What if Finn Balor had beaten Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship?

4. A glimpse of how 2016 was supposed to be

Balor may have picked up where he left off on his last title reign.

One of the great hypothetical questions in recent WWE history comes down to, what if Finn Balor hadn’t gotten injured at SummerSlam 2016?

The Demon King had benefited from the push of a lifetime, booked to start his tour of the main roster undefeated, pinning Roman Reigns, and then beating Seth Rollins to be crowned the first Universal Champion. Had Balor not gotten hurt and held onto the title, maybe he would have wound up feuding with Kevin Owens, and we’d get back on more or less our current timeline.

It’s also possible we would have ultimately gotten Balor vs. Brock Lesnar, though, or, if Balor’s reign were a major success, maybe WWE wouldn’t have sent the title to part-time stars, and we’d have seen Balor working with the likes of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho and others over the months or even years to follow, as they traded the championship.