From the WWE Rumor Mill: Locker room response to Kane defeating Finn Balor on Raw this week

What's the story?

On a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed a controversial booking decision that occurred on Monday Night Raw last night. Finn Balor came out to take on Kane, and took three chokeslams before taking the pin.

In case you didn't know...

Kane returned to the WWE on last week's edition of Monday Night Raw as the surprise fifth member of Miz's team against The Shield.

During the steel cage match between Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns, Kane came up through the ring floor and attacked Reigns, giving Strowman the victory.

The heart of the matter

Just one night after "The Demon" Finn Balor defeated AJ Styles at WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs, he lost to Kane, who hadn't wrestled a singles match in over a year. Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet reacted in a way that echoed many of those on social media after what happened:

I don’t understand the point of Finn beating AJ Styles at TLC only to lose the next night to Kane, who hasn’t wrestled a singles match in months. #RAW

— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) October 24, 2017

Meltzer checked with his backstage sources, who typically will defend Vince McMahon's decisions, and they were at a loss to explain Balor's loss to Kane.

Those sources mentioned that there is a backstage locker room full of talent that questioned why the WWE would book Balor in this way.

Satin would hypothesize with another tweet afterwards:

I’m wondering if it’s because they believe Finn’s character has to be “The Demon” to beat a bigger opponent. If so, that’s silly.

— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) October 24, 2017

It is very likely the WWE is heading towards a Braun Strowman vs. Kane match, and that is why they booked Balor to lose to Kane. It was to make the Big Red Monster look strong before eventually losing to Strowman and taking another hiatus to focus on his mayoral campaign.

What's next?

After SmackDown Live's invasion of Raw last night, it is truly up in the air on what is next for everyone involved in the WWE. It was a level of chaos we haven't seen in the company in quite some time.

Author's take

I was just as baffled as most of the world last night when Kane pinned Balor clean. There were several other people on the roster they could have fed to Kane to make him look strong ahead of a Strowman match.

With Balor rumoured to face Brock Lensar sometime between Survivor Series and WrestleMania, the momentum he had after defeating AJ Styles is gone and definitely weakens the excitement if he does face Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship.

I instantly thought the same thing as Satin, where Balor is very mortal and "The Demon" Balor wins the big matches. I really don't agree with that sentiment for the simple fact that if he only wins as The Demon, it makes any build-up with Finn out of his makeup meaningless.