The 5 biggest news stories from this week's RAW

2) Balor vs Beast

Finn Balor will challenge for Brock Lesnar's Universal Championship

As the main event of the recent NXT TakeOver UK: Blackpool event played out, fans in attendance began chanting “Are you watching Vince McMahon?” And that in itself is something that many a wrestling fan has wondered over the last few years, with the voice of the paying fans seemingly ignored time after time by Vinny Mac.

One such example being former NXT Champion and the first ever Universal Champion, Finn Balor.

Fans have been clamouring for Balor to be showcased in a more prominent spot on the roster, with many even calling for the Irishman to switch over to the SmackDown brand in order to be refreshed and repositioned. While that SmackDown move has yet to materialise, this week’s Raw was a huge jump in the right direction for Finn.

As a result of Braun Strowman’s removal from the Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble, in his place we now have Finn Balor, with Balor winning a four-way battle against John Cena, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin to earn himself a shot at Paul Heyman’s Beast.

Considering Balor was often lost in the shuffle or left battling the likes of Elias and Jinder Mahal throughout 2018, the past couple of weeks have seen a massive upturn in the fortunes of the former Bullet Club leader.

Sure, we all know that Lesnar will end up retaining the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, but just being in the ring with Brock can make somebody a bigger star. Plus, the likes of Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan have all managed to put on absolute classics with Lesnar, something that Finn Balor will be hoping to replicate.