Finn Balor’s next move should be to SmackDown

Since its move to Tuesday nights, WWE NXT has put on a run of great wrestling television. Last night, Karrion Kross retained the NXT Championship by defeating Finn Balor for the second time. Amid reports of multiple planned “callups” on the horizon, many are speculating that Balor may be one of those individuals set to make the move. Looking at the situation, the time is now, and he should point his focus at a certain, head of the table.

Balor’s second run in NXT has been exceptional. He tapped into what made him interesting as Prince Devitt while in New Japan and brought some of that into his character in NXT. Without leaning on the gimmick of The Demon, he reminded wrestling fans that he is one of the top names in the industry today. His matches against Kross, Adam Cole, Pete Dunne, Kyle O’Reilly, and others were some of the bests offered by WWE during this time.

It is customary that individuals “go out on their back” when leaving NXT so it is understandable why the speculation is mounting that Balor is headed back to the main roster. His first run started out well, but it was not long before shotty booking knocked him down a peg or two like it has done so many others. Not only does the myriad of issues on Monday Night Raw stand out but looking back to the start of Balor’s main roster run points toward a reason why SmackDown is the best place for him to head next.

Back in 2016, Balor made his appearance on Raw with a surprising victory over Roman Reigns, setting himself up to face Seth Rollins for the vacant WWE Universal Title. Everyone remembers how that situation ended, with Balor winning the title and having to vacate it the next night due to a shoulder injury. At that moment, it looked like Balor was heading for a star-level push on the main roster, but it all came crumbling down. He would not reach the level of Rollins or Reigns again, barely being a consistent part of the midcard. Being sent “down” to NXT gave him an opportunity to rebuild himself and come back as a better version of Finn Balor, now poised to go back on the attack, starting with Reigns on SmackDown.

Reigns has been amazing on SmackDown. In many ways it seems like all roads lead to him, even in the angles where he is not a part of the story, he feels like an ominous, big bad shadow hanging over the plot – just as a main event level heel should. Keeping fresh opponents in front of him is an important part of that success and Balor would certainly be a new look. It is hard to see anyone getting a clean victory over Reigns soon but adding Balor to SmackDown would help kick off a potential return to the main roster with intrigue.

Finn Balor has achieved all he could during his second tenure in WWE NXT. After taking another clean loss to the champion, it looks like the main roster is back in view. He should head over to SmackDown where a much more interesting angle and a better show await the best version of Balor seen since joining the WWE years ago.