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Finn Balor makes the most sense to become the 2021 King of the Ring.Credit: WWE.com
As WWE’s King of the Ring and Queen’s Crown tournaments get underway, so do the predictions for who fans see winning in each instance. A lot of talent is set to participate in the men’s bracket, but no name makes more sense to capture the crown than Finn Balor.
The inaugural Universal champion is coming off a controversial loss to Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules and needs a notable victory to get him back on track. He’s already advanced to the semifinals following his win on SmackDown and all signs point to him being the one to ultimately emerge victorious.
Between being drafted to Raw and his strong showing on Friday night, Balor is riding a wave of momentum right now much like AEW’s Bobby Fish.
In less than two months, the multi-time tag team champ went from getting released by WWE to debuting on Dynamite and signing a full-time deal with them soon after. He’s continuing to kill it even as he enters the twilight of his career and the best may be yet to come from him.
This week’s Quick Takes will tackle why Balor is the best choice to win King of the Ring and Fish joining the AEW ranks. The brand-new TBS Championship, WWE’s lack of focus on the women’s division, and the Draft selections of Gable Steveson and Ridge Holland will also be analyzed.
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Finn Balor had everything going for him heading into Extreme Rules last month. He had just returned to SmackDown and was immediately slotted in the main event scene by challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship in the main event of a pay-per-view.
The outcome of their clash was never in doubt, but the problem was how WWE booked Balor in defeat. The Demon was nearly ruined with the way he was handled in that match and him losing due to a faulty top rope didn’t help matters.
It remains to be seen if he’ll be able to find his footing coming out of the 2021 WWE Draft, but kicking off his Raw run with a win in the King of the Ring tournament could be his best bet.
Looking at everyone else involved in this year’s tourney, no one makes as much sense as Balor to win the whole thing. Xavier Woods would be a pleasantly surprising choice given how long he has wanted to hold the crown and Ricochet could benefit from it as well, but Balor needs to rebound from his loss to Reigns and this would accomplish that.
More importantly, WWE has had a heel win King of the Ring every time for the past two decades. Balor capturing the crown would (hopefully) prevent WWE from giving him the same tired tropes as every other king and put him in a position to thrive on Monday nights.
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Arguably the biggest shock of the 2021 WWE Draft saw Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson get drafted to Monday Night Raw despite only signing with the promotion with no previous pro wrestling experience last month. Ridge Holland getting selected by SmackDown in that same round isn’t too far behind.
It’s safe to assume that the announcements of them being drafted came in the final round of Night 2 of the Draft because WWE wanted to get fans talking. Their moves to the main roster can work out just fine provided that the company doesn’t rush their development.
Steveson having any sort of regular role on Raw in the next several months would be a mistake. It’s understandable that WWE would want to capitalize his gold medal win in the Olympics just a few short months ago, but putting him on television while he’s still in school and fulfilling his NCAA obligations before he’s had an extensive amount of training would be premature.
Per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Paul Davis of WrestlingNews.co), there are plans for Steveson to be featured on WWE TV through the spring until he can make his in-ring debut at WrestleMania. That would be the perfect place for his talents to be showcased, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of his slow and steady progression.
As for Holland, it can be argued that he should have had a longer stay in NXT before being called up. He has the potential to be a big star but needs more seasoning before he can pushed at a major level on the blue brand.
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It’s been months in the making, but AEW finally made its secondary women’s title official this past week on Dynamite. It’ll be called the AEW TBS Championship and the inaugural champion will likely be crowned in time for Dynamite’s move to TBS at the onset of 2022.
Another women’s title will be an excellent opportunity for them and should lead to the women getting more television time. In order for the championship to be considered a success, AEW will need to continue creating more secondary storylines outside of the main AEW Women’s World Championship picture.
The biggest knock against the division for the longest time among fans was not the lack of talent or depth but rather that there weren’t many angles for the women. The champion would almost always be involved in something in note, but the rest of the division would sporadically appear and be given a minimal amount of time for their matches.
Thankfully, that’s an issue that AEW has taken steps in attempting to fix lately. Beyond Baker’s regular defenses of her title, Thunder Rosa has entered a rivalry with Jade Cargill, Anna Jay and Tay Conti have had issues with The Bunny and Penelope Ford, and Hikaru Shida and Serena Deeb may be feuding soon as well.
AEW has a big enough roster to make a secondary women’s title work. It’s more a matter of giving them more time for their matches as well as creative attention and direction to get and keep fans invested.
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While AEW at least seems to be making gradual progress with its women’s division, WWE has undoubtedly taken a step back as far as the presentation and booking of its own women’s divisions are concerned.
That isn’t to say WWE has done the women a total disservice. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks had an excellent match in the main event of WrestleMania 37 this year, not to mention that most segments and feuds involving The Four Horsewomen tend to get a lot of time and are well received.
Unfortunately, that’s the exact issue with women’s wrestling in WWE at the moment. Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Becky Lynch have all been presented as total stars, but beyond Belair and possibly Rhea Ripley, no other female on Raw or SmackDown feels remotely special.
Worse yet, a majority of their matches have been shortchanged for time in recent months on Raw and SmackDown. That was especially evident during Friday’s show with the Queen’s Crown tournament quarterfinal matches.
Toni Storm vs. Zelina lasted less than two minutes and ended abruptly with Vega winning. Meanwhile, Carmella vs. Liv Morgan was once again cut short and saw Carmella go over for some strange reason.
The two King of the Ring tournament matches were far superior and the booking is to blame for that. There is no excuse for WWE reverting back to the days of the Divas and giving them the shortest segments on the show, in addition to completely clearing out the tag team division and rendering it obsolete.
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Of all the releases WWE has made between 2020 and 2021, Bobby Fish’s departure from NXT wasn’t among the most shocking. Between nearing 45-years-old and being so injury prone in recent years, he clearly didn’t fit into the company’s new vision for what they wanted NXT to become and thus the decision was made to let him go.
That isn’t to say he couldn’t have been an asset to them in another capacity, though. Their loss was bound to be another company’s gain eventually, but AEW wasn’t expected to be his ultimate landing spot by many fans and especially not this soon.
Fish recently resurfaced in MLW and wasted no time in making his way over to AEW as well. He challenged Sammy Guevara for the AEW TNT Championship this past Wednesday night in his Dynamite debut and made such a strong first impression that he was officially declared “all elite” by the end of the evening.
The multi-time NXT Tag Team champion brings an excellent veteran presence to the roster and the rest of the roster will benefit simply from working with him. AEW was wise to capitalize off the buzz he has at the moment by announcing he’ll be facing Bryan Danielson next Saturday night on Dynamite.
Despite not being a necessary signing for AEW—and it’s entirely possible he gets lost in the shuffle—Fish brings a lot of value and experience to the company that can be useful in helping create new stars. He can also be perfect for the tag team division with the right partners, or even be a fun foil for former partner Adam Cole when the time calls for it.
Graham Mirmina, aka Graham “GSM” Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.
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