Photo by WWE’s Twitter
The Jan. 28 edition of WWE Raw was an overall successful follow-up to Sunday night’s tremendous Royal Rumble pay-per-view with the focus being shifted towards future developments.
The post-Royal Rumble edition of WWE Raw wasted little time focusing on the road to WrestleMania and who men’s Royal Rumble match winner Seth Rollins would challenge at WrestleMania 35, along with The Man’s choice.
While some superstars are carving out a direction towards the granddaddy of them all, others are not so certain as of yet with Elimination Chamber looming in three weeks. With that being said, let’s take a look at five key takeaways from the Jan. 28 edition of WWE Raw.
5. Finn Balor Could Make A Great Intercontinental Champion
It was starting to feel like the WWE would never give Finn Balor a fair shot at success again after so little direction over the past couple of years. Thankfully, however, Balor got a major chance to shine this past Sunday night and despite losing, he shined as brightly as he has in a long time.
Balor got a shot at Brock Lesnar and the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble and despite coming up short, he pushed Lesnar to his absolute limit and had The Beast Incarnate on the ropes for a while. Balor addressed that match last night when he came out not to make excuses, but to own up to the loss.
He said Lesnar beat him and beat him again after the match because he made the Universal Champion believe in Balor. However, the disgruntled Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush interrupted Balor and decided to take their frustrations from a poor Royal Rumble match performance out on Balor. Rush said it’s a disgrace that Balor got a Universal Championship match in the first place and the beating he took at the hands of Lesnar is nothing compared to what Lashley could do.
Tempers flared and Balor said the wrong thing at the wrong time, leading to Lashley pummeling him. The already injured Balor would get laid out by Lashley in the middle of the ring, but the bigger picture might be what this interaction could do for Balor. It’s definitely possible to think he could be in line for an Intercontinental Championship match with Lashley. Most would agree that Balor could be a great Intercontinental Champion if given the opportunity.
One championship has eluded him, but after last night, another could be in the cards moving forward for the leader of the Balor Club.