Unpopular Opinion: Finn Balor only got his Royal Rumble title shot because of AEW
Finn Balor is an exceptional wrestling talent who more than proved himself in New Japan Pro Wrestling and NXT before making his main roster debut for WWE. Indeed, upon that debut, he further confirmed his talent with a huge initial run that included beating Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in very good matches to be crowned the original Universal Champion.
Balor, of course, got hurt in that title-winning match and missed nearly a year of action. Since his return, he has never quite recaptured the magic from his start on the main roster. That’s not to say that Balor’s level of performance took a serious hit, but rather that his opportunities to shine have been few and far between, as he has felt mostly stuck in the mid-card shuffle.
This past Monday’s Raw featured the biggest show of confidence in Balor that WWE has demonstrated since his original Universal Championship win. Balor stood up to Vince McMahon in a worked shoot promo that directly addressed him being held back as a smaller talent.
From there, he beat Jinder Mahal cleanly to win his way into a Fatal Four-way main event, and pinned none other than John Cena to earn a Royal Rumble title shot against Brock Lesnar.
The question looms - why now? Was this a matter of WWE always meaning to come back around to Balor in a main event spot? Or was he simply the best option available for the context, given Braun Strowman’s medical status remains unclear, besides which it’s questionable booking to have him lose to Brock Lesnar again at this point?
Another possibility: this was an offering to Balor to shore up his WWE loyalties.
The brain trust behind All Elite Wrestling got WWE’s attention when it sold out a major arena for All In. From there, AEW made even bigger waves with the reveal that they were backed by a billionaire, and in announcing an initial set of signings that included Chris Jericho and the former Neville.
Rumor has it that AEW was eyeing under utilized WWE talents who might recognize better opportunities for themselves under the direction of Cody Rhodes and company. Finn Balor would be a prime candidate for that kind of signing given his size, style, and the degree to which WWE seems to have taken him for granted for the last year and a half.
In particular, given Jericho’s claims that AEW gave him the best financial deal of his career, it’s reasonable to think they might have covered Balor from a dollar amount perspective, too.
Showcasing Balor, and particularly giving him a world title shot at a big four PPV seems like WWE is positioning itself so that Balor can trust in them to do right by his talents in the long run. While Balor remains a serious underdog going into the Rumble, it may well signal that WWE will take him more seriously if he will pledge his loyalty.