7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 22)

5. Reeling Fans In

Finn Balor
WWE.com

When the opening bell rang in the Dolph Ziggler/Finn Balor match, you got this ominous feeling that it was going to play out entirely in silence.

There was no real buildup to the match. Ziggler had been in a heatless rivalry with Theory, and Balor and The Judgment Day have been entrenched in a war with the Mysterios for two months. So there was no real reason to get excited about this match.

And yet, they managed to pull fans in that by the end, they were reacting for near-falls and doing the “boo/yay” deal on a punch exchange. When Rhea Ripley got involved, fans were pissed, and then Balor grabbed the victory to their chagrin.

It wasn’t a classic, and it’ll be forgotten in a week, but let’s give a bit of credit to two pros pulling disinterested fans into the match.

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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.