Finn Balor Should Head to WWE Main Roster Rather Than Win NXT Championship

Finn Balor is poised to add the NXT Championship to an already-overflowing mantle that already includes the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and titles he won in Mexico, Great Britain and Scotland.

While plenty deserving of this new honor, it makes more sense to send him to WWE's main roster soon. Winning the gold from Kevin Owens puts him in limbo, shoving him into the same storyline corner that Owens stands in right now.

Balor is too talented, too proven and too polished to stick around NXT much longer. Should he pin Owens on July 4 in Tokyo, however, that's exactly what he will do. The NXT Championship forces him to remain with the developmental brand, while being sans gold gives him the freedom to walk onto Raw at any moment.

It's a strange dynamic. The top NXT star who ascends the company ladder and takes home the title is in theory the prospect most ready to get a promotion. Wearing that championship, though, forces one to represent the brand.

And unless Balor has a blink-of-an-eye title reign, winning in Tokyo means extending his NXT stay by several months at least.

While that serves NXT well, it's not the right move for Balor. He's more than ready to join WWE proper. And with him turning 34 this year, it's smarter to get the most out of him on a larger stage at this point in his career.

It's not as if he has learning to do at the NXT level.

Not surprisingly, Balor has been knocking it out of the park in his biggest NXT matches. He has the crowd buzzing with his theatrical entrance, athletic skill and ability to deliver memorable matches.

He's such a hot commodity that in an interview with Bleacher Report's Dan Pecoraro, Chris Jericho said that he asked WWE to pit him against Balor in what he called a "dream match."

Why not have him follow Neville and Owens to the main roster and provide more new blood to programming? Why not have him shine against the likes of Cesaro, Luke Harper or King Barrett? That's a better use of his skills than limiting him to a show that, while popular among diehard fans, doesn't pull in casual fans like Raw does.

After plying his craft in Japan for so long, he's ready to make a splash on pay-per-views against top names, to get his chance to be the future of the company as his fanbase has foreseen.

Winning the NXT title, while an exciting moment and notable career accomplishment, only delays that next stage of his career.

WWE can have Balor and Owens go to a draw. It can have the challenger suffer an attack from Owens so brutal that it leads NXT general manager William Regal to strip Owens of the NXT title.

The second option allows the company to continue what these men started at NXT on a WWE level. It also prevents him from having to lose the NXT title in order to make his way to Raw and SmackDown.

That's the way to go. 

Let someone who needs the seasoning that comes with being NXT champ have the strap, such as Baron Corbin or Tyler Breeze. As for Balor, crowning him champion at this point slows him down. 

Fast-track him out of Full Sail University and have Owens drop the gold some other way. Balor is ready to pursue the Intercontinental Championship or the U.S. title; he's ready to take his swing to the big leagues.