Finn Balor successfully retained his NXT Championship against Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day this past Sunday, and now “The Prince” is turning his attention towards WrestleMania 37. Edge has already teased the idea of challenging Balor at Mania via his Royal Rumble victory, but on the latest After The Bell, Balor took things one step further. He wants to defend the title twice during WrestleMania weekend.
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“For me personally, if I could defend the title one night on TakeOver and the next night on WrestleMania, that would be the dream scenario for me,” Balor said. “I really feel [for] Karrion Kross, I empathize with his situation having to relinquish the title. I really feel he deserves a title shot, whether it’s at TakeOver or WrestleMania or soon or later. He definitely deserves a title shot. [I’ll] bang that one out at TakeOver and get Finn Balor vs. Edge the night after, that would be the dream scenario.”
As of now, NXT doesn’t have a TakeOver event lined up for that weekend. In prior years the Black & Gold Brand would have a massive show the night before WrestleMania, but when WrestleMania 36 was extended to two nights last year the TakeOver was scrapped and its matches were pushed to later episodes of television.
There is at least some precedent working in Balor’s favor. Rhea Ripley defended her NXT Women’s Championship at last year’s WrestleMania against Charlotte Flair, marking the first time an NXT title was defended on WWE’s biggest show. Triple H talked about NXT’s involvement in WrestleMania during a media conference call last week.
“You come into the place with WrestleMania where with so many brands, Raw (with) a big roster, SmackDown (with) a large roster and NXT, you get to a certain place where how big and how long do you want these shows to be,” he said. “Everybody is putting their chips on the table for their spot in Mania, as always that’s the big spot of the year. Not everybody can be in those spots and I think everybody understands that, but that’s the battle. It’s a balance, is my opinion.
“I love having them be apart of it. You tell me that gets to be apart of the biggest stage in the game and the biggest spectacle, it’s phenomenal,” he continued. “It helps the brand and it helps to continue to drive it forward.”
On top of a future match with Kross, this week’s NXT indicated Balor still has issues with Dunne regarding the NXT title. Adam Cole also made it clear he wants the title back by attacking both Balor and Kyle O’Reilly (again) at the end of the show.
