5 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Dec 11)

3. Still Lacking Direction

finn balor curtis axel
WWE.com

On one hand, it’s a good thing he’s still on TV fighting each week. But on the other, why is Finn Balor tangling with the Miztourage for two straight weeks while the Miz is out of action?

It just feels like Balor is deliberately treading water while he’s waiting for something to open up, feud-wise. The Shield, the Bar and Samoa Joe are busy, Kane and Braun Strowman are tangling, and even Bray Wyatt has something going on. Meanwhile, “the first-ever Universal Champion” (as Michael Cole reminds us every time he comes out) has nothing more interesting to do than to beat up Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel.

Don’t get it wrong, Axel has skills (as does Dallas), but having Balor cut through them makes them look like the cannon fodder they truly are, without accomplishing much of anything. It was another week of spinning his wheels as 2017 draws to a close.

At least if they said he was fighting to get in line for an Intercontinental Championship match or even had his sights set on the Universal title he never lost, at least it would be something.

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Contributor
Contributor

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.