WWE Royal Rumble 2019 results: Highlights, takeaways, WrestleMania projections

WWE Universal Championship Match

Brock Lesnar (c) def. Finn Balor

This match started fast and furious as Finn Balor went right after Brock Lesnar, flooring him early on and getting a few licks in before the champion recovered and started in with the suplexes. I had predicted Lesnar perhaps setting some distance records and he certainly went for that in and out of the ring, going with the belly-to-belly early on.

But Balor got the upper hand once again and this was done quite nicely. While on the outside of the ring, Lesnar attempted to bring the announce table into play, ripping off the cover, which ended up hurting him as he was pushed into the corner of the exposed table. Given his history with his midsection and the diverticulitis, this became the focal point of the match and it really made it seem that the smaller challenger had a chance here. Very well done.

Balor kept after it and kept after it, going with a number of maneuvers, including three suicide dives to the outside and nearly pulled off the upset after hitting the Coup de Grace but Lesnar kicked out, flipped into the Kamura Lock and that was that. Another short match for Lesnar but at least this one was entertaining.

What’s next: Just to keep things interesting and to keep the heel heat on Lesnar, he went nuts after the match and threw in some more suplexes. It’s not likely that we see Balor get another title shot at The Beast but he didn’t look weak in defeat and didn’t really lose anything here. It was good that he got this opportunity, to begin with and he’ll get himself into a decent match for WrestleMania, perhaps some multi-person match for the Intercontinental Championship. As for Brock Lesnar, it seems that he has a date for WrestleMania 35 with the winner of our final match.