7 Ups & 1 Down From WWE SmackDown (Sep 3)

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Finn Bálor Fights Back

Finn Balor Roman Reigns
WWE.com

The last quarter hour of SmackDown was sheer pro wrestling bliss.

Jimmy and Jey Uso, having been gently chastised by Roman Reigns earlier, ambushed Finn Bálor and smacked him around. Then, as Bálor sold his ribs on the canvas, the fanfare sounds of Roman's entrance started bellowing from the speakers. The main event was on, but it seemed destined to be one-sided.

Not quite. Finn was booked to roar back valiantly despite being less than 100%, and that gave him even more of an underdog edge. It's a huge compliment to these men that fans in Florida started to believe that maybe, just maybe, Bálor was going to pull off a huge upset on their patch; such suspension of disbelief seemed absurd pre-match.

The mini-tease from Reigns that Brock Lesnar might be roaming the hallways added to the threat too. It suddenly became less-impossible that Brock could cost Roman his belt for the fun of it. Though that didn't happen, the notion it might was enough.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling, check out 10 Wrestling Video Game Moments That Became Real and 16 Things You Probably Missed From WWE Raw (Aug 30)!

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Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.