Finn Balor Nearly Beats Braun Strowman, Gets Dropped by Brock Lesnar

Finn Balor almost walked out of Monday Night Raw looking like conqueror. Instead, he would up [...]

By Connor Casey

Finn Balor almost walked out of Monday Night Raw looking like conqueror. Instead, he would up getting blasted by Brock Lesnar.

Raw opened this week with Paul Heyman cutting a promo with Lesnar in the ring about how Balor had no chance against Lesnar in Sunday's Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble. Vince McMahon came out and took things a step further, comparing Balor's chances of winning to a fairytale or David beating Goliath.

Braun Strowman and Balor both made their way out in the following, with the big man saying he'd be challenging the winner of Sunday's match while Balor vowed to do what Strowman couldn't and take down Lesnar. This prompted McMahon to book a match between the two and asked Lesnar to stick around to watch at ringside.

After a back-and-forth match, Lesnar decided to get himself involved by tossing Balor with a suplex outside the ring. The referee didn't call for the bell, so Balor continued the match by ripping Lesnar off the apron, kicking him into the ringpost and hitting him with a diving Tope con Hilo.

He then made his way back into the ring and, after countering a few attacks from Strowman, hit "The Monster Among Men" with his Coup de Grace finisher. But before Balor could make the pin and score the upset, Lesnar hit the ring and planted Balor with an F-5.

Both Balor and Strowman were left walked out, while Lesnar smirked his way up the ramp.

Strowman was originally booked to face Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, but the match was scrapped by McMahon on the Jan. 14 episode of Raw after Strowman damaged McMahon's limo while chasing after Baron Corbin.

Later that same evening Balor earned a shot against Lesnar by beating Corbin, Drew McIntyre and John Cena in a four-way match, pinning the 16-time world champion after hitting a Coup de Grace.

While many fans expect Balor to break out his "Demon" persona, Balor teased the idea that he might not use it in an interview with ESPN on Monday.

"I feel like maybe I leaned on the demon too much there in the past as a crutch, and I can assure you that the man who faces Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble will be Finn Balor, the man," Balor said. "I think a lot of people were surprised when I came out at WrestleMania not in demon paint but I feel like I had a bigger message to spread that day — one of equality and acceptance. Honestly, this match just kind of came about so fast that I haven't had much time to think about it. I don't have any new gear, I don't have any new looks, I don't have any new ideas right now, but you know, we're still six days away, so I'm sure I'll come up with something."

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