4 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Sep 17)

2. Plain Ol’ Finn

Thank God WWE didn't have Finn work his 'Demon' guise on Friday.

Credit must go to Cole and Pat McAfee for exploring the possibility that Bálor is just playing mind games with Roman Reigns and keeping him guessing. Also, it was neat that creative included a short insert that examined why Finn sporadically appears in face paints later. That was a nice touch that gave his alter ego some context.

Deploying plain ol' Finn Bálor for the opening tag was wise. Now, one of the big selling points at Extreme Rules is seeing how Reigns will fare against a supernatural force; that's not something he's really had to deal with since becoming Universal Champion (outside some super-early interactions with Bray Wyatt).

If one was being hyper-critical, he might've kept back 'The Demon' for this week or next. Then, WWE would've been able to avoid explaining why Bálor wasn't crawling his way to the ring here. Meh, at least they covered their backs with the whole mind games thing.