Profiling Finn Balor’s Meteoric Rise in WWE Raw Debut

The first post-Brand Extension episode of WWE Raw showed off the debut of Finn Balor, and his subsequent massive push.

Finn Balor walked into the July 25 episode of WWE Raw as the new guy. However, he was the one who had all the hype and momentum on his side. Fans wanted to see what Balor would do, when he would show up, and if WWE would treat him like the star he was in NXT.

We saw the impact of the former NXT Champion from the get-go, as when Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon called his name in the opening segment, it felt like a big reveal. No one knew where Balor was, and when the path cleared, the fans went wild for him. Even the announcement of his name felt like a big deal.

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From there, Balor shocked the WWE fans by winning the fatal 4-way vs. Rusev, Kevin Owens, and Cesaro. This got him one step closer to the SummerSlam match with Seth Rollins for the new WWE Universal Championship. It seemed kind of crazy that Finn had a 50-50 chance of getting to this contest, especially after Roman Reigns lost the Battleground main event and won his own fatal 4-way.

So we stepped into the final 20 minutes of Raw with Balor and Reigns going head to head. A stereotypical WWE storyline played out, as the big guy in Roman used his size and power on the smaller Demon. It seemed that there would be no chance of the latter going over, until he worked a comeback, hit Coup de Grace and won the match. Finn will face Rollins at SummerSlam.

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It’s kind of amazing how in just one night, WWE turned Balor into a main event star. Yes, he was already one in NXT, but as seen by past incidents, there has never been a concrete correlation between the Florida-based brand’s headliners and the main roster’s. The only call-up that had a full-time run in Full Sail University that earned main event status is Rollins (Reigns wasn’t around much). Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens could be thrown into the discussion, but they have never been in the feature match of a WWE pay-per-view, yet.

Calling the former NJPW star a headliner after one episode of Raw may be early. After what was seen on Monday, though, how can it be argued?

In just one night, Finn Balor took out the WWE United States Champion (Rusev), a future Hall of Famer (Chris Jericho), and arguably WWE’s best wrestler (Cesaro). What really made him was defeating Roman Reigns, the guy who has headlined back to back WrestleMania events. The former Shield man also just defeated Triple H, a top executive and future Hall of Famer, for the WWE Championship in the main event of the second Show of Shows that he competed in. Throw in how Reigns was pushed to be the “next John Cena” for the past two years, and it only boosts the one-night resume of the Irishman.

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Then, there’s that match on August 21, which is kind of a big deal against the man who became the only WWE star to cash in Money in the Bank during a WrestleMania main event. It’s also the guy who is the company’s top heel, and may actually be “The Guy”, as of July 26.

What can’t be forgotten is that Balor is going for a fresh title in the Universal Championship. He could become the face of that new title, only adding to a mounting main roster profile.

Even if the former Prince Devitt doesn’t win the belt at SummerSlam, he’s getting the chance to put on a wrestling clinic with Rollins. That has all the potential to be a Match of the Year candidate, and will definitely receive the proper time for this to happen.

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So Finn Balor’s rise in WWE only came after one night on the main roster. It may be a hot take, but he may already be a main event talent for the company.