The former Universal Champion has been mostly held in a mid card role, but it looks like he’s slated for a big push.
On this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, Vince McMahon and the rest of the WWE management team announced that they were going to “shake things up.” The company said that it would “change with the times,” and that we’d get to see some new faces.
While the WWE never explicitly said that they’d push different wrestlers to the top of the card, they did imply that other superstars would receive opportunities — which is usually a kayfabe way of saying that the powers-that-be in WWE will push other wrestlers.
According to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, one such superstar is the first Universal Champion, Finn Balor. Dave Meltzer said that Balor “is about to get a significant push, at least for a little while.”
It would make sense for Finn Balor to get a shot at the main event picture, as he never really had a chance to make a comeback after being forced to relinquish the title due to injury. On the night he won the Universal Championship over Seth Rollins, Finn suffered a shoulder injury that forced him out of competition for some time. When he came back, he was placed in more of a mid-card role within the WWE, and fans have constantly hoped for him to move back up.
Normally, when rumors like this come out, it’s hard to take them too seriously. However, the WWE has already shown a few examples of underutilized superstars getting a push on this week’s episodes of Raw and SmackDown Live.
For example, The Revival got a huge win — and a Tag Team Championship match. Gallows and Anderson appeared on television for the first time since August. Mustafa Ali was called up from 205 Live, and was given a win over current WWE Champion Daniel Bryan.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Finn Balor actually gets a major push, and more importantly, how long the push lasts. The end of Meltzer’s statement — where he says, “at least for a little while” — is worrying for Balor Club fans. If Balor goes to the main event only to get destroyed by Brock Lesnar or Braun Strowman, that doesn’t really accomplish much in the minds of the Irishman’s biggest fans.
However, if the push actually lasts for a while — and Finn ends up winning the Universal Championship again — it would create another top performer within the company roster. Balor has already shown that he’s capable of carrying a brand during his run in NXT.
With Roman Reigns on the shelf due to his battle with Leukemia, the WWE needs another top babyface besides Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor seems like a solid person to fill that spot.
Finn just tweeted a photo of himself as the “demon” today, and if he’s going to move to the top of the card, we’d expect Balor to pull out the “demon” gimmick again.
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