5 career highlights of Finn Balor on the main roster

On July 25, 2016, WWE Hall of Famer and former Raw General Manager, Mick Foley along with Commissioner Stephanie McMahon established WWE's newest world championship, the WWE Universal Championship.

With the WWE Championship becoming exclusive to SmackDown Live after the brand split, the Universal Championship was introduced as the main world championship for Raw. Since then, the Universal Championship has been treated as one of WWE's two main world titles. Despite not being as appealing as the original World Heavyweight Championship (yes, the big gold belt), the Universal Title has certainly had its moments as we've seen some of WWE's best Superstars compete for the red belt.

Exactly three years ago to this day, WWE crowned its inaugural Universal Champion at SummerSlam 2016 when Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the first champion in the title's existence. With Finn Balor winning the Universal Championship exactly three years ago to this day, this certainly seems like the perfect time to look back at 5 of Balor's best career highlights from the main roster.

Let's get right into it!

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#5 Finn Balor defeats Roman Reigns in his first-ever Raw

On July 19, 2016, just days prior to SummerSlam, Finn Balor was drafted to the Red Brand of Monday Night Raw as the fifth overall pick in the 2016 WWE Draft. Upon his debut, Balor declared that he should've been the first pick for Raw and made his first brand appearance on July 25th, winning a fatal four-way match against Rusev, Kevin Owens, and Cesaro in his first match on the main roster. Later in the same night, Balor, much to everyone's surprise, defeated Roman Reigns, who had similarly won a fatal four-way match, as the former NXT Champion earned a shot at the newly inaugurated Universal Championship at SummerSlam.

#4 Debut of The Demon

With his win over Roman Reigns on Raw, Finn Balor earned himself a shot at the WWE Universal Championship against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. In the lead-up to The Biggest Party of the Summer, Balor and Rollins played a lot of back-and-forth mind games against each other and it all eventually came down to Balor introducing The Architect to The Demon King.

On the 15th August, 2016 episode of Raw, Rollins, as usual, provoked Balor by claiming that at SummerSlam The Demon King would have no choice but to bow down to him. And, within seconds, Balor and his Demon King persona made their presence known all around the arena with another stunning entrance, as Rollins' SummerSlam opponent finally confronted him, but this time with a little twist.

The Architect and The Demon King finally met in a WWE ring, as the former landed the first blow. However, that didn't seem to shake The Demon King, as Balor was quick to retaliate and his eventual message was loud and clear after he had hit a suicide dive on Rollins to end the segment.

#3 Reuniting The Bullet (Balor) Club

On the first 2018 edition of Monday Night Raw, Finn Balor was tasked with finding himself two Tag-Team partners for a six-man tag team match against the trio of Elias and The Miztourage (Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas). Balor, much to everyone's shock, recruited his former Bullet Club stablemates from New Japan Pro Wrestling, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, as the former Universal Champion reunited the OG Bullet Club members for the very first time in WWE.

With a win over Elias and Miztourage in their first match, Balor, Anderson, and Gallows were officially dubbed as The Balor Club the following week. On the same night, The Balor Club earned another major win when they defeated the trio of then Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns and then Raw Tag Team Champions, Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan in another six-man Tag-Team match.

Now, while The Balor Club didn't last too long on the main roster but the trio certainly had their moments and matches and we surely wouldn't mind seeing the trio back on the same side as part of The O.C.

#2 Balor wins the Intercontinental Championship

At the back of a loss to then Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble 2019 pay-per-view, Finn Balor found himself in a feud against then Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley.

On the Raw after Royal Rumble, Balor was addressing his loss to Lesnar when he was interrupted by Lashley and his manager Lio Rush, with The All-Mighty subsequently attacking Balor and sparking a feud between the two. At the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Balor defeated Lashley and Rush in a Two-on-One Handicap Match to capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship in shocking fashion. This marked Balor's first title win on the main roster since his Universal Title win, which he had initially relinquished just one day after winning it due to a shoulder injury he had sustained during the SummerSlam match itself.

Balor's first run as IC Champion, however, ended the following month when he lost the title back to Bobby Lashley, after interference from Lio Rush. This led to a rematch between the two at WrestleMania 35 and this time, Balor brought back The Demon at The Grandest Stage of Them All. With the return of The Demon King, all it took Balor was just 4 minutes to regain the WWE Intercontinental Championship from Lashley in an epic manner, to say the least.

#1 Balor becomes the first Universal Champion in history

At WWE SummerSlam 2016, Finn Balor went toe-to-toe with Seth Rollins in order to crown the first-ever WWE Universal Champion in the history of the company. On the back of a win over Roman Reigns from his first night on the main roster, Balor had a lot of momentum on his side, especially after stunning Rollins with a special appearance from The Demon King, as well.

At the event, Balor and Rollins put on a classic match, despite the WWE Universe being distracted by the disappointing design of the Universal Title. Balor, who eventually pinned Rollins via the Coup de Grace, not only won a world title in his first attempt but also ended up with a broken shoulder, unfortunately.

The very next night on Raw, Balor had to relinquish the Universal Championship, as he handed the title back to Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon but promised to make his return to WWE and win his title back once again.