From the WWE Rumour Mill: WWE having second thoughts on Brock Lesnar's Royal Rumble plans
What's the story?
Earlier this month we reported that the WWE had a dream match lined up for next year's Royal Rumble between 'The Beast Incarnate' Brock Lesnar and 'The Demon' Finn Balor.
However new reports from Cageside Seats suggest this may no longer be on the cards.
In case you didn't know...
Finn Balor has had an inconsistent booking of late. He came out of TLC with a victory over AJ Styles in a great match, only to then get squashed in the middle of the ring by a returning Kane the following Monday Night Raw, in a decision that has confused many of the WWE Universe.
The heart of the matter
The Cageside Seats 'rumour roundup' suggested that Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar might be heading in separate directions at the Royal Rumble rather than towards each other,
There's some speculation that WWE may have soured on the idea of doing Brock Lesnar vs. Finn Balor, which could explain the latter's booking recently.
Having Kane squash Balor with three Chokeslams certainly doesn't scream that the WWE is building someone to look strong so that they can go against Lesnar, so there could be some validity to this speculation.
What's next?
Whilst it's unclear what Finn Balor or Brock Lesnar will be doing at the Royal Rumble, we do know that Lesnar's next opponent will be WWE Champion Jinder Mahal at Survivor Series in a champion vs champion match.
As for Balor, it's likely he'll be involved in Team Raw one way or another, or maybe he'll continue his feud with Bray Wyatt if the latter is cleared to return before Survivor Series.
Author's take
In my opinion, a match between Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar needs to happen, and to not do so whilst Lesnar is still with the company would be a nothing short of a crime, 'The Demon' vs 'The Beast' books itself.