Brock Lesnar reportedly hand-picked Finn Balor to replace Braun Strowman as his Royal Rumble opponent. According to the Wrestling Observer, once the decision to take Strowman out of the match was made, Lesnar asked for Balor to be the man who will face him with the WWE Universal Championship on the line.
Lesnar had previously pushed for the match with Balor at last year’s Rumble, but at the time, Balor was removed from consideration by Vince McMahon as he didn’t see Balor as a main eventer yet. Lesnar has been having good matches with smaller talent as of late, including AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan, which reportedly led McMahon to believe the time was right for Balor to get a title match.
The Royal Rumble takes place on January 27th and airs live on WWE Network.
