Roman Reigns has taken his spot as the franchise player of the WWE from 2015 onwards. The fans of the WWE especially in the United States did not favor the idea. They showed tremendous backlash ever since the officials of WWE took the decision. So the speculations were that WWE might choose a new chosen figure.
Roman Reigns to compete at Fastlane 2019
Good news for Reigns’ fans for Wrestlemania 35
The following year WWE brought back the brand extension bringing a huge change to both WWE Raw and Smackdown Live. Finn Balor arrived on the flagship show who was about to become the next big thing. The creative team also gave the green signal to him for a big push. But an injury ruined that all for the Irish Superstar.
Dave Meltzer revealed some interesting details on a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio about Finn Balor. As per him, this NXT import in 2016 was about to take the spot of Roman Reigns. He received a heavy booking upon arriving at the main roster who could have stolen the spotlight from Roman Reigns.
If you remember the first night of Finn Balor on WWE Raw, then you should know the unthinkable on his very first night. He defeated Roman Reigns in a clean way that a very few have been able to do at that point. Furthermore, this win has earned him a Universal Championship match at Summerslam 2016.
Going forward, Balor went on to become the first-ever Universal Champion defeating Seth Rollins. This happened after Finn Balor just spent a couple of weeks on the main roster. Plus, the fact the WWE suspended Roman Reigns on that timespan also helped him to get the big push. Here’s more from the source,
“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.”
As you can see, Meltzer confirmed that Finn Balor could have replaced Roman Reigns on the top spot if not for that devastating injury. If truth to be told, the former NXT Champion could not overcome from that incident to date. He had to relinquish the title just the night after winning it at Summerslam 2016. Apparently, it was the same night that Vince McMahon lost faith on him.
For more than two years, Finn Balor has struggled to get back to the top spot. It was in Royal Rumble 2019 that he got a Universal Title match against Brock Lesnar. He failed to dethrone the beast on that night. At Elimination Chamber, he won the Intercontinental Championship to book a potentially good spot at upcoming Wrestlemania 35.
