As seen during the January 17th 2022 edition of WWE RAW, Austin Theory scored a clean victory over Finn Balor.
Paul Davis of WrestlingNews.co noted that he was told the following from a source in regards to how WWE views Theory and Balor at this point:
“Finn was moved into the spot that Jeff Hardy had. He’s just there now to help get over the younger guys. There was a pitch to make him heel but that was weeks ago and I haven’t heard much about it since then. Vince never saw Finn as more than just a mid card guy. [Paul] Heyman would have pushed him to the moon but Vince just never saw it. Austin is going to get time to shine in the Rumble match. Last I heard was he will be in the final 4 or 5 at the end of the match.”