Flair: Cruiserweights like Balor will never main event WrestleMania
"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair is widely considered to be the greatest performer in the history of professional wrestling, so when he voices his opinion on the industry, people tend to pay attention.
During a recent edition of his Ric Flair Show podcast, the 16-time World Heavyweight Champion discussed the match between Roman Reigns and Finn Balor from "Monday Night Raw," which Balor won to advance to face Seth Rollins at "SummerSlam" for the brand-new WWE Universal Championship.
"I thought Roman should have won," Flair said. "And I know Finn Balor to say, 'Hi' only. I'm a big fan of Roman Reigns. And I'll be honest with you: Finn Balor 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."
Balor is billed as being under 200 pounds, and with Reigns weighing in at roughly 265 pounds, there's an obvious size difference when the two are paired together in the squared circle. While Flair acknowledges the Irishman's talent, he finds it hard to see someone of his stature in the main event of WrestleMania, which is WWE's biggest pay-per-view event of the year.
"If I'm looking at what's going to draw money, what I would pay to see, I would pay to see Dolph (Ziggler) against (Dean) Ambrose before I'd pay to see Finn Balor against Seth Rollins, so I think it's phenomenal. I think Finn Balor is great, too," Flair said. "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 business. 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."
- with h/t to Wrestling Inc