - the prospect of The Demon Vs. The Beast was teased expertly, throughout virtually the entire calendar year, with a reassuring use of foreshadowing. Heyman made sure to mention Finn Bálor's name at every opportunity, achieving two objectives: creating anticipation in the mind of the audience, and putting the Demon over. This wasn't a one-man crusade; Bálor himself was scripted to retain some of his storyline focus on Brock Lesnar. The gambit paid off: a huge swathe of the fandom all but accepted it as an inevitability. What's more, Bálor's supernatural alter-ego acted as a neat compromise to the jarring size difference between the two men, in much the same way as AJ Styles' phenomenal essence.
Now, murmurs of "overrated" and "vanilla midget" lurk on social media and wrestling website comments sections - a natural consequence of the fatalistic and harebrained booking to which Bálor was subjected just 24 hours after he defeated AJ Styles at TLC.
The Demon Vs. The Beast may yet happen - but it won't be the same. Not now.