WWE Rumors: The Superstar who was originally set to take Roman Reigns' place revealed
What's the story?
Finn Balor may be the current Intercontinental Champion but things would have been drastically different had he not gotten injured during his title-winning effort at SummerSlam 2016.
As revealed by Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Finn Balor was set to get a massive push as the Universal Champion which could have partly rivalled the booking of Roman Reigns.
In case you didn't know...
Balor became the inaugural WWE Universal Champion when he beat Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2016. However, he was forced to relinquish the title on the very next episode of Raw owing to a shoulder injury suffered on a previous night.
Ever since the forgettable incident, The Demon King's career has seen more downs than ups until recently, when he defeated Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush to win his first title in over two years.
As for Reigns, The Big Dog's untimely hiatus forced WWE to rewrite many plans that were set in stone for the then Universal Champion. The sudden absence of WWE's poster boy naturally left the company scampering for an apt replacement who could have taken Reigns' place atop the card.
No one, not even the talents backstage, expected Reigns to open up about his battles with Leukemia on the Raw episode of October 22nd, which subsequently forced the polarising star to relinquish the WWE Universal Championship.
Brock Lesnar eventually won the vacant title and as things stand, will defend the title against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35. However, it could have been much different...
The heart of the matter
The WWE management was said to be quite high on the Demon King during the summer of 2016 and had chalked out plans to push the former Bullet Club leader to the very top of the card. Meltzer stated that while he may not have surpassed Reigns, he would have certainly been on the same level.
Meltzer said, "They were way, way behind him at that time and it just never got back to that situation again but absolutely, yes. They were planning on making him; he wasn’t going to surpass Roman Reigns, but I think they wanted him to be close to that level.”
If you remember correctly, Balor had defeated Reigns to book a spot in the Universal title match against Rollins on his first night on Raw.
It's unfortunate how an injury can spoil engaging booking decisions and most importantly, a promising career. For what it's worth, Balor could have been the one to reap the benefits of Reigns' loss instead of Lesnar or Rollins at this moment.
What's next?
Balor is currently in a rebuilding phase and is expected to head into WrestleMania with a title, which is a good thing considering his underwhelming recent past. WWE is slowly yet steadily getting behind the popular Irish star and that's a promising sign.
We wouldn't be surprised to see Balor and Rollins feud for the Universal strap after Mania, that is if the Architect manages to slay the Beast Incarnate at the Show of Shows on April 7th, 2019.