We may not be getting Demon Finn Balor at Royal Rumble

Finn Balor won a Fatal 4-Way match on Monday Night Raw last week to book his ticket to a title shot for the Universal championship against Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble this Sun., Jan. 27, 2019, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s a big match, on a really big stage, and you would think that would warrant Balor bringing out the “Demon” once more.

You would be wrong.

Or at least it sounds like it.

Here’s what he had to say about it to ESPN:

“I feel like maybe I leaned on the demon too much there in the past as a crutch, and I can assure you that the man who faces Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble will be Finn Balor, the man. I think a lot of people were surprised when I came out at WrestleMania not in demon paint but I feel like I had a bigger message to spread that day -- one of equality and acceptance. Honestly, this match just kind of came about so fast that I haven’t had much time to think about it. I don’t have any new gear, I don’t have any new looks, I don’t have any new ideas right now, but you know, we’re still six days away, so I’m sure I’ll come up with something.”

I, for one, was looking forward to Lesnar reacting to the Demon Balor gimmick and the kind of interaction the two could have had in that setting. The story is probably better suited to Balor playing the underdog who Vince McMahon never believed in and so on and so forth, but this feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Doesn’t it?