WWE Rumors: Brock Lesnar Wanted To Face Finn Balor

The WWE Universe went into a frenzy after this week’s Raw, as Finn Balor pinned John Cena in a Fatal Four-Way match that main evented the show, punching in his ticket for a Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble Pay Per View.

This year’s WWE Royal Rumble PPV looks absolutely stacked, beyond just the Women’s and Men’s Rumble matches, which should both be incredible. Asuka and Becky Lynch will duke it out for the prestigious SmackDown Women’s Championship, Ronda Rousey and Sasha Banks will compete in a dream match for the Raw Women’s Championship, and the WWE Championship will be contested by Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles.

But it’s the Universal Title match that looms the largest. After scraping past Jinder Mahal, who tried to take him out with a cheapshot, Finn Balor pinned John Cena in a Fatal Four-Way match that main evented Raw to become Brock Lesnar’s next challenger for WWE’s most elusive title.

It was a star-making night for Balor, and while Seth Rollins remains the favorite to capture the Universal Championship from Lesnar in 2019, Finn seems like a made man. Helping his case is the fact that Lesnar, whose motivation going into matches is sometimes questioned by WWE fans, reportedly wanted to face Finn all along.

As reported by The Wrestling Observer News’s Dave Meltzer and relayed by Elle Collins of UPROXX, Lesnar requested a match against Balor at the Royal Rumble this year. Apparently, Lesnar wanted to face Finn at last year’s Rumble, too, but Meltzer infamously reported that Vince McMahon didn’t think Finn was “over” enough.

Whether or not that old report is true is irrelevant, because Finn is getting his shot at “The Beast” this year. And while the expectation is for Finn to come up short in a valiant effort – much like AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan in back-to-back acclaimed Survivor Series matches – there’s always a chance “The Demon” pulls an ace up his sleeve for yet another upset.

Counting out the first ever Universal Champion would be unwise, and with an endorsement from Cena and an apparent endorsement from Lesnar, Finn’s future is very bright indeed. Contrary to the fears of WWE fans, Balor appears to be valued highly by everyone in the company, and if Brock is indeed excited to face Finn, we could be headed for another instant classic on Jan. 27.