{"id":152939,"date":"2026-02-11T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=152939"},"modified":"2026-02-10T20:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:40:23","slug":"what-if-finn-balor-becomes-world-heavyweight-champion-at-wwe-elimination-chamber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/02\/11\/what-if-finn-balor-becomes-world-heavyweight-champion-at-wwe-elimination-chamber\/","title":{"rendered":"What if Finn B\u00e1lor Becomes World Heavyweight Champion at WWE Elimination Chamber?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roman Reigns won this year\u2019s Men\u2019s Royal Rumble, allowing him to pick his championship match at WrestleMania: Vegas. He could either choose CM Punk and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship or Drew McIntyre and the Undisputed WWE Championship. <\/span>On February\u00a02,\u00a02026,\u00a0Monday Night Raw, after a spirited back-and-forth, he chose Punk to face at Mania. However, Finn Balor didn\u2019t care that the match was set in stone. <\/span><\/p>\n

After\u00a0failing to defeat\u00a0Punk last month in Belfast, he demanded a rematch<\/a> at Elimination Chamber in Chicago on the February 9 Raw. An exasperated Raw General Manager, Adam Pearce, agreed to make the match. <\/span><\/p>\n

If Balor wins, he becomes World Heavyweight Champion, meaning that he faces Reigns at WrestleMania. That would change the whole trajectory of the Mania\u00a0build. Would a shock title change be good, or would it be a bad idea?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Balor Win Would Potentially Right a Big Wrong<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

It has been quite a few years since Balor and Reigns went one-on-one with each other. Their very first match together was on the July 25, 2016 Raw in a number one Universal Championship contender\u2019s match. Not only was that Balor\u2019s first main roster match, but he later became the first Universal Champion. Unfortunately, he vacated the title due to injury, robbing him and the fans of a true championship reign. <\/span><\/p>\n

The last time they met was at Extreme Rules<\/a> in 2021. At the end\u00a0of the match, the top rope broke when he was set to do the Coup de Grace on Reigns. That allowed Reigns to get the pinfall for the win. To this day, fans are furious. He even\u00a0brought that up\u00a0during his promo on Monday. To right this huge\u00a0wrong, WWE\u00a0has to\u00a0put the title on Balor at Elimination Chamber.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An Infuriated Punk Would Not Be Good for Them<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

If Punk ends up losing his title at Elimination Chamber,\u00a0it\u2019ll\u00a0be\u00a0terrible for him.\u00a0He\u2019ll\u00a0lose\u00a0it\u00a0on a PLE that his wife\u00a0wrestles on\u00a0in his hometown of Chicago, and\u00a0he\u2019ll\u00a0lose his spot at WrestleMania.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0hard work\u00a0he put in to become a WWE title holder after over a decade would be for nothing once again. He already suffered through heartbreaking agony\u00a0at\u00a0SummerSlam, when\u00a0Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be embarrassing if he lets his guard down once again in a big situation. When he gets angry, things can get out of hand pretty quickly. If he loses, he\u2019ll definitely be in Pearce\u2019s ear for another match or an insert into the match. A title change would be great for Balor, but it\u2019ll definitely enrage Punk, who\u2019ll take a lot of convincing to calm down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reigns Would Be Majorly Disappointed in the result.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Many fans criticize the fact that Reigns barely wrestles in a calendar year. But when he does show up,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0an attraction. The fans put their fingers up in the air, acknowledging his presence as a certified star.\u00a0His promo last Monday showed how seriously he takes the Mania match, outlining why he deserved to\u00a0face Punk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s widely known that the Shield debuted to defend Punk, and that the latter had not-so-nice things to say about him when he left WWE. The decision felt deeply personal, and their promo showed it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not doing Punk vs. Reigns will be an immense disappointment. But if Balor wins,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no choice but to change the card. He obviously has history with Balor, but more so with Punk. If there is a title change at Elimination Chamber, fans will be robbed of an emotional buildup and WrestleMania\u00a0main event.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What Will WWE Decide to Do\u00a0for the Finish?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

On the road to WrestleMania, there are always surprises that people never see coming. Pearce said it best before he made it official. The match at Elimination Chamber threatens the Mania card in the most severe way. But as always, the card is subject to change. Having Balor win would be significant for many reasons. <\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019ll face off against his very first main roster opponent. It\u2019ll also right an extremely huge wrong in the Extreme Rules finish five years ago that neither he nor the fans have forgotten about if he retains.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it\u2019ll enrage Punk if he doesn\u2019t get his match against Reigns at WrestleMania. It\u2019ll also lead to a less personal journey for Reigns if Balor wins. It\u2019ll be very interesting to see how WWE will handle the buildup and the actual match at Elimination Chamber, leading up to an incredibly anticipated WrestleMania.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for more on Finn Balor, Elimination Chamber, and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the significant news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/amp-ad><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Netflix<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>USA Network<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>The CW<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Tubi<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>A&E<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments), and\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Peacock<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Main Event, as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>YouTube<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><\/em>WWE Speed<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>).<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roman Reigns won this year\u2019s Men\u2019s Royal Rumble, allowing him to pick his championship match at WrestleMania: Vegas. He could either choose CM Punk and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship or Drew McIntyre and the Undisputed WWE Championship. On February\u00a02,\u00a02026,\u00a0Monday Night Raw, after a spirited back-and-forth, he chose Punk to face at Mania. However, Finn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":142674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4,3],"tags":[111],"class_list":["post-152939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raw","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-finn-balor"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152939"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152954,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152939\/revisions\/152954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}