WWE Rumors: Original plans for Finn Balor at Smackville revealed
What's the story?
According to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, WWE officials wanted Shinsuke Nakamura to attack Finn Balor backstage at Smackville after finding out that the Irishman would be unable to compete. However, he had already left the arena and there was no time to film the segment.
In case you didn't know…
WWE aired a one-hour special event, Smackville, on the WWE Network on Saturday, July 27.
The main event saw Kofi Kingston defend his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler and Samoa Joe, while it was also advertised that Finn Balor would challenge Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship.
Shortly before the show began, WWE announced that the former Universal Champion had been removed from the event due to an “undisclosed injury”, which was later reported to be a stomach bug.
Ali stepped in as a replacement, losing to Nakamura following a Kinshasa, and Balor posted a picture from his hospital bed with a “SummerSlam” caption.
The heart of the matter
Writing on Fightful Select, Sean Ross Sapp reported that WWE wanted to give a storyline explanation for Finn Balor’s absence by having Shinsuke Nakamura attack him prior to Smackville.
But, as Balor had already left, they decided to send out a tweet describing his injury as “undisclosed”.
"We're told that WWE officials realized that Balor left when they decided that they were going to film a segment where Shinsuke Nakamura took him out. We're told that Balor didn't know of the plans, and there wasn't any malice on his part."
What's next?
WWE announced shortly before Smackville that Finn Balor vs. Dolph Ziggler is scheduled for the July 30 episode of SmackDown Live. As of the time of writing, it is unclear if the match will take place, but it is safe to assume that Balor will return to in-ring action in time to face Bray Wyatt at SummerSlam on August 11.