WWE reportedly has a pretty simple reason for moving Finn Bálor to SmackDown.
WWE revealed the official bracket for the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments on the Clash in Italy post-show, and fans noticed when the promotion listed Finn Bálor as a SmackDown star. The company made the official announcement on last night’s RAW, where Byron Saxton revealed the trade while interviewing Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh during a commercial break.
Speaking on the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained that WWE traded Finn Bálor to SmackDown to keep him away from the Judgment Day.
“I never heard anything about a draft. The idea is they just want to get him away from Dominik Mysterio and JD,” Meltzer said.
WWE reportedly wants to give Finn Bálor a fresh start on SmackDown
Speaking further, Dave Meltzer noted that if Finn Bálor had stayed on RAW, it would’ve been difficult to avoid any interactions with his former stablemates, and that the brand shift gives him a fresh start.
“He beat JD, and if he stays on Raw, how does he not work with those guys? So they just figured they’re done with that — they’re done with Finn Bálor doing that — and they wanted to give him a fresh start,” Meltzer added.
Dave Meltzer also stated that WWE has previously used brand changes to keep former rivals apart, similar to how they managed Rey and Dominik Mysterio after their feud.
“A lot of times they do that — they run a feud, it’s over, and the nature of the feud is they just don’t want them interacting anymore. Like when Rey Mysterio and Dominik were done, they did the same thing. They moved Rey over, and they weren’t supposed to interact — even though they are now, or about to,” he said about the Finn Bálor trade. [H/T SEScoops]
Finn Bálor will take on Royce Keys, Jey Uso, and LA Knight in the first round of the King of the Ring Tournament.
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