Bengaluru, July 18: Extreme Rules kick-off show hosted an impromptu matchup for the Intercontinental Championship in which Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Finn Balor after delivering two back to back Kinshasa moves. This gave a shock start to the pay-per-view event as nobody had expected this title change through this feud as it very little to no build up at all.
Moments later, Finn Balor posted a tweet which said 'bye, bye' and that began rumours about him leaving the WWE brand. Often the officials punish superstars who are not open to a contract extension with the company by taking away their titles. Balor's reign was lackluster anyway and that further enhanced talks about his departure.
Bye bye 👋 pic.twitter.com/1E2Oa3qHeh
— Finn Bálor forEVERYone (@FinnBalor) 15 July 2019
The good news is that 'the extraordinary man who can do extraordinary things' will not leave the WWE anytime soon. But he will be away from the scene for sometime and thereby we may not see him on TV for weeks to come. However, his break may not be starting straight away, as per recent reports.
Pro Wrestling Sheet was the first to give an update on this and they report that the former Intercontinental Champion asked for some time-off from the WWE, who have granted him the break after Summerslam. So, he is set to continue competing for a couple of months now. But they have agreed to drop a valuable name like him from TV on one condition.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed that WWE management wanted Finn Balor to work at Summerslam and put over the returning Bray Wyatt. This is why the 'Eater of the World' targeted him on this past episode of Monday Night Raw and dropped him down with a Sister Abigail. It must have planted seeds to book these two in a match at the biggest event of the summer on August 11th.