WWE Universal championship match
The Man who every one expected to be here faces a Demon on a startling race to the top of Raw.
The Road to SummerSlam
It wasn’t too shocking when Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley selected both Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor in the first round of the brand split draft.
The Architect, a two-time WWE champ with the opportunity to win back that belt later on during the same show, has ties to Raw’s Commissioner - and he’s Seth freakin’ Rollins. It was assumed the Irishman would be drafted, everyone had been expecting his call-up for months already, but the statement of taking him so soon stood out.
We had no idea at the time it was just the beginning.
As a former titleholder who had just lost, but wasn’t the one pinned, in a Triple Threat title match the night before at Battleground, Seth received a bye straight to the championship match for the new belt McMahon & Foley were announcing (now that the WWE strap was headed to SmackDown Live with Dean Ambrose).
Bálor, on the other hand, had to go 2 - 0 on the evening... first winning a Fatal 4Way against three former holders of secondary belts, and then taking down the Guy everyone assumed would be facing his former Shield brother in the final. When the Irish man hit his finisher and pinned Roman Reigns clean, the WWE Universe knew anything was possible.
The build to their SummerSlam showdown has been a combination of by-the-book and shocking. Finn acquited himself well in a standard promo battle the week after earning his Universal title shot...
And then things got interesting. First, the main roster offered an intruiging explanation of "the Demon", the costumed, body painted aspect of Bálor he brings forth for major matches like this one:
NXT fans were familiar with the various ways Finn paints himself up for his title bouts and feud-enders. This teased an evolution of that for those of us who tune in Wednesday nights (or on-demand on the award-winning WWE Network!) while education the greater WWE Universe.
But everyone expected it would be the pay-per-view (PPV) before we say this supernatural alter-ego. That it was revealed on the final Raw before Brooklyn was a source of considerable controversy:
Did they give away too much, too soon? What does this mean for Sunday’s outcome? Who thought calling it the WWE Universal championship was a good idea?
What's at stake?
Despite some well-argued concerns about spoiling Finn’s demonic countenance, the crowd at Barclays Center will almost certainly still pop huge for Bálor’s entrance - especially if he adds more to the costuming as he often did for NXT’s TakeOver specials.
Does his consistently getting the upperhand on Rollins throughout the short duration of their story mean WWE isn’t ready to put a belt on him - at least one they’re saying will usurp the one Ambrose holds as the most meaningful title in the industry? Conventional pro wrestling wisdom holds that the guy who stands tall on the ‘go home’ show loses at the PPV. What about the guy who stood tall on every show heading into the big event?
While they’re confident in the former NXT champ, they also clearly believe he needs to presented as strongly as possible to the larger audience... so his "wins" heading into SummerSlam could also be capped off with the biggest win of all.
Or they could understandably go the safe route, and reward their hard-working company man with the honor of being the first person to hold their new championship.
Neither outcome seems unreasonable, or outside the realm of possibility. And when you combine that with what should be an entertaining contest between two talented performers, isn’t that all we can ask from a big match like this one?
Find out what Bálor, Rollins and WWE deliver along with the best pro wrestling community on the internet, right here on Cageside Seats tonight!