In a well-timed swerve, the WWE Universal Championship match will now be contested between Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor. That’s right, the first-ever Universal Champion is getting a rematch at the Royal Rumble! Now this is not his first rematch for the red brand’s top title as Roman Reigns gave him one the night after Summer Slam, but this one might have higher stakes. Fan attitudes toward Brock Lesnar’s two Universal Championship reigns have been largely negative. Lesnar’s first title run lasted 504 days and he rarely made appearances on Raw with the belt and only defended it a handful of times. At Summer Slam 2018, Reigns was able to put the pieces together to become the new Universal Champion, but was forced to relinquish the title in late October in order to fight his returning leukemia. While we are sending him all the best wishes in his cancer battle, his abrupt departure threw the Universal Championship picture into chaos. Braun Strowman went up against Lesnar at Crown Jewel and came up short. Through his attitude, and penchant for destroying things, he managed to finagle his way into getting another shot at the title at the 2019 Royal Rumble.
And then Strowman destroyed Vince McMahon’s limo.
This past Monday night, Strowman went on a rampage while he was trying to find Baron Corbin and literally ripped the door off of the chairman’s limo. Needless to say, McMahon was pissed. He immediately stripped Strowman of his upcoming title shot. Sources are saying that this was done because Strowman is still not 100% healed after his recent elbow injury, but whatever the reason we now have Finn Balor, who won the opportunity after defeating Jinder Mahal, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, and John Cena in two separate matches.
This major match change two weeks before the event has got a lot of people in the wrestling community talking. Lesnar has been mostly absent for his second reign and people have been clamoring for Balor to get a decent sustained push for a long time. Can Finn Balor overcome Brock Lesnar?
Specifically, can Demon Balor slay the beast?
I’m no expert but I’m fairly certain that Finn Balor will bring the Demon King out to play for this match. Balor’s alter ego makes rare appearances in WWE and is undefeated at pay-per-views. Not only does the scarcity make for a thrilling experience for us as fans, but the chairman is also a huge fan of the Demon. McMahon seems to finally be taking Balor seriously; could we have the perfect formula for a proper Finn Balor Universal Championship reign?
Finn Balor is a tremendously gifted athlete. He has a lot of experience and a lot of tricks in his arsenal. However, bad booking and lackluster feuds have really hurt the believability of him being able to defeat Brock Lesnar, who has been made to look like an absolute monster. Bringing out the Demon offsets this a little, but does not fully negate the months of stagnate booking that has plagued Balor since his return from injury.
At one point, Balor was the guy. He was chosen to be the first ever Universal Champion. We’ve been seeing that in his ring work as of late, especially his match with Jordan Devlin from NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool. He is very over with the fans; crowds all over the world pop for him when he makes his way to ring. Again, go back to that Balor vs Devlin match and listen to the Blackpool crowd absolutely lose it.
Combine Balor’s connection with the fans, in-ring abilities, proper booking, and sprinkle some of the Demon on top and you get the recipe for a great Universal Championship reign. He even has ready-made feuds in other top stars like Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre.
Can Demon Balor slay the Beast? Absolutely. It’s just a question of whether or not the higher ups will actually pull the trigger.
-Wynter
