As seen on this week’s episode of Raw, former WWF Champion Kane defeated former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor in a dominating fashion after delivering three devastating Chokeslams.
Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer discussed this booking decision and below is what he had to say:
“I thought that the Kane – Finn Bálor thing was short-sighted, almost unbelievable. You had a whole roster full of people and you do that. I mean I’ve asked around and even the people who always defend Vince have been like – there’s no explanation, there’s no defense.
I have no idea why they bothered to have him beat AJ Styles. What’s the point of that now? AJ Styles is being groomed for Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship. So he really shouldn’t lose. But if Finn Balor is getting a shot at Brock Lesnar, then you can say okay to him beating AJ. So you can justify it. But if Finn Balor’s getting a shot at Brock Lesnar, what was he doing getting squashed by Kane?
It was one thing if it was back and forth and it was like a close match. It wasn’t even that. It was a destruction by the big guy. If anything, you have to prove right now that Finn can beat the big guy if he’s gonna be in the ring with Lesnar. I don’t see how you can possibly justify Finn Balor against Brock Lesnar. I think that they have just thrown that away. Because no one really was gonna buy that match anyway. I mean it was already like a struggle, but you’ve killed any chance.
There’s no answer to this. If Finn Balor was gonna get squashed by Kane, then he sure as hell shouldn’t have beaten AJ Styles. They could have put 30 different guys. They could put Matt Hardy in that spot. They could have put Jason Jordan in that spot. They could have put Luke Gallows in that spot.
There’s a whole roster full of people they could have put in that spot with Kane, if they wanted Kane to squash somebody. Finn Balor was the only guy on the entire roster even more than Rollins… I mean you could beat Rollins, you could beat Ambrose.
What’s the point of giving him any momentum if you’re gonna kill it the next day and what’s the point of taking anything away from AJ. I know they tried to give it back tonight, but why did you have to take anything away from AJ to give back when you’re not going to do anything with a guy who beat him.
I mean it’s just ridiculous. It makes no sense whatsoever. Even if you’re going with the justification that it was a tough match, but they didn’t even book it as a tough match.
I know the idea is is that you got to get Kane over right now, but like I said he could squash 30 different guys. That’s the only guy on the roster realistically, except for Roman Reigns, that he shouldn’t have squashed or shouldn’t have been beaten.
I know they’re getting him ready for Braun Strowman and he did have to win, but as soon as I saw Finn Balor come out, I was just like – I can’t believe they’re doing this because it’s like why did they even bother with that match the night before. If he started out as a 5 and beating AJ made him 8, now he is a 2.”
For those who don’t know, current plan is for Brock Lesnar to defend the WWE Universal Title against Finn Balor at Royal Rumble 2018 PPV next year.
