Ric Flair Thinks Roman Reigns Should Have Beaten Finn Balor, Says Smaller Stars Won't Headline Mania
On episode 4 of The Ric Flair Show, the 16 time world champion discussed the first episodes of WWE Monday Night RAW and WWE SmackDown Live of the so-called New Era. Specifically, Flair talked about how he was happy to see his friend, Dolph Ziggler, get a main event push once again. Also, Flair stated that Roman Reigns should have defeated the fifth overall pick of the WWE Draft, Finn Bálor, in the main event of RAW.
During the show, Flair put over SmackDown's main event, which saw Ziggler become the number one contender to Dean Ambrose's WWE World Championship.
"I mean, [Tuesday] night [at] SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler, man. I mean, [he] finally got his due again. What a great match that was on SmackDown. Dolph won. Now he goes against [Dean Ambrose] at SummerSlam. And that match is long overdue for my friend, Dolph." Flair continued, "that was really a good match at the end. I watch the entire show. Bray Wyatt coming back means so much to the product. John Cena looked great. And, of course, AJ Styles is off the hook. And I think that [the match's outcome] caught everybody off guard, which is really good for TV and good for the company. He [has] had the push before, but sometimes you just get lost in the shuffle. There's a lot of talent there. And, of course, the returning Randy Orton was spectacular and when he's healthy, he's the best performer in our business right now unless [Triple H] is working, so I'm so happy for Randy to be back. I think everything's great!"
In Flair's view, Reigns should have gone over Bálor in the main event of the first post-brand extension WWE Monday Night RAW.
"I thought Roman should have won. And I know Finn Bálor to say 'hi' only. I'm a big fan of Roman Reigns. And I'll be honest with you: Finn Bálor reminds me of 'The Dynamite Kid'. Does that make sense? They're very similar in appearance, same kind of work, and, I mean, he's a great performer. God, I'm certainly not taking anything away from his performance or the match, but I'm a fan of Roman Reigns, so I'm saying something that I'm partial about. I think Roman, to me, has one of the greatest looks ever in the [professional wrestling] business. He's as handsome as can be. He speaks well. He got his self-confidence back. He has been through some ups and downs, which we all go through in life, but, I mean, I'm just a big fan of his. That doesn't take anything away from Finn Bálor and where I think where I see Dolph against [Dean Ambrose] as being huge at SummerSlam, I see that as being a bigger match than to see Finn Bálor versus Seth Rollins. I just think Seth [has] got too much experience. And like I said before about Randy, Seth Rollins is the second Randy Orton. He's that good."
According to Flair, Bálor is too physically small to main event a WrestleMania, as no cruiserweight will ever headline a WrestleMania.
"If I'm looking at what's going to draw money, what I would pay to see, I would pay to see Dolph against Ambrose before I'd pay to see Finn Bálor against Seth Rollins, so I think it's phenomenal. I think Finn Bálor is great too. I just think you've got a legitimate heavyweight in Seth Rollins, a legitimate heavyweight in Roman Reigns, and I don't think we'll ever see the day, and I could be totally wrong, that a cruiserweight will ever main event a WrestleMania. And that's what you have to look at, I think, in the total picture of the [professional wrestling] business." Flair added, "he's of that [cruiserweight] size. I mean, if you look at the two of them side by side, he [has] got a great physique, gosh, but he's smaller. Yeah, I don't think he weighs 200 pounds."
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Source: The Ric Flair Show