3 Reasons why Bobby Lashley won the Intercontinental Championship on RAW

Today on Raw, Bobby Lashley regained the Intercontinental Championship after defeating Finn Balor. He won the title following some help from his hype man, Lio Rush, who had cost him the title at Elimination Chamber. Balor won the IC belt in a 2-on-1 handicap match by pinning Rush and lost it in the rematch against the Dominator. This seems like a curious decision, especially after Lashley was involved in a really long main event, the previous night at Fastlane.

This means that he will most likely head into WrestleMania as the Intercontinental Champion, throwing a spanner into possible plans for Balor and the title at the Show of Shows. Surely, this close to 'Mania season, WWE will have an explanation for booking such an unpopular title change on Raw. A blessing from this would be that Lashley does not have to be partnered with Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre any more. Whatever the ramifications of this title change are, WWE will surely have a plan.

Here are three reasons why Bobby Lashley won back the Intercontinental Championship on Raw.

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#3 Back from deviation

Lashley's focus was elsewhere.

Bobby Lashley teamed up with Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre in the winter of 2018, causing some of the lowest ratings in the history of Monday Night Raw. He then won the Intercontinental Championship in a pretty great triple threat match, against Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. That was a great move to re-establish Lashley and the heat that he had. The Dominator really showed how good he was in that scenario. The feud with Finn Balor continued to show Lashley's strengths.

From the three-week story between Elimination Chamber and Fastlane, you could tell that Lashley only dropped the belt to Balor because WWE wanted to reunite the three giants. It all worked out in the end as a reunited Shield stood tall over the evil stable. Now that the story is over, the IC title is back around Lashley's waist. If it weren't for a slight temporary deviation in plans for Lashley, then he probably would not have even lost the belt to the former Bullet Club leader.

#2 Reaffirming Lashley and Rush as a duo

Lio Rush is fully back as Lashley's manager.

Ever since Bobby Lashley turned heel five months ago, WWE has kept him pretty strong. Whether it was in that boring three-man team with Corbin and McIntyre or his first Intercontinental Championship victory, the Dominator usually had something to do. This is the perfect role for him. But the biggest part of his character has been his manager, Lio Rush. He has built Lashley up so well with his promo work, making him seem much more interesting than he originally would be.

However, their association seemed to reach an impasse when Lashley lost the Intercontinental title when Rush got pinned by Finn Balor in the handicap match at Elimination Chamber, with the big man attacking the 205 Live superstar as well. Rush looked to have taken a terribly brutal bump at the hands of Braun Strowman last week on Raw and even missed Fastlane, but he returned this week and helped the Dominator to recapture the IC title. This has reaffirmed the partnership between these two, with it set to continue for at least the near future.

#1 The Demon rises at 'Mania

Imagine the entrance

In principle, Finn Balor wheels out the face paint and brings out the Demon every once in a while, when things get difficult and he is forced to channel his inner aggression. This has happened a few times on the main roster and at almost every NXT Takeover event he was on. Balor has won every match as the Demon, bar one Steel Cage match against Samoa Joe in his final Takeover match. The Demon is basically Finn Balor's superior alter ego used to win matches and feuds that he has had trouble winning.

The Demon has beaten the likes of Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and Baron Corbin in previous years, with his latest appearance coming in a squash match against the latter at last year's SummerSlam. Now that Bobby Lashley pinned Balor to win back the Intercontinental Championship so close to WrestleMania, it is entirely possible that the Demon comes out at MetLife Stadium to vanquish the evil duo of Lashley and Lio Rush. This is possibly why WWE hasn't had Finn Balor pinning Lashley during this feud so far. It is all leading up to the Demon slaying the Dominator.