WWE Raw: Should Finn Balor Win The IC Title?

Finn Balor is in an interesting situation on WWE Raw, because even though he defeated AJ Styles in an excellent match at TLC, some are worried his momentum is slowing after a loss to Kane on the following episode of Raw. Could he be in line for a shot at the Intercontinental Championship?

Although he was the first-ever Universal Champion and the longest-reigning NXT Champion, Finn Balor hasn’t felt like a truly big star on WWE Raw. Though he has marquee wins over AJ Styles, Jinder Mahal, Bray Wyatt, Jason Jordan, and other superstars ever since returning from his injury at the Raw after WrestleMania, Balor’s character has been lacking direction. Despite this and his nightmare of a feud with Wyatt, Balor remains as over with the crowd as ever, and some are wondering if he could be in-line for a mid-card title.

At Survivor Series, the champions from Raw will square off against the champions from SmackDown, but there’s a bit of a booking conundrum here. Most of the champions on both brands are (surprise, surprise) heels, and this includes The Miz, who remains the Intercontinental Champion.

While it would be sad to see The Miz drop the title again because he’s so good and always makes the title feel more valuable, the WWE might be more interested in having a babyface vs. heel match at Survivor Series. Though we’ve seen Balor vs. Baron Corbin before, the WWE could be interested in strapping the title onto Balor as a way of appeasing the fans and finally giving one of their best babyfaces something to sink his teeth into.

When I asked fans on Twitter who they believe should take the title off of The Miz, the overwhelming majority selected Balor. Some fans chose the likes of Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, and Jason Jordan, and I could see a returning Joe being a great selection. Joe, after all, is done with the Universal Championship picture after losing to Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire, and he would have been inserted into the IC Title picture if it weren’t for a sudden injury at a live event.

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Personally, I’d prefer to see Joe as the next man to beat Miz, even if it would be weird to see him as a babyface. Balor gets excellent reactions and is arguably a top-five in-ring performer in the WWE today, but would an IC Title run jibe with his current motivations?

He has competed for an opportunity at the Intercontinental Championship in a multi-man match on Raw before, but “The Demon King” has always made it clear that his top goal is to reclaim the Universal Championship that he feels rightfully belongs to him.

The seeds for friction between Balor and The Miz were set some time ago, as Balor appeared on “Miz TV” at Payback. Nothing special transpired on that episode, but Balor did get some clever disses in and unsurprisingly stood tall.

If Balor and The Miz ever face off, the end result is pretty obvious. Either Balor would win the match outright, or The Miz would have to use every page in the book to take Balor out. Finn is the type of competitor who is booked to win almost all of his matches, and it usually takes an extraordinary effort to defeat him. His losses have been in multi-man matches, to Roman Reigns, or via three chokeslams from Kane.

I wouldn’t have any qualms with Balor winning a title on Raw, because, hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. But if we get that title change before Survivor Series, do we really want to see a random match between Corbin and Balor on the main roster?

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Corbin probably isn’t losing the United States Championship any time soon (no matter how much you love Sin Cara, mind you), because he beat AJ Styles two nights in a row to get it and took a lot of crap before winning that championship. And neither Corbin nor Balor can afford to take a loss, so that match can only end in some faction of the fan base being upset.

As such, I can’t see Balor winning the IC Title off of The Miz in the near future, but it does make sense for him to be listed as one of the three most likely people to do this.