Even though there are many contenders for the U.S. Championship, I believe Finn Balor has the highest chance of getting a title shot at Payback or SummerSlam. Payback would be the most appropriate given the way Balor lost the title.
The Loss of the Universal Championship
Shortly after making his debut on RAW, Finn Balor won the WWE Universal Championship by defeating Seth Rollins. Unfortunately, Balor got injured during the match. The injury cost him several months of recovery.
Only 24 hours after winning the title, Balor was forced to relinquish his WWE Universal Championship. Then, the Universal Title was won by Kevin Owens during a fatal 4-way match against Roman Reigns, Big Cass, and Seth Rollins. Since Kevin Owens was ultimately the one that took the title from Balor, and the fact Owens has been bragging to be the first ever Universal Title winner, a match between Owens and Balor is certainly in the cards.
Owens Wins the U.S. Title
If you have seen the match at WrestleMania, you already know that Kevin Owens took the U.S. Title from Chris Jericho. Chris Jericho cost Kevin Owens the Universal Title by causing a distraction during his match with Goldberg. Owens later took revenge by taking Jericho’s title at WrestleMania 33.
Since Owens currently possesses a title and since the WWE seems to have other plans with Brock Lesnar (which might be another Roman Reigns domination match), it is likely that Finn Balor might challenge Owens for his U.S. Title soon.
Other Possibilities
There are other possibilities though especially when you consider who was responsible for the injury of Finn Balor in the first place. Kevin Owens did not have a direct connection to Balor losing the title and his injury, so another possible opponent is Seth Rollins.
Seth Rollins has gone full-on face recently, so a match with Seth Rollins could mean that Balor has to turn heel. However, the match-up does seem unlikely since Balor fought with Rollins in a tag team match against Owens and Samoa Joe. Balor also seemed more focussed on KO, but only time will tell if this is the direction WWE Creative is taking.
Still, there seems to be no bad blood between Seth Rollins and Finn Balor in real life, because the pair shared a heart-warming photograph when both stars were injured.
Seth Rollins has injured quite a few superstars since his upgrade to the main roster and was slammed by Bret Hart for it. Even though Hart retracted his statement, it left doubt with some wrestling fans. I for one believe that injuries are a part of the job and sometimes they cannot be avoided. Unfortunately, the injury came at an inconvenient time for Balor.
Of course, Balor could be going for the Universal Title directly, which means he could be pitted against Brock Lesnar! I must admit that this match-up is much more exciting than the prospect of Reigns vs. Lesnar. I’m not a fan of Lesnar nor Roman Reigns, so having Fin in the match-up would make me interested in the U.S. Title again. Your turn WWE!