WWE: Finn Balor - torn labrum, vacates Universal Title, surgery

[SeidoN]

BTW - Vacant is now a 13 time World Champion, 4th all-time after Flair, Cena, and Triple H.

Vacant is also the longest reigning Universal Champion of all time with an impressive title run of 27 hours and counting, defeating the previous record of 22 hours held by Finn Balor.

Vacant is one of the all time greats, just never seems to be over with the crowd :/

 

[Kimi]

Vacant is a dangerous worker D:.

 

[Cor]

He vacated the surgery?

 

[Bubba Thudd]

He has that vacant look in his eyes.

 

[Loosie]

BTW - Vacant is now a 13 time World Champion, 4th all-time after Flair, Cena, and Triple H.

Vacant is also the longest reigning Universal Champion of all time with an impressive title run of 27 hours and counting, defeating the previous record of 22 hours held by Finn Balor.

Does count only WWF/WWE titles? I swear Vacant had 13 runs with the WCW title on it's own.

It's actually 28 when you count WCW, WWE, WWE World Heavyweight, and Universial. Best champion ever!

 

[Acallabeth]

Vacant also never puts other over, can't remember a single time he was pinned

 

[Engebretson]

Vacant also never puts other over, can't remember a single time he was pinned

Didn't Vacant just put over Triple H at the Royal Rumble this year?

 

[SeidoN]

Cena won a vacant title in 2011, but that vacant title returned about 17 seconds later, does that count

 

[PBandJ]

Lets not twist things, Vacant does the job when he has to.

 

[Cor]

Finn Balor says when it happened, he knew it was a serious injury. Also said he thinks his shoulder may have popped out again during the match after he reset it the first time, in which he just reset it again.

He also explained that the reason he was smiling and laughing when he was going to the ring was because it felt good to be holding the title, seeing everyone's faces, and knowing his parents were there.

He also said he got emotional on the ramp when he couldn't do the arm raises, but watched as the crowd did them for him.

 

[SeidoN]

Bret Hart going rapid-fire

From Wrestlezone's Nick Hausman:
Ever since it was announced that Finn Balor had been injured in his match with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam I started getting a lot of tweets from fans asking what WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart thought about it. I formally co-hosted Bret’s weekly podcasts and on the show Bret had been outspoken about Cena and Sting being injured in matches with Seth.

I reached out to Bret for a comment yesterday and he sent me back the following statement just now:

I take no great pleasure in saying “I told you so,” but if you’re a professional wrestler and you keep hurting opponents and or yourself, clearly you’re doing it wrong. I wrestled a very realistic and physical style and not once in 23 yrs did I ever hurt one opponent ever. Seth Rollins needs to improve his technique and become the safest wrestler in the business. I have great respect for Seth. I believe he’ll improve and hopefully stop hurting the talent before someone gets killed. Wrestlers have to trust one another. If a wrestler holds the life of another wrestler in his hands for the sake of his family, wife or children you plain and simply cannot drop it!

Bret went on to say:

I saw this coming, if anything WWE producers are negligent for not speaking up about it to him already, instead they’re probably gushing with joy, slapping him on the back telling him “great job!” Bill Goldberg was similar. When I think of Samoa Joe nearly killing Tyson Kidd, then see him continuing to use that deadly finish of his, I just shake my head. It’s not real, it’s only supposed to look real, wrestlers are not crash test dummies!

 

[Dr Pepper]

Question.

If they knew it was a serious injury when it happened, why didn't they call an audible and have Rollins win the match?

 

[Cor]

They didn't want Demon Balor to lose. Injury or Not.

 

[Dr Pepper]

They didn't want Demon Balor to lose. Injury or Not.

If I had to choose between

- Heel Seth winning the title while putting Balor on the shelf for six months

or

- Feel-good story of Balor winning the title, only to immediately relinquish it due to the same injury, and have Seth (or, worst case scenario, Reigns) end up with it again anyways while Balor's gone.

I take the first route, every time.

If they didn't put the belt on Balor and instead put Seth over, imagine the reaction upon Balor's return, with Seth in his crosshairs and an eventual title win at the Rumble (if not sooner). Seth would get atomic heat for being the bad guy that put Balor on the shelf, while Balor gets his revenge. Granted that's still the route they'll probably take, but it would have looked better if Seth had the belt all along. Just my .02

 

[Pinkfloyd]

If I had to choose between

- Heel Seth winning the title while putting Balor on the shelf for six months

or

- Feel-good story of Balor winning the title, only to immediately relinquish it due to the same injury, and have Seth (or, worst case scenario, Reigns) end up with it again anyways while Balor's gone.

I take the first route, every time.

