Brock Lesnar privately told Vince McMahon to make Finn Balor his Royal Rumble opponent

Until the past edition of Monday Night Raw, WWE fans thought they were getting Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman, one-on-one for the Universal title, for the third time at the Royal Rumble.

We now know that Finn Balor will take the Monster Among Men's place after Strowman was punished for vandalising Vince McMahon's limousine.

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In truth, Vince McMahon had to find a replacement for Strowman after the big man wasn't medically cleared to compete next Sunday following elbow surgery in December.

Reports have also suggested that McMahon didn't want Strowman to lose to Lesnar once again and with the Beast Incarnate set for a big title match at WrestleMania, that was bound to happen.

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But why Balor? Of course, the Irishman was said to be in line to face Lesnar at the 2018 iteration of the Royal Rumble but McMahon changed his mind because he felt Balor was 'over enough' with the fans.

This time around, Dave Meltzer is reporting that Lesnar has personally selected Balor to be his opponent and told McMahon to make it happen. Naturally, Vince obliged his formidable champion.

Although Balor almost certainly won't win, it's still a great spot for the first-ever Universal champion. In a bid to protect him, McMahon will not have Balor use his Demon gimmick at the Rumble as he sees special things for that character in the future.

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Balor recently turned up in NXT UK for a surprise match with Jordan Devlin at NXT UK TakeOver. It's rumoured that NXT creator Triple H is a huge fan of Balor's and is behind his recent push on Monday nights.