Finn Balor opens up about his one-day reign as the inaugural WWE Universal Champion.
Finn Balor became the inaugural WWE Universal Champion when he defeated Seth Rollins at WWE SummerSlam 2016. Unfortunately, Finn Balor suffered an injury in that match which forced him to relinquish the belt immediately at the opening of Monday Night Raw the following evening. Since that time, Finn Balor has never recaptured a WWE World Championship and many fans have often wondered what might have been.
Speaking to Josh Martinez of the Superstar Crossover podcast, Finn Balor reveals he has absolutely no idea what the plans were for his 2016 run as champion but admits that the ordeal is one moment where he tried to look at it as an opportunity to grow as opposed to stewing in the frustration.
"You know what, you're the first person that's ever asked me that question. I've absolutely no idea what the plans were," he admits. "I'm very much of the mindset of day-by-day. I don't really think too far into the future, I want to handle business today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. That was very much the mindset that I had back then too. I was very focused on winning the championship, not really worried about where it was gonna go or where it was going to unfold, or what the story had been projected. I feel like from that incident, I grew, you know, not only as a performer, but as a human, you know, I learned to overcome, and kind of take the good out of a bad situation. I feel a lot more grounded since that incident, and it's been a big learning phase for me."
Finn Balor's most recent opportunity to regain the WWE Universal Championship came at the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view in 2021. On that night, Finn Balor faced Roman Reign. Elsewhere in this interview, Balor talks about the story between he and Roman Reigns being open-ended and says he wants another shot at Roman in the coming months. Read more here.
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