AEW Champion MJF has commented on Finn Balor not being booked in WWE’s Royal Rumble event this year. The latter has himself spoken up (presumably in kayfabe) on social media about being left out of the annual high-stakes battle royal.
Last week on Monday Night RAW, Finn Balor approached General Manager Adam Pearce about participating in the 2026 Men’s Royal Rumble match. The latter, unfortunately, claimed that the Judgment Day member could not enter the bout, as the field of participants was supposedly full already. Although the snub angered Balor to the point where he interrupted the blockbuster RAW main event between CM Punk and AJ Styles, he still ended up missing the January 31 pay-per-view in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A number of fans have since criticized WWE for not including Finn in the Men’s Rumble. One X/Twitter user in particular called out the Triple H-led company for allowing Mr. Iguana in the matchup instead of the former NXT and Universal Champion. The user later revealed that MJF had liked his post, and wondered why he had done so. The reigning AEW World Champion did not take long to respond, as he merely posted a photograph of himself in Balor’s “demon” body paint, from back when he served as the star’s “paint dummy” while doing extra work for WWE.
Check out MJF’s post below:
It remains to be seen what lies next for Balor on WWE programming.
MJF has an AEW Title Eliminator match scheduled for this week
Lately, MJF has found himself surrounded on all sides by peers who have declared that they are in pursuit of his AEW Men’s World Title. This includes former World Champions like Kenny Omega, Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland, as well as stars who have yet to hold the belt, such as Andrade El Idolo, Darby Allin, and Brody King.
The former House of Black and Hounds of Hell member had accosted Friedman earlier, demanding a title shot, but the latter had refused, telling Brody that he needed to beat a credible main event level opponent first. Last Wednesday, King interrupted The Salt of The Earth yet again, and revealed that he had spoken to Tony Khan and secured a World Championship Eliminator Match against Friedman himself, scheduled for this week’s AEW Dynamite.
![Match graphic for Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs Brody King on Dynamite [Source: @AEW on X]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2026/02/20712-17699938106352-1920.jpg)
If “Big Bad” Brody is able to beat MJF this Wednesday, he will earn a proper title shot at the “Triple B” at Grand Slam Australia.
Edited by Anurag Mukherjee
