Demon Finn Balor Is Best WrestleMania Match for Brock Lesnar, Not Seth Rollins

At the 2019 WWE Royal Rumble, Finn Balor took Brock Lesnar to his limit in a Universal Championship title match that belied his considerable size disadvantage.

Before the match, we were treated to a "tale of the tape" graphic that highlighted exactly how ridiculous and far-fetched this match was on paper, let alone in practice.

Balor was fighting a man who outreached him and outweighed him by 100 pounds. If this was a sanctioned sport rather than sports entertainment, such a fight would never be allowed to take place.

But that's the beauty of professional wrestling and its larger-than-life characters. This is a world in which the impossible is possible; we can see a David vs. Goliath narrative play out without watching David die.

Lesnar also responds well to this sort of physical storytelling. His matches against smaller wrestlers, such as AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan, have been among his recent best.

The Rumble match between Balor and Lesnar started with an affirmation of the obvious—the Irishman was not going to win a slugging contest with The Beast Incarnate.

Balor laid in multiple, uncontested punches and kicks. After all that expended effort, Lesnar simply shook it off and executed a massive belly-to-back suplex. And just like that, The Beast was back in control.

To gain the upper hand, Balor would need to hobble his opponent in a more damaging, lasting way. And he figured this out while brawling with Lesnar on the outside; he pushed the champion, gut first, into the corner of the announcers' table.

And the Irishman kept his focus on Lesnar's gut for the rest of the match, stomping it, striking it and laying into it at every possible opportunity. Eventually The Beast began dropping to his knees, screaming in pain when he tried to lift Balor over his head.

Like the best wrestling, there's an additional layer going on here that blurs real life with fantasy. Years ago, Lesnar suffered from diverticulitis, a painful inflammation of the digestive tract. He had (unwisely) been fighting in the UFC Octagon while suffering this condition. One well-placed punch could have burst one of these inflammations, and the resulting toxins could have poisoned and killed him.

Credit: WWE.com

Eventually, he underwent surgery and had a foot of his colon removed. He was never the same after that and retired from UFC competition and headed back to WWE.

By targeting Lesnar's abdomen, Balor was calling back to that old vulnerability. And even though the Irishman eventually tapped out to the Kimura Lock, The Beast seemed lucky to lock it in.

The Irishman had just hit a Coup de Grace to his opponent's stomach; had he cradled The Beast in a small package instead of hooking his leg, we might have a new universal champion.

And Lesnar reacted more emotionally to this near-loss than any of his other ones. He administered a post-beatdown to his helpless opponent—almost as though Balor had hit upon something personal.

It's being assumed Seth Rollins, who won the 2019 Royal Rumble, will fight Lesnar at WrestleMania 35. They're both on Raw, after all. But what if The Architect challenges SmackDown WWE champion Daniel Bryan instead? They could have a technical match made in indy heaven.

Lesnar would then be free to fight Balor again, this time at the Showcase of the Immortals. The Irishman could come out dressed in full Demon regalia and give us a WrestleMania moment for the ages.

The concept sells itself: "Where were you the night that The Demon battled The Beast?" To paraphrase Apollo Creed from Rocky, it sounds like a damn monster movie.

Balor's "Demon" persona has been very well-protected with regard to wins and losses. And if the smiling, leather-jacketed version of him nearly pulled off a win against Lesnar, then The Demon could have a real chance at dethroning the champ.

Plus, we've seen Lesnar fight The Architect in several matches—in a Triple Threat at the 2015 Royal Rumble, at WrestleMania 31 during Rollins' infamous cash-in and at the 2015 Battleground PPV—in one-on-one competition.

WrestleMania is about more than just the wrestling. It's about the glitz and glamour, the pageantry that makes it such a mainstream, beloved success. And The Demon vs. Lesnar (with all due respect to Rollins) is the match WWE needs to book to create that sort of mainstream accessibility.

The past two weeks should prove to WWE chairman Vince McMahon that Balor is a bona fide star, not just the flavor of the month. And if anyone deserves to beat The Beast clean on such a massive stage, it might as well be the first universal champion, who only held the title for a day before he was forced to relinquish it due to injury.