Raw’s heels suck, that’s why.
Finn Balor and Bobby Lashley are two superstars who should be involved in more exciting stories than what they’ve been given lately.
Many fans groaned when Baron Corbin abused his authority as acting general manager to humiliate Balor and pin him for the 1-2-3 this week (Aug. 27) on Raw. Their feud has already spanned two pay-per-views (PPV) and multiple matches on Raw. It looked like Balor put an end to it at SummerSlam when The Demon squashed Corbin in roughly 90 seconds. But now that Corbin defeated Balor yet again, it appears this feud isn’t over. Is WWE actually going to stretch it to three consecutive PPVs by booking a rematch at Hell in a Cell on September 16?
Elsewhere on Raw, Bobby Lashley was booked in a handicap match against The Ascension, and of course he beat them without much stress. Creative had nothing for Lashley at SummerSlam, not even a cameo in the Elias segment, and this handicap match victory on Raw didn’t set a clear direction going forward for Bobby.
Surely there must be a better way to utilize Lashley and Balor each week. So I skimmed over a list of singles male heels on Raw who are given regular television time, and it became apparent why Balor and Lashley are stuck in limbo right now. Here’s the list:
- Braun Strowman
- Drew McIntyre
- Dolph Ziggler
- Kevin Owens
- Baron Corbin
- Elias
- Jinder Mahal
- Mojo Rawley
The top three stars on the list are mixed up with The Shield right now. Finn Balor does have some recent ties to Braun Strowman and it’s possible that WWE will pair them up as foes once Strowman moves on from The Shield. But for now, the Strowman option is off the board, along with Ziggler and McIntyre.
Kevin Owens just quit Raw, so he isn’t available for a story with Balor or Lashley.
That leaves Corbin, Elias, Mahal, and Rawley.
Mojo Rawley was dealing with low card guys like No Way Jose and Tyler Breeze before being pinned twice by Bobby Roode. Mojo and Roode have such a hot feud going on that neither guy has been featured on the last two episodes of Raw.
Jinder Mahal is busy relaxing backstage most of the time with his breathing exercises. Do you remember when WWE tried to pretend that Jinder Mahal was a credible PPV opponent for Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank? That sure feels like a long time ago.
Elias is a unique act in that he gets tons on noise from the crowd but doesn’t wrestle all that much. He was recently mixing it up with Lashley prior to SummerSlam but it didn’t really go anywhere. Elias feels like a case where there is much more to tap into but WWE hasn’t figured out how to do it yet.
This sad list of names shows that Baron Corbin is actually the best positioned heel on Raw once Strowman, Ziggler, and McIntyre are removed from the equation. I’m definitely not enthused about seeing more matches between Balor and Corbin, but it’s probably better for Balor to be dealing with Corbin instead of Mahal, Rawley, or Elias.
Things are so bleak with the bottom names on the list that WWE has opted to feed Lashley some heels from the tag team division. Maybe this will be an ongoing thing where Corbin throws more heel teams at Lashley each week until someone like the Authors of Pain finally prevail. I don’t really know, but it feels to me like Bobby Lashley is already the third best tag team on Raw, so why not?
Even with Braun Strowman’s heel turn this week, the heel side on Raw just doesn’t measure up to the babyface depth. The result is that Finn Balor and Bobby Lashley are both stuck in limbo.
How do you think WWE should deal with this problem, Cagesiders?