4 Reasons why Finn Balor will defeat Brock Lesnar at the WWE Royal Rumble
Finn Balor had one hell of a Monday Night RAW.
It is not just the fact that he became number one contender for the WWE Universal Championship. It is not just the fact that he has a date with 'The Beast' Brock Lesnar, and destiny, at the 2019 Royal Rumble event. It is how he achieved that goal.
First, he publicly got into the Chairman, Vince McMahon's face, and refuted McMahon's claim that he was too small to succeed. He was placed in a number one contender fatal four-way match.
Next, he defeated former WWE Champion, Jinder Mahal, despite outside interference, to preserve his place in the number one contender match; the only participant who had to do so.
He followed that up with besting Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, and the 16-time world champion, John Cena, to officially become number one contender for the WWE Universal Championship.
As if that wasn't enough, John Cena, the man he pinned, endorsed him in front of the crowd and praised Balor's hard work and dedication.
That is the sort of booking reserved for main-event babyfaces. Finn Balor is now one, if only until the Royal Rumble.
But what if Finn Balor were to prevail over Brock Lesnar? What if he were to become WWE Universal Champion once again? On paper, this seems like a massive mismatch.
But it is possible.
Let us delve right into why Finn Balor will defeat Brock Lesnar to become a two-time WWE Universal Champion.
#1 The Babyface Replacement Rule
There are certain unwritten wrestling rules.
There is the rule of the hot-tag which states that when a babyface is finally tagged into the match after prolonged dominance by the heels, the babyface will go on an offensive flurry and clean house.
There is also the babyface replacement rule which states that if a babyface is pulled out of a match for any reason, their babyface replacement will win the match. The idea is to keep the crowd happy after a scheduled match has been changed. The most recent example of this rule in a WWE championship match took place at WWE SummerSlam 2017, wherein Sasha Banks, a replacement for the injured Bayley, defeated Alexa Bliss for the RAW Women's Championship. It was not planned for Bliss to lose the championship, and she won it back not more than 8 days later.
The original Universal championship match was to be Brock Lesnar versus Braun Strowman; something that the WWE has been building up until at least Crown Jewel. Finn Balor is a replacement for Braun Strowman. Following the babyface replacement rule, we can surmise that Finn Balor will defeat Brock Lesnar.