This year’s Royal Rumble match featured the fewest surprises in maybe a decade, but that didn’t mean it was bad. WWE just wanted to save some of its surprises for Monday, is all. Or maybe even later. One of the names that everyone was hoping would pop up at the Rumble, however, was Finn Bálor, who has been out of action since injuring his shoulder at SummerSlam.
Bálor, who is never content to NOT incessantly tease people that he MIGHT be at a place or MIGHT be doing certain things, played up the possibility of a surprise return leading into the Royal Rumble, but in official interviews, he always stuck to his talking point: his target comeback date is WrestleMania.
So as much as everyone wanted Bálor to show up, the likelihood of that happening was always pretty close to zero. Dave Meltzer confirmed in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while Bálor was backstage this weekend and was evaluated by WWE doctors, he was not cleared to compete just yet. He’s still progressing nicely, and — will you look at that — is expected to be ready to go in time for WrestleMania.
So hang in there just a little bit longer, fans of ancient Irish demons and/or Lego-collecting nice boys. We’ll probably get a Finn Bálor match at WrestleMania. Or at the very least, it won’t be much longer now.
