When Dean Ambrose retained the WWE World Championship at Battleground, the Raw brand was left without a heavyweight champion. In response, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley announced the creation of the WWE Universal Championship, and at SummerSlam, Finn Balor became the first man to hold the title.
Balor took on two-time WWE World Champion Seth Rollins at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, delivering a dream match with high stakes. The explosive Balor managed to answer all of Rollins's offense, even kicking out of the Pedigree. In response, Balor hit the Coup de Grace, pinning Rollins in just under 20 minutes.
Earlier this year, Balor became the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all time, breaking the record set by Neville. Only days later, Balor lost the belt to Samoa Joe, and while he was unable to reclaim it, he was brought to the Raw brand in July's WWE draft. In his first evening on the show, he won a four-way match against Rusev, Cesaro, and Kevin Owens, then beat Roman Reigns to qualify for the Universal Title match.
On a less positive note, fans at Barclays Center were vocal about their displeasure with the design of the Universal Championship during the match. The belt is an exact duplicate of the WWE World Championship, but with a bright red leather strap that shows through the center plate.
