WWE Rumors: Vince McMahon Doesn’t Think Finn Balor Is ‘Over’ Enough?

When he was in NXT, Finn Balor was easily one of the most popular wrestlers in the company, as his time as NXT Champion helped lead to a rise in the global profile of WWE’s third brand. That’s why it’s so baffling to hear a report that Balor’s stock may not be as high in the eyes of Vince McMahon.

Few wrestlers are as well-liked by all fans as Finn Balor, who memorably became the first WWE Universal Champion at SummerSlam 2016 after a match with Seth Rollins. Balor is the most popular NXT Champion in history, and there are quite a number of other worthy contenders. The “Demon King” was a big-time star in NJPW as the founder of the Bullet Club, and he’s always been a pusher of merchandise in the WWE.

Unfortunately, Balor has lost momentum after recovering from a shoulder injury, and his return since the Raw after WrestleMania has been underwhelming due to his booking. Balor rarely loses, but he also rarely wins against other top competitors, mostly because his only feud of note was a rather hokey story with Bray Wyatt.

There were rumors that Balor could face Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. Brock is on a mission to run through the entire WWE roster before dropping the Universal Championship to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34, and he needs new opponents after already topping Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, and WWE Champion AJ Styles.

Balor was heavily speculated as the last remaining logical opponent, but Dave Meltzer of the Wresting Observer News said that the company is no longer interest in a Lesnar vs. Balor main event at the Royal Rumble. This is completely fine by me, because I wrote that the feud may actually be a terrible idea.

So the fact that the WWE is reportedly scrapping Balor vs. Lesnar isn’t the shock here. What’s shocking to me is Meltzer’s statement, via WhatCulture, that Vince McMahon does not believe Balor is “over” enough.

First of all, is that really true? At least from my vantage point, Balor is pretty dang popular. But secondly, should Vince be surprised that Balor has lost momentum? I mean, it’s his own damn fault if that’s the case. The guy has given Balor absolutely nothing to work with in terms of a tangible feud that makes sense (his program with Wyatt does not fit the bill).

Additionally, Vince decided that having Balor lose to Kane on a random episode of Raw, following Balor’s huge TLC win over AJ Styles no less, was a good idea. Not only did that match have no reason to take place, but the WWE could have easily booked Kane to win via disqualification to achieve the desired affect of making the “Big Red Machine” look like a huge monster for Braun Strowman to eventually destroy.

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Although Vince is an incredibly successful wrestling promoter who knows infinitely more about the business than I ever will, sometimes it’s easy to forget that because of situations like this.