8 Wrestlers WWE Regret Making World Champion

4. Finn Bálor

Finn Balor
WWE.com

Upon debuting on the main roster in July 2016, Finn Bálor made an instant impact by beating Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion at that year's SummerSlam - which took place merely a month after Bálor was drafted to Raw.

Sadly, that same SummerSlam bout saw Finn sidelined with a shoulder injury which rendered him out of action for seven months. Forced to vacate the Universal Championship, Bálor's chance to run with the ball as the face of the Raw brand was cruelly taken away from.

After Finn returned from that unfortunately-timed injury, it took months for the Irishman to even acknowledge that he'd never actually been beaten for the title and that he'd yet to receive a rematch for the gold. To be blunt, WWE creative conveniently kept Bálor away from his rightful Universal Championship rematch until the night after SummerSlam 2018 - two years since he had to give up the the belt.

Since then, various reports have surfaced online to suggest that Vince McMahon has rarely had faith in Finn, that he doesn't think he's ever been 'over', and that the former NXT Champion is too small.

The consensus is that McMahon wasn't particular behind Bálor in the first place, and his place on the card has proven that time and time again.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.