The former NXT Champion, Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the first ever WWE Universal Champion at Summerslam. Balor suffered a shoulder injury during that match but somehow managed to pick up the victory. It was later revealed that the injury will prevent Balor from in-ring action for 6 months. Hence, WWE had no other choice but to strip him off the Championship.
As a result, WWE had to make several changes in their planned storylines. It was declared on RAW that a fatal four-way match between Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens and Big Cass will take place on next week’s show to determine the new Universal Champion. Some rumors indicate that the former World Champions, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns weren’t supposed to be in the Universal Championship picture for a few months. Now, it seems that one of them will be crowned the next Champion.
WWE was planning to project another former NXT Champion to the ‘top-card’ as Finn Balor was scheduled to defend the WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens. The match was supposed to take place at the September 25th Clash of Champions pay-per-view from Indianapolis. In fact, this encounter between Balor and Owens would have ended in a way to set up a triple threat match for the Championship at Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on October 30. In that event, Finn Balor was rumored to defend against Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. WWE may proceed with their plans with Jeri-KO and just replace Balor with the new Universal Champion.
In fact, Jericho was chalked as Balor’s opponent for WWE Summerslam. And the two former SHIELD members, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, were rumored to face each other for the Championship. These plans were changed due to the suspension of Reigns. WWE needed a top face to replace Roman at Summerslam and Balor was provided with the opportunity.
Although Owens and Big Cass are a part of the fatal four-way match next week, they possess a very low chance of winning the gold. While Rollins seems to be a favorite to win that match, WWE may put the belt on Roman Reigns. Several fans and critics have accused Rollins of injuring Finn Balor during their match and giving the belt to him at this moment will only damage their reputation. Even, Roman was booked in an angle with the United States Champion and that feud may suffer an abrupt end due to Balor’s injury.
