Finn Balor Pulled From Intercontinental Title Match At WWE Smackville (Event Spoilers)
Was replaced on the card...
Finn Balor was scheduled to wrestle WWE Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura at Saturday night's WWE Network special Smackville in Nashville, TN, but was forced to miss the event. He was replaced in the match by Ali.
WWE posted a tweet shortly before show time announcing Balor's inability to perform, saying, "During the week, @FinnBalor suffered an undisclosed injury. @WWE Medical has unfortunately not cleared him for competition tonight at #SMACKVILLE. It is unknown who or if @ShinsukeN defends his title tonight. Stay tuned as we learn more."
While WWE offered that vague injury report on the matter, John Pollock of Post Wrestling countered that story by saying he was told that Balor was dealing with a "24-hour bug type situation", and that the company is hoping Balor will be available for Tuesday night's SmackDown Live taping.
Ali wrestled in Balor's place, after Nakamura attempted to take a forfeit victory. The champion ultimately won an eight-minute match after Ali missed a 450 splash, allowing Nakamura to finish with the Kinshasa.
WWE posted a tweet shortly before show time announcing Balor's inability to perform, saying, "During the week, @FinnBalor suffered an undisclosed injury. @WWE Medical has unfortunately not cleared him for competition tonight at #SMACKVILLE. It is unknown who or if @ShinsukeN defends his title tonight. Stay tuned as we learn more."
While WWE offered that vague injury report on the matter, John Pollock of Post Wrestling countered that story by saying he was told that Balor was dealing with a "24-hour bug type situation", and that the company is hoping Balor will be available for Tuesday night's SmackDown Live taping.
Ali wrestled in Balor's place, after Nakamura attempted to take a forfeit victory. The champion ultimately won an eight-minute match after Ali missed a 450 splash, allowing Nakamura to finish with the Kinshasa.
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.
