As seen at Saturday’s WWE NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool from the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England on the WWE Network, there was a big surprise for fans who attended as well as tuned into the broadcast on WWE’s streaming service.
Jordan Devlin was originally scheduled to face Travis Banks in a singles match but Devlin attacked Banks prior to the match taking place. This led to Johnny Saint coming out and deciding to give Devlin a new opponent, which turned out to be former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor.
Following the event, Triple H discussed the decision to have Balor fill in for Banks against Devlin while doing a media scrum.
“It’s about launching a brand. He was extremely cool with it,” said Triple H. “It put a lot of eyeballs and puts a stamp on the brand for what it means for Finn Balor to come here. Part of me hates taking that moment away from (Banks), but it’s for the betterment of everybody. Everybody worked hard tonight, but his sacrifice means more. He saw the big picture. One of the cool things about NXT is everybody coming together. They’re a team, and they’re working together. It’s working for a greater good. It’s about the overall product and not the individual. That’s the way he took it.”
H/T to Fightful for the transcript
