Last night during Monday Night Raw, Vince McMahon would fine Braun Strowman $100,000. He then officially removed him from the Universal Championship match at Royal Rumble. Finn Balor would eventually win a Fatal 4-Way matchup later that night, earning the right to compete against Brock Lesnar.
If you thought WWE’s reasoning behind removing Braun was down to his injury, you’d be half right. According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider, there is more to the story than just Braun’s recovery.
“[…] why isn’t Braun Strowman in this match? Well, the obvious reason is that he’s just not physically cleared by WWE’s medical staff to do a big heavy duty match with Brock Lesnar.”
“However, they also didn’t want Braun to get beaten by Brock, and they were not planning on putting the belt on Braun Strowman at the Royal Rumble,” Johnson revealed. “So they kind of painted themselves into a corner and then they painted themselves out of that corner somehow.”
Lesnar may well keep the Universal championship through to WrestleMania 35, where it is speculated he will face Seth Rollins. Despite Lesnar/Strowman no longer happening, there is still a chance WWE could deliver the match in the future.
Finn Balor has been the recipient of a major push in recent weeks. He recently gained a notable victory against Drew McIntyre at TLC, and made a surprise appearance at the recent NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool event. This push makes sense in order to rebuild Balor up to main event status prior to his matchup at Royal Rumble.
