Finn Balor Thinks He Won The Universal Championship Too Soon

When WWE initiated the current brand split during the summer of 2016, they created a new [...]

When WWE initiated the current brand split during the summer of 2016, they created a new championship: the Universal Title.

Famously, Finn Balor was the first-ever Universal Champion, defeating Seth Rollins at SummerSlam that year. Unfortunately, Balor suffered a catastrophic shoulder injury in that match and had to forfeit the title the very next night on RAW.

Since that time, Balor has never regained that kind of positioning on the card despite having a massive fan base. That changes this Sunday at the Royal Rumble, when he challenges Brock Lesnar for the title that he won two and a half years ago.

However, if you ask Balor, he believes that his initial Universal Championship victory may have come too early.

"I feel like when I became Universal Champion for the first time, I think perhaps -- all things considered, looking back -- it may have happened too soon, and I wasn't ready," Balor told ESPN. "And that was just ... that injury was kind of the universe's way of saying, 'Hey, Finn, time to knuckle down and work a little harder.' I thought it was very fitting for my career that it happened the way it happened. It was like another obstacle has been put in my way.

"I worked for six years to get out of the independent scene, the United Kingdom and then, you know, and worked for eight years in Japan to establish myself there Left [there] and worked for two years to help build NXT and then here I come to WWE, and I'm a house on fire and in three weeks I've got the Universal Title in my hands. I feel like it was a very fitting kind of end to that story to kind of knock me back down a peg or two, and then knock me back to the bottom of the pile and make me really fight for what I needed to."

While most are expecting Balor to come up short against Lesnar on Sunday, there's a slight chance he could emerge victorious, shaking up the WWE just as the company heads into WrestleMania season. If there's one thing WWE fans have learned over the years, it's that they should "never say never."

That being said, Balor seems pretty excited to step in the ring with Lesnar at Sunday's Royal Rumble.

"I'm also kind of fighting a very rare opponent, because I believe he (Lesnar) only had eight matches last year, so not many people get to step in the ring with Brock these days. Obviously that's a huge, daunting task, but something that I will relish and something that I'm looking forward to taking on toe-to-toe with 'The Beast,'" he said.

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