With the current WWE “shake up” well underway in 2019, one name who is benefiting from the company attempting to freshen up its product is Raw star Finn Balor.
On this week’s episode of WWE Raw, Balor won a Fatal Four Way match against top stars John Cena, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin to earn the right to challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Title at the Royal Rumble PPV. The match was made after Vince McMahon pulled Braun Strowman from the bout for destroying McMahon’s limousine earlier in the night.
Finn Balor’s sudden push in WWE has lead to speculation that the company is giving him more opportunities in light of the launch of All Elite Wrestling, and because WWE officials might fear losing Balor to the newly launched wrestling promotion headed by Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks.
According to Dave Meltzer, rumors of WWE pushing Finn Balor due to AEW interest are false, with a fan remarking to Meltzer on Twitter, “really what [the Finn Balor push] says is WWE understands the special talent Bálor is. With the rumour of AEW trying to steal him. Vince doesn’t want to lose that type of talent to a potential competitor.”
Meltzer responded to the fan comment by Tweeting Balor’s push has “nothing to do with it”, shooting down the possibility of WWE pushing Balor because of All Elite Wrestling. Meltzer added, “I’d like to say that was the case but one had nothing to do with the other.”
I'd like to say that was the case but one had nothing to do with the other. https://t.co/wRGaFbbjG2
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) January 15, 2019
With Finn Balor set to challenge Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble PPV, it remains to be seen when or if Braun Strowman will get his promised Universal Title shot. As of now, it remains unclear as to why Strowman was pulled from the Title match at the Rumble, but speculation is that the big man has yet to be cleared after undergoing elbow surgery back in December.
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