If they didn't put the belt on Balor and instead put Seth over, imagine the reaction upon Balor's return, with Seth in his crosshairs and an eventual title win at the Rumble (if not sooner)

If they place any stock in the demon persona of Balor, the second route is the right choice to make. Debuting the demon in a match can't end in a loss because it loses all credibility immediately.

 

[AfroThunder396]

If he lost and then went away for 6 months then no one would care when he came back. It would make Finn look like a total dud.

You hype this guy up for a month, and then his big grand debut is a loss AND six months on the shelf? That's really tough to overcome.

A tough baby face champion overcoming injury to win in his debut looks a LOT better to fans than a guy that was held up on a pedestal but failed to deliver.

Finn earned the casual fan's respect in that match. When he comes back people will not only immediately recognize him as the former champion, but they'll care because he never lost the title and is immediately owed a championship match (like Rollins a few months ago).

Why would people care about the return of a guy that lost his only big match?

EDIT: Yeah, didn't even mention the demon gimmick.

 

[GKJ]

Finn having to drop the title is the way better story. There's so many more routes you can go. So many people waited so long for him, and then goes on the shelf upon getting the rocket strapped to him. That Wrestlemania build up is just way too juicy. Christ, just watching him having to hand the title over live was gut-wrenching.

 

[xtra]

Jan 22 is just short of 5 months away, if he can super cena it back, demon Balor winning the rumble while Seth is champion is a money making feud if they can see it.

Now returning just short of 5 months from now might be impossible and maybe fast lane is more of an probability, but a demon Finn terrorizing Seth for 2 months could be great

 

[Emperoreddy]

Ya the paint had to go over, and they are set up for a big return storyline when he is healthy.

Doing an audible loss would of killed Finn and taken even longer to regain momentum for. There would be no talk of a surprise Rumble win or a Mania rematch if he lost on Sunday.

 

[Loosie]

Bret Hart going rapid-fire

From Wrestlezone's Nick Hausman:
Ever since it was announced that Finn Balor had been injured in his match with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam I started getting a lot of tweets from fans asking what WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart thought about it. I formally co-hosted Bret’s weekly podcasts and on the show Bret had been outspoken about Cena and Sting being injured in matches with Seth.

I reached out to Bret for a comment yesterday and he sent me back the following statement just now:

I take no great pleasure in saying “I told you so,” but if you’re a professional wrestler and you keep hurting opponents and or yourself, clearly you’re doing it wrong. I wrestled a very realistic and physical style and not once in 23 yrs did I ever hurt one opponent ever. Seth Rollins needs to improve his technique and become the safest wrestler in the business. I have great respect for Seth. I believe he’ll improve and hopefully stop hurting the talent before someone gets killed. Wrestlers have to trust one another. If a wrestler holds the life of another wrestler in his hands for the sake of his family, wife or children you plain and simply cannot drop it!

Bret went on to say:

I saw this coming, if anything WWE producers are negligent for not speaking up about it to him already, instead they’re probably gushing with joy, slapping him on the back telling him “great job!” Bill Goldberg was similar. When I think of Samoa Joe nearly killing Tyson Kidd, then see him continuing to use that deadly finish of his, I just shake my head. It’s not real, it’s only supposed to look real, wrestlers are not crash test dummies!

I was waiting for someone to talk to Bret about it. Can't say I'm surprised with his comments. Again I say is he wrong? Three guys injured, you can say the knee that smashed Cena's face a fluke, a freak accident. But to have two guys injured with the same move, one career-ending (yes Sting's age helped with it), and the other having him out 6 months. There very well could be something there.

 

[The Gongshow]

That pop when Balor comes back is gonna be big. They even have the option of using mind games and vignettes of Demon Finn to scare and mess with Seth to keep Finn off T.V for an extra couple weeks to heal if need be

 

[izzy]

Royal Rumble comeback would be unreal

 

[Emperoreddy]

That pop when Balor comes back is gonna be big. They even have the option of using mind games and vignettes of Demon Finn to scare and mess with Seth to keep Finn off T.V for an extra couple weeks to heal if need be

This would be a smart idea. Start playing up the mystical mind games, Taker style.

Tease that Seth unleaded a beast , yadda, yadda, and he just cleans house once he arrives.

 

[OmniSens]

I've heard people outside of WWE speculate that he might only be out 3 months initially. Maybe that was premature speculation and further testing showed more damage, but I also think WWE is exaggerating the return date so they can do a surprise entrance at the Rumble. Just imagine the buzzer goes off, the music hits and the Demon comes out. The arena would pop like crazy.

This is so overdone, no one would really be shocked.

 

[Emperoreddy]

It's possible things looked different after they opened him up.

I'm sure all involved would love a surprise Rumble win and he either just takes easy bumps for another month before finally wrestling proper at Fastlane.