WWE: The next moves with Finn Balor, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows
The WWE has an opportunity to build three big stars in 2018 with Finn Balor, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
On Monday the WWE gave the wrestling community a treat that’s been a few years in the making. Finn Balor was paired with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in what was a moment that meant much more than the throwaway six-man tag victory. Looking forward, it will be interesting to see how the WWE uses this pairing in what should be anything but a one-off pairing. This is an opportunity for the WWE to correct the recent booking issues with three of the more incorrectly-utilized talents on the roster.
While the live crowd may have erupted when Anderson and Gallows stepped into the frame with Balor, the internet community let off an even louder cheer. Everyone is well aware of the history that these three men have together as a part of the Bullet Club. The faction grew to prominence in New Japan Pro and other organizations such as Ring of Honor. Harkening back to the days of the New World Order, getting involved with great angles and putting on some great matches helped the Bullet Club become one of the most popular groups in wrestling today.
The options are numerous when booking a faction that involves Balor, Anderson and Gallows. With the Shield being one of the main attractions on Raw, creating a heel faction to oppose them would immediately vault all three to main event status.
Balor already has history with both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins; setting the stage for a potential angle. It was Rollins that injured Balor during their SummerSlam match, forcing him to vacate the Universal Title the day after he won the strap. WWE Creative could use that angle as the kindling point for a full all feud between the two factions. Balor is already putting hints out on social media that he’s making a push toward the WWE Universal title and if that belt ends up on Reigns after WrestleMania, Balor would be a fitting first opponent.
While the WWE is looking to keep the two brands separate, imagine a heel faction “invading” SmackDown to take on another former Bullet Club member in Styles. This is yet another storyline that has immediate intrigue citing the history of the Bullet Club and the last minute match between Styles and Balor at TLC this year. The two wrestlers showed respect to each other at the end of the match, and they’ve hinted at their history in segments during Pay Per Views in 2016. WWE Creative could use that history to set the stage for a larger angle, again including a heel faction led by Balor against a babyface Styles.
When looking across the WWE Universe, there seems to be a slow push toward the return of powerful factions. Absolution and The Riott Squad are running around on Raw and SmackDown, respectively. The Undisputed Era and Sanity are main event draws in NXT. The Shield and New Day are two of the more popular groups in the promotion today. Adding a long-term Balor Club faction with Anderson, Balor and Gallows is the right direction to take and it’s the right time for such a move.
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Booking within the WWE is a mystery to those standing on the outside. With no lead in, wrestling fans got a surprise to see Anderson and Gallows support Balor. After whetting the palate of fans WWE creative needs to find a way to keep this unit together and put them in a compelling storyline to build them into the stars the wrestling community knows they are.