6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (April 18)

3. A Big Celebration For A New Champ

Theory celebration
WWE.com

Anyone who thought Finn Balor was going to be anything more than a placeholder with the United States Championship hasn’t been paying attention very much.

Balor battled Theory in a decent US title match where the outcome really was a foregone conclusion. Naturally, the up-and-comer Theory captured his first singles gold in WWE, defeating Finn in a balanced match.

Afterwards, several wrestlers came out to celebrate with him, which was a weird look, but sure, fine, it made the moment look a bit bigger, even if it didn’t make any sense. But then Vince McMahon himself came out to celebrate with Theory, raising his hand and taking a selfie on the ramp.

Say what you will about the ridiculousness of the Vince/Theory vignettes earlier this winter, and the stupidity of the Pat McAfee/McMahon debacle at WrestleMania 38, but this ongoing association has benefited Theory, and now he has gold.

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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.