Predicting Finn Balor's Role at WWE WrestleMania 34 and Beyond on WWE Raw

While there are still two pay-per-views and many weeks until WrestleMania 34 comes along, the time is coming for plans to start taking shape.

Some of the outcomes already appear to be set in stone, such as Shinsuke Nakamura facing AJ Styles for the WWE Championship and Asuka's dominant win to claim the Raw or SmackDown Women's Championship, but there are several Superstars who don't have a clear path ahead of them.

One of those people who doesn't seem to have an endgame is Finn Balor—someone who is struggling to find his place in WWE.

He quickly rose to the top of the NXT roster and was even given the Universal Championship upon his ascension to the main roster in 2016, but after his return from injury in April last year, Balor has never been able to get his proper footing on Monday Night Raw.

Over the past few months, Balor has rarely kept a proper feud going for more than a handful of matches, which have almost no story attached to them.

His partnership with The Hardy Boyz came out of thin air and went nowhere, similar to how Jason Jordan was paired with them when he had no direction.

Even when he would be put in a program with someone like Elias, it seemed more like a placeholder feud than anything people could sink their teeth into.

The best thing he's done in months was the story of The Eater of Worlds against The Demon, which isn't saying much, as that feud had tons of flaws and ended with a whimper instead of a roaring conclusion.

Needless to say, Balor is struggling. And this is the worst time of the year to be dealing with trying to find your place on the card.

There are a limited amount of important spots on the WrestleMania card, and as each episode of Raw goes by, more and more names start to snatch up those opportunities that are few and far between.

For Balor, the first step is going to have to be finding his way on to the Elimination Chamber bill before worrying about anything that follows.

That, in itself, appears to be harder to achieve than previously thought, with his status for that event up in the air.

After having lost his qualifying match against John Cena, Balor will be forced to compete in a Fatal 4-Way to earn a spot in the Elimination Chamber match.

Five spots have already been decided, and while Balor appears to be the easy pick for the sixth, he will have to fight Apollo Crews, Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt to earn it.

At a glance, it seems like an obvious win for Balor, but the Elimination Chamber has historically had some outsiders in the mix just to spice things up, such as when Kofi Kingston was replaced by Edge at the last minute at No Way Out 2009.

Since he's accomplished virtually nothing after returning from injury, it isn't too big of a stretch to imagine Balor being skipped over in favor of somebody else despite his status as the most popular of the four competing in this last-chance match.

Assuming he does earn that opportunity, it's difficult to put a lot of faith in him walking out as the winner and the rightful challenger to Brock Lesnar, particularly with juggernauts like Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman also in contention.

That match is likely going to one of those two—or both if there is some kind of chicanery involved—so Balor will have to settle for starting a new feud with someone else.

His best option heading into WrestleMania is going to be starting something with either The Miz or Cena, and the Elimination Chamber should be the place to spark that feud.

In Cena's case, there has been no movement in regard to a match against The Undertaker. Nor can there be a start to building up to a match against Samoa Joe while the Submission Machine is on the shelf with an injury. Therefore, there is speculation about what Cena will be doing at the Showcase of the Immortals.

The two had their spats in the Royal Rumble match and their Elimination Chamber qualifier, showing there is at least some interest in working together, but whether that has a leg to stand on is up for debate.

In a way, it would require Balor to turn heel and assume a more villainous persona than he's had in WWE—a positive for those looking for a change of pace but a negative for those who would wish to cheer him against Cena.

A win over the 16-time world champion could give Balor the momentum he needs to turn the rest of 2018 into a more productive year than 2017 was for him, but that could only come about if Cena doesn't have bigger and better plans.

Alternatively, Balor could be starting something with The Miz and targeting the Intercontinental Championship for WrestleMania 34.

It would be rather easy for Balor to take out The Miz in the Elimination Chamber and consequently find himself the victim of the A-Lister's threats on the following episode of Raw.

Not only would this open up a good dynamic between The Miztourage and The Balor Club, but the six men being tied together would allow for plenty of pairings on television in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania.

Balor, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson could pick up wins and suffer losses against The Miz, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel in a variety of matchups that would allow both sides to show off their strengths.

Then, at WrestleMania, Balor could get the ball rolling on a more successful year if he has the Intercontinental Championship around his waist.

This would be the perfect title for him to hold if he's in a position where WWE values him enough to want him to be a star but not enough to prioritize him in the main event scene over Superstars like Strowman, Lesnar, Reigns and more.

Falling short of a goal like this would usher in a necessity for Balor to shift over to SmackDown Live in some sort of Superstar Shake-up later in the year, as it would prove he just isn't going to be a big player on the Raw brand.

All of this starts at Elimination Chamber, though, which is only a possibility if Balor is able to secure that sixth and final coveted spot in the No. 1 Contender's match.

If he does, look out for his interactions during that match, as they will be the best indicator of what he may be doing going forward and how he might be working the WrestleMania card.

In the event nothing special appears to happen, everybody should start writing him down as just another member of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, wherein he would be lost in the shuffle.

For someone like The Demon to have his entrance be used in such a lackluster way would be a disappointment for not only Balor himself but also all of his fans who are hoping for something more.

Keep your fingers crossed he will have something important to do in the Elimination Chamber match and see where the chips fall after that happens.

What do you think Balor will be doing for WrestleMania 34? Do you think he has a chance at winning a Universal Championship shot?

Be sure to weigh in on the topic by telling us your predictions in the comments section below!

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.