This past Saturday night saw The WWE hold their special WWE Network Live Event known as WWE Smackville and it emanated from The Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura was originally scheduled to defend his WWE Intercontinental Title against Finn Balor, but it was announced a few minutes into the show that Finn Balor wasn’t medically cleared to compete. It was also announced on Twitter that Finn Balor suffered an undisclosed injury and wasn’t medically cleared to compete.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura then got on the mic and said that since Finn Balor wasn’t medically cleared to compete, the referee should just count to 10 and he should just be declared the winner via forfeit. Before the referee could count to 10, Ali made his way down to the ring and he was named as the replacement of Finn Balor. The match between WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & Ali for The WWE Intercontinental Title was then made official.
The match would then see WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura successfully retain his WWE Intercontinental Title. It was first reported by Fightful and later confirmed by PWInsider.com that Finn Balor is not injured, but is dealing with an illness. It was then discussed on a recent edition of The Wrestling Observer Radio Program that Finn Balor was sent to a hospital due to a stomach flu.
WWE is reportedly hoping that Finn Balor will be back as soon as tomorrow’s episode of SmackDown LIVE where he is advertised to face Dolph Ziggler in a Singles Match. As of this writing, Finn Balor is still scheduled to face “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at next month’s WWE SummerSlam PPV Event.
During the week, @FinnBalor suffered an undisclosed injury. @WWE Medical has unfortunately not cleared him for competition tonight at #SMACKVILLE. It is unknown who or if @ShinsukeN defends his title tonight. Stay tuned as we learn more.
— WWE (@WWE) July 28, 2019
