This weekend (Sun. January 27, 2019) the WWE will host its Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) from the Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. In the main event, Universal Champion Brock Lesnar will defend his title against Finn Balor. Initially, Lesnar was scheduled to defend his title against Braun Strowman. There has been a lot of injury concerns surrounding Strowman and his status.
However, those didn’t seem to be too much of a factor in the main event change. Instead, Vince McMahon decided to make the change to protect Strowman. Balor earned the opportunity to compete for the Universal Championship against Lesnar by winning two matches on Monday Night RAW recently. There will certainly be a massive size discrepancy between the pair, but that didn’t stop AJ Styles from giving Lesnar a great fight at Survivor Series in 2017.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross discussed the bout in the latest episode of his podcast, “The Ross Report.” While he admits Balor is likely to do the job this weekend, Ross also discussed a scenario, albeit an unlikely one, in which Balor could emerge victorious:
“I’m happy that [Bálor] is getting this opportunity and win or lose, that’s where we are,” Ross said. “I guess what you have to consider about this match is could Bálor upset Lesnar and be the Universal Champion heading into WrestleMania? He certainly could. He certainly could. It wouldn’t shock me a bit.
“But you’ve got to think, who does WWE want in that title match at WrestleMania? I keep hearing they want Lesnar and Rollins. Okay, if you know that’s what they want, then, Bálor will do the honors at the Royal Rumble, but he’ll go down in a blaze of glory with an amazing story being told.
“So looking at it ahead, but maybe Bálor is their guy and they’re going to have him match up with say, Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. Well, you know the match is going to be badass.”
Do you think WWE will have Balor upset Lesnar at the Royal Rumble?
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
