While Finn Balor was crowned the first-ever WWE Universal Champion when the title first debuted, he is also the shortest-reigning champion after he suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder the same night he won the title.
According to reports, WWE was originally planning to get behind Balor in a “big way”, making him second only to Roman Reigns on the main roster. With that being said, Dave Meltzer is reporting that it’s likely that would have come in handy in terms of star power on the RAW side, especially with Roman Reigns currently out with his leukemia diagnosis. He said,
“They were way, way behind him at the time and it just never got back to that situation again, but absolutely, yes …. they were planning on making him, well, he wasn’t going to surpass Roman Reigns, but I think they wanted him to be close to that level.“
