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HOUSTON — For all the extraordinary feats Finn Bálor is capable of, the strategy that won him his first Intercontinental Champion proved to be exactly what you thought it would be. Instead of pinning Bobby Lashley, the reigning champion, he pinned Lio Rush, The All Mighty’s fleet-footed hype man and an obvious target in a match where a victory over either opponent would earn Bálor the title. It wasn’t so much an ordinary idea as it was elementary, and Bálor executed it to near-perfection.
He also had to take a beating to get there. Rush’s pre-match descriptor of himself and Lashley as “sizzle and steak” proved to be right on the money: The Man of the Hour led Bálor on a merry chase into the waiting arms of The All Mighty, who pulverized the inaugural Universal Champion into a fine, Irish paste. It was looking like a rout in no uncertain terms; extraordinary though Bálor may be, there simply aren’t two of him.
Bálor, however, only needed one Lio Rush. The 24-Year-Old Piece of Gold, perhaps overzealous to prove himself against the Superstar who pinned him a couple weeks back, tagged himself in to Lashley’s chagrin and whiffed on his astonishing Final Hour splash, giving Finn a new lease on life and an opponent over whom he held a proven one-on-one advantage. He maintained that advantage, too, barreling through Rush with the dropkick-Coup de Grâce one-two punch and taking the title, leaving The All Mighty so infuriated he flattened Lio and stormed out of the ring in response. Win his first title in almost three years and maybe break up a profitable partnership in the span of a single night? There really isn’t anything Finn Bálor can’t do.