Finn Balor In WWE - What Went Wrong?

Drafted to the big time in July 2016, Balor blitzed through a one-night tournament to help crown the first ever Universal Champion. Rusev, Cesaro, and Owens fell by his hand at the first stage. Then, he met company golden boy Roman Reigns in the night's main event, remarkably defeating the former Shield man to earn the right to face Seth Rollins at SummerSlam.

Balor was victorious. Less than a month after joining the main roster, he'd earned his place in history and immediately cemented himself as Raw's kingpin. It was his coronation, the biggest win of his life, and an immensely gratifying moment for anyone who'd followed his career.

It wasn't to last.

A torn labrum suffered on a barricade Powerbomb forced Balor to vacate his new prize after 22 hours. Suddenly, when everything was going right, the Irishman was staring down the barrel of an eight-month absence. Torn from the spotlight at the worst moment imaginable, optimists kept hope that he'd pick up where he left off upon returning, but Balor has never truly made it back to that level since re-emerging in April 2017.

Somewhere along the line, Vince McMahon had lost faith in him. Where the Chairman once installed him as Raw's top champion, he quickly relegated Finn to turgid feuds with the likes of Elias and upon returning. The Bray Wyatt programme was the most problematic. Stuck in an endless loop of blasé matches broken up by 'The Eater Of Worlds'' terrible, babbling promos, it was, unbelievably, supposed to culminate with Balor painted as a pumpkin wrestling Wyatt in full Sister Abigail regalia at TLC 2017. Bray's viral infection robbed us of that, but the damage was already done. Finn's relegation had long been completed.

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