WWE RAW not getting its payoff with Roman Reigns, Finn Balor wins from No Mercy

The RAW after No Mercy was underwhelming for the pay per view’s two big winners. It seems Roman Reigns and Finn Balor got nothing for their victories.

Roman Reigns and John Cena had a “WrestleMania main event-worthy” match at No Mercy. And it truly was. The buildup was perfect with the two trading barbs about who ran the company and would carry its legacy. Reigns took shots at Cena’s part-time status and Cena made an all-too-real call for Reigns to step up and do his job.

The match’s execution was solid. Certainly main event-worthy of two top guys in WWE. Cena hit four Attitude Adjustments and Reigns got his physical style in. And in a quick moment, Reigns went over Cena. And, as stated on RAW Talk afterward, Cena sold it as a true passing of the torch moment.

It was a big moment and a big match. The kind of match that catapults the winner to one logical place. . .

The Intercontinental Championship, obviously.

Because when two titans of the sport meet and fight each other in a feud with this much venom and this much power and this much build, the most logical next destination is the mid-card title belt.

And that was the problem with RAW in the wake of No Mercy. Once again, it seems like momentum for several key winners stopped on a dime. The next logical step in the growth and development of these characters is to build them up after big wins.

No win could be bigger than defeating “Big Match John.” Yet, Reigns is seemingly not getting his push to the title — whether the crowd likes him or not.

As The Miz tried to sell his Intercontinental Championship as the top title on RAW  during the MizTV segment (where was Brock Lesnar?), Reigns said he was going after bigger fish in Lesnar.

That made complete sense. Even challenging Miz to a fight because the Miz is an annoying heel and deserves to have his face bashed in by the babyface hero. But RAW‘s booking Reigns as the clear next challenger to the mid-tier belt? That seems like a waste.

In all likelihood, WWE’s business interests cut in. Rumor has it ticket sales for TLC are struggling and a SHIELD reunion match would get people interested. It appears Reigns’ short program — that will include an Intercontinental Championship match between The Miz and Roman Reigns next week on Raw — is being done to set this major reunion up. The Miz-tourage hinted at it by doing the SHIELD fist pose over Reigns after they beat him up on Monday.

It is certainly too soon to book that Reigns-Lesnar feud. The two men who have defeated the Undertaker at WrestleMania seem destined for New Orleans in April.

So, maybe there are non-story reasons for booking Reigns this way. WWE is a business after all — and attendance at some recent events has not been great.

But the problem with keeping winners building momentum and looking strong remains a problem elsewhere.

Take Finn Balor’s saga with Bray Wyatt. The Demon King’s win over the Eater of Worlds at SummerSlam had the whiff of finality, but RAW opted to have it go one more month. Give Bray a rematch to prove “Finn the Man” could beat “Bray the god.”

Story-wise, it made enough sense. And both performed great. Give them another match.

Bray Wyatt attacked Balor before the bell, injuring him, and called Balor out as WWE referees and medical ushered him to the locker room. Of course, Balor came back and then won the match. Feud over. Balor, the man and the demon, defeated Wyatt.

Time to move on to bigger and better things. Balor thought so too. In a promo Monday night on RAW, Balor staked his claim to his next prize — the title he never lost, the Universal Championship.

It, again, seemed like the next logical place — if Wyatt is a big enough win.

His match with Goldust seemed like a decent enough distraction — typical heel misunderstanding or picking a fight with the face. But Balor, of course, won and seemed set to move on to his next feud — maybe the Miz made sense for the Intercontinental Title.

Then the lights cut out, “The Whole World In His Hands” played and it seemed like Wyatt and Balor are about to go at it again.

Where is the growth for both these characters? What verbal gymnastics would Wyatt go through to justify Balor giving him another match after Balor defeated him twice — as both his alter egos? Unless Wyatt has another evolution in his character, it seems like a retread. And Balor not getting the reward for winning what seemed like a major feud.

That chance at the Universal Title he has been owed since he returned after WrestleMania will go unanswered again.

It seems like there is a simple answer to this problem. Several, actually, that would give both Reigns and Balor the growth as characters they need and give each the reward for their big victories.

They could easily face each other in a short or extended program to face off with Lesnar for the Universal Title. The two have split a pair of matches before. That match would have the cache to build both characters forward, propelling them even further into the title picture.

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Fantasy booking aside, it seems both Roman Reigns and Finn Balor did not reap the benefit of their big wins Sunday at No Mercy. Instead, they are getting sent back through the ringer and rehashing old stories or minimizing the victories they just earned Sunday night.

This storytelling just is not rewarding for the viewer. It cheapens the victories these performers had. And it was simply a letdown following two great matches.

Big matches like the one Reigns and Balor just had should come with a push. Why else would they win these otherwise?

Instead, the RAW after No Mercy led to a letdown. And a storyline that seems to ignore the gravity of these victories.