12 WWE Royal Rumble 2018 Impulse Reactions

8. Iron Maiden

Finn Balor
WWE

Finn Bálor's 57-minute Royal Rumble run was thankfully paid attention to by the announce team that have in recent years failed to reward incredible physical feats.

Bálor was decked out in brand new burgundy tights and boots, perhaps in tribute to Daniel Bryan as the inadvertent ruiner of Rumbles' 2014 and 2015. He rewarded the audience in a way the 'Yes Man' sadly couldn't; entering in a fabulous endurance display in his first ever entry into the match.

Sweating buckets but bursting at the seams with charisma, it was the best night of Finn's main roster career sans 'Demon' daubing. Lasting as long as he did but saving so much fighting spirit for a gutsy final four effort, the Royal Rumble 2018 may forever be the pay-per-view remembered for his main event absence, but his status as a headliner was carefully restored.

His placement in the beautifully executed closing stretch reinforced the company's faith in his worth for the future. Positioned next to Roman Reigns and Shinsuke Nakamura as the company's future staring down Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and John Cena, Bálor was again the man once considered a maiden Champion rather than a failed Number One contender.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.