According to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Finn Balor was never factored into any plans to face Brock Lesnar at next year’s Royal Rumble event.
Barrasso also reported that Balor is slowly being transitioned into a role similar to Dolph Zigglers, where he is a performer who can put on great matches but doesn’t get to the main event because of the lack of faith from higher-ups. One WWE source relayed to Barrasso that Vince McMahon sees Balor as “bland” whenever he’s not portraying the “Demon King” character.