10 Early Wrestling Predictions For 2019
2. Finn Bálor Will LEAVE WWE
WWE, per the Wrestling Observer, mired Neville in contractual stasis in fear of his showing those he left behind the way forward. Were Neville to reach lucrative agreements with the moneyed New Japan and or Ring Of Honor, and/or leverage his star power to gain the maximum fee available from fringe promotions, the ambitious but stymied "forever midcard" generation may have seen the light.
As it happens, Neville reverted to his PAC persona and the Dragon Gate promotion in which he made that name for, given its scale and recent fortunes, less money than he could have made elsewhere. Nonetheless, WWE's star-making system remains irreparably broken, and its stars cannot be uniformly happy. With some irony, given his ever-present smile, Bálor looks like the least happy of the lot.
Consider Bálor's journey to WWE, as well as his dismal fortunes on RAW. Fergal Devitt was a product of the LA Dojo system spearheaded by Antonio Inoki. His association with New Japan runs deep. He was bled in by and given the chance to flourish in the promotion, and for years resisted WWE advances out of loyalty and because he wished to develop as an all-round talent before entering the machine. A fat lot of good that did him. Perhaps it's the guilt, or those wasted years, that underpins that eerie smile in 2018.
New NJPW President Harold Meij is intent on prioritising New Japan's western expansion, and though he's legally prohibited from luring Bálor away from WWE, Bálor is free, in theory, to opt out of his deal and stop faking that smile.