There were a number of notable names missing from the Extreme Rules fallout edition of Raw last night (June 5).
The Hardys were apparently away because Matt’s wife Reby is close to giving birth to their second child. Bayley’s absence was explained away as being a result of her brutal, one-sided loss to Alexa Bliss on Sunday. But other than being name dropped by Bray Wyatt and Paul Heyman, first-ever Universal champ Finn Bálor just... wasn’t there.
Now, Finn took a lot of offense in the Fatal 5Way which closed the last pay-per-view (PPV), including getting choked out by eventual winner and new #1 contender Samoa Joe. That provides some cover, although the fact it wasn’t even mentioned does lend credence to the idea - put forth by Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer - that creative just doesn’t have anything for Bálor right now.
We do at least know the Irishman was in attendance, and ran in after the WWE cameras stopped rolling for a fun dark match spot, helping Seth Rollins fight off Bray & Joe before trying to teach the Kingslayer how to do his iconic pose:
After #Raw went off air. Seth/Finn/Bray/Joe pic.twitter.com/VBadhZM7oM
— isr.aa (@Raallins) June 6, 2017
@FinnBalor thanks for showing @WWERollins how it's done. After #Raw pic.twitter.com/HHOeBteMj7
— YumiSplash (@YumiSplash) June 6, 2017
As long as he can pop a crowd, there’ll be a place for Bálor. But, especially in the short term, it’s worth wondering what they’ll do with him.
After WrestleMania and the Superstar Shake-up, it seemed he was headed for a program with Wyatt. That’s still a possibility, although it looks like they’re making moves toward a Rollins/Bray feud.
Roman Reigns is free, and they’ve shown they can have great matches, but I’m not sure a longer story helps either guy. Maybe in conjunction with the persistent whispers of putting Finn back with his old Bullet Club mates Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, but WWE’s given no indication that’s in the cards.
Let us know what you think the future holds for the Demon. And in the meantime, enjoy the dark match footage!