Finn Balor winning not one but two matches in a row to earn a shot at Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship at Royal Rumble surprised a lot of people.

The fact that Balor pinned John Cena in the second bout to win his way into the title match was not any less surprising. Since Crown Jewel is still fresh in the memory, a lot of people wondered if the company was punishing Cena for pulling out of that show.

Though a new report from Sports Illustrated cleared these doubts and it claims that Cena being pinned cleanly had nothing to do with him refusing to work the event.

Furthermore, the site reveals that the finish of the bout was actually John’s idea and he offered to take the fall to make Balor a bigger star.

This decision was a good example of WWE listening to its fans and after the likes of Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura; this is another great example of John Cena willing to put over the deserving stars.

As we noted before WWE intended to remove Braun Strowman from this match from a long time but they kept promoting his bout with Brock Lesnar in hopes for a stronger ticket sales for the event.