Kemo
09-03-2021, 11:56 PM
Finn Balor will challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship tonight on Smackdown. According to comments he made to BT Sport, however, Balor had actually pitched moving to the NXT UK brand instead of Smackdown to WWE management.
“Believe it or not, before I returned to SmackDown, I could feel the run at NXT kind of coming to an end and I’d kind of exhausted all the resources there, like the guys that I could wrestle against,” Balor said. He continued to say that he pitched the idea of him going to NXT UK to WWE management.
“I actually pitched the idea of moving to NXT UK and obviously that might have been a little bit of a bold move and maybe a bold pitch,” Balor continued. He went on to discuss how he felt he would be able to help the brand.
“I felt like I could not only challenge myself against guys like Ilja, and WALTER, A-Kid, and Jordan Devilin but help the brand the same way I tried to help NXT in the last couple of years. I felt like it was a win-win for all of us but the office had a different opinion on that and they wanted me on Smackdown. But seeing that brand grow, it’s incredible. Some of those guys are some of the best in the world.”
Balor took part in NXT UK tapings in early 2020. He also wrestled current NXT UK champion, Ilja Dragunov, at Worlds Collide 2020. Balor said that it had been the plan for him to spend more time in NXT UK had the pandemic not changed things. His run would have eventually led to a match with then-champion, WALTER.
Balor will challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal title tonight. He is the first-ever holder of the championship, having first won it at SummerSlam 2016. Since then 7 more wrestlers have won the belt. There have been 14 title changes in the championship’s lineage.
The all-time leader in total reigns and days spent with the belt is Brock Lesnar. He’s held the title 3x for a total of 686 days. Roman Reigns has held the title twice for a total of 431 days. Balor’s one reign with the belt lasted less than 24 hours when he was forced to vacate it due to injury.
“Believe it or not, before I returned to SmackDown, I could feel the run at NXT kind of coming to an end and I’d kind of exhausted all the resources there, like the guys that I could wrestle against,” Balor said. He continued to say that he pitched the idea of him going to NXT UK to WWE management.
“I actually pitched the idea of moving to NXT UK and obviously that might have been a little bit of a bold move and maybe a bold pitch,” Balor continued. He went on to discuss how he felt he would be able to help the brand.
“I felt like I could not only challenge myself against guys like Ilja, and WALTER, A-Kid, and Jordan Devilin but help the brand the same way I tried to help NXT in the last couple of years. I felt like it was a win-win for all of us but the office had a different opinion on that and they wanted me on Smackdown. But seeing that brand grow, it’s incredible. Some of those guys are some of the best in the world.”
Balor took part in NXT UK tapings in early 2020. He also wrestled current NXT UK champion, Ilja Dragunov, at Worlds Collide 2020. Balor said that it had been the plan for him to spend more time in NXT UK had the pandemic not changed things. His run would have eventually led to a match with then-champion, WALTER.
Balor will challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal title tonight. He is the first-ever holder of the championship, having first won it at SummerSlam 2016. Since then 7 more wrestlers have won the belt. There have been 14 title changes in the championship’s lineage.
The all-time leader in total reigns and days spent with the belt is Brock Lesnar. He’s held the title 3x for a total of 686 days. Roman Reigns has held the title twice for a total of 431 days. Balor’s one reign with the belt lasted less than 24 hours when he was forced to vacate it due to injury.