6 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (26 June - Review)

1. If Only There Wasn’t A 7-Year Gap

Taking the time element out of the equation, Finn Bálor’s motivation for plotting his revenge against Seth Rollins sounded really compelling Monday night during his video package. And his attack last week on Raw (and then on NXT) was a grade-A beatdown.

But to treat this 2023 feud as a continuation of their 2016 rivalry that saw Rollins injure Bálor and put him on the shelf, forcing him to relinquish the WWE Universal Championship one day after becoming the inaugural champ… that just denies reality.

Bálor returned from injury in March 2017. He didn’t cross paths with Rollins until January 2018, a full 10 months later. The two would battle several times through the years, including Finn challenging Rollins for his Intercontinental and United States titles at various points. Bálor never referenced his challenge as being part of a revenge plot for the 2016 injury.

This has been a rivalry with history of convenience. The 2016 injury angle would make sense if this was the feud shortly after Finn returned, or if he stewed about it through the years. But it was largely brushed aside and never seriously factored into anything until 2023.

We’ve seen wrestlers with real-feeling, lived-in history, as they react how a real person would, with character motivations being rooted in a degree of reality, rather than feelings brushed aside for sake of an angle or a heel turn. That makes this feel all the more fake.

Don’t get it wrong, the match will probably rule, and Balor’s attacks and promos have been fantastic. It’s just not the long-term, cinematic masterpiece WWE would like you to believe.