Reason Balor Dropped Belt + Will NXT Call Ups Find A Home?

-By now, you should all be aware that Finn Balor lost his recently-won Intercontinental Championship belt on RAW. Lio Rush made his return, causing a distraction which allowed Bobby Lashley to win back the title.

Wrestle Votes posted a rumor via Twitter, speculating that WWE might have taken the belt off of Balor in order to free him up for something bigger at WrestleMania.

While many would be fine with Balor getting a big match at WrestleMania, the decision to drop the belt is a bit of a head-scratcher.

For this to make sense, it would have to be something big, with someone big, that would neither require nor benefit from the presence of a title belt. Since all the singles title matches are pretty well booked, time will tell if something actually happens here.

-WWE surprised many people by calling up several top NXT Superstars in early February. Ricochet, Aleister Black, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano debuted together on RAW, but have since worked both main roster shows-while still finishing out NXT dates too.

Word is that, once we reach the annual Superstar Shakeup following WrestleMania, these NXT call ups should be assigned to specific brands as most talent is.

Tommaso Ciampa may get assigned to a brand, but based on his recent surgery, he will not be appearing in an active role any time soon.

What will be more curious to watch is if the late 2018 NXT arrivals gain any traction following WrestleMania, as their utilization thus far has been underwhelming-and this is before the expected next wave of new arrivals, as is a post-‘Mania tradition.