Finn Bálor defeats Roman Reigns, earns WWE Universal title match against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam

It was a surprising match-up set-up by two Fatal 4Way matches which opened the first Raw of the “new era”.

Stephanie McMahon & Mick Foley announced the creation of the WWE Universal championship (seeing as how Dean Ambrose retained the WWE title at Battleground, taking it to SmackDown Live with him), and that Seth Rollins would face someone to determine the first person to hold the new title at SummerSlam.

In his Raw debut, former NXT champ Finn Bálor was a surprise winner in a barnburner of a bout against Kevin Owens, Rusev & Cesaro. To his usual mixed reaction, former WWE titleholder Roman Reigns won his match against Sami Zayn, Sheamus & Chris Jericho.

After a tense showdown backstage, and facing a crowd who’d been electrified by Sasha Banks and Charlotte minutes earlier, Finn and Roman headed into their second match of the night, and the first main event of the post-Draft Raw.

And they dug deep...

A series of amazing nearfalls went to an ending which saw Finn counter a spear into a sling blade, setting up his Coup de Grâce diving double stomp finisher. And one of the more amazing debuts we’ve seen in recent memory.

Last week, he was on NXT fighting Shinsuke Nakamura. Tonight, he earned a spot in what is likely the main event of SummerSlam.