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Vince McMahon Changed Original Plans For Edge & Finn Balor At WrestleMania 39 [Report]

Edge defeated the 'Demon' Finn Balor at WrestleMania 39, but a new report says that was not the original outcome that WWE wanted.
Rick Ucchino|
Edge vs. Demon Finn Balor at WrestleMania 39
Edge vs. Demon Finn Balor at WrestleMania 39 | WWE.com

Vince McMahon is no longer associated with WWE, but his exit from the company was a tumultuous two year long rollercoaster that began with his 'retirement' in the summer of 2022.

Just days before SummerSlam took over Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Paul 'Triple H' Levesque found himself taking over as WWE's new Chief Content Officer. It was a change in creative leadership that many had been clamoring to see take place for years.

By the following January, however, McMahon had manipulated his way back into the role of Executive Chairman and was reportedly influencing certain creative decisions from on high. One of the more significant changes, came at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select learned during the fall of 2023 that Finn Balor was originally supposed to pick up the win over Edge, now Cope in AEW, inside Hell in a Cell. He's only now received the clearance to make that information public.

"Vince McMahon wanted Cope to pick up the victory, despite Adam Copeland pushing to put over Finn Balor," Ross Sapp said Saturday afternoon. "This was a match that featured the "Demon" version of Finn Balor, helping culminate a feud with Judgment Day, which Cope had created. Creative and industry sources have claimed that Balor was originally scheduled to win, but McMahon pushed for the change."

Edge would go on to wrestle just three more matches for WWE before letting his contract expire in August of 2023. It sounds as though Adam Copeland really wanted to put Balor over before making the jump to AEW in October.

While speculation has long been that it was Vince McMahon's call to have Roman Reigns retain the Undisputed WWE Championship over Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39, Ross Sapp says that Reigns going over was pretty firmly locked in throughout much of the build. Although, McMahon was said to be in favor of the decision to keep the title on The Tribal Chief.

The night after WrestleMania, McMahon reportedly ran wild on the script for Monday Night Raw by making sweeping changes at the last minute. The episode was critically panned by the media and fans alike and was labeled one of the worst Raw after Mania's in company history.

McMahon kept a watchful eye over the creative process in WWE for some time after that, until he ultimately resigned from TKO Group Holdings in January of 2024 due to alleged sexual misconduct lawsuit that was filed against him and WWE by Janel Grant.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino is the Assistant Editor & Content Coordinator for The Takedown on SI. He also works full-time for 700WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as a local news and sports anchor, in addition to his time covering the Cincinnati Bengals for Sirius XM. Rick has been on the professional wrestling beat since 2019, having provided coverage for a number of outlets, including Fightful, SB Nation’s Cageside Seats and the Bleav Podcast Network. With an educational background in theater, creative writing and journalism, Rick focuses primarily on the storytelling aspect of pro wrestling, but he’s no stranger to the squared circle himself. He had the privilege of training with former WWE & WCW cruiserweight Jimmy Wang Yang for nearly two years and retired early due to back issues with a perfect 1-0 record in singles competition. Rick is a married father of two incredibly adorable children, who are budding pro wrestling fans themselves. Much to the chagrin of their mother. You can reach Rick at rwucchino@gmail.com

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