Rollins vs Bálor Signed for SummerSlam
By Michael Weaver, Jr. [E-mail | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Website]
It was SummerSlam’16 when Finn Bálor and Seth”Freakin”Rollins wrestled to determine who would be the inaugural WWE Universal Champion. Bálor was injured during the match but would go on to win the WWE Universal Championship. The following night he relinquished the championship. Seven years is a long time for anger and bitterness to come to a boil.
On the April 24th, 2023 episode of WWE RAW, WWE Chief Operating Officer and WWE Hall of Famer: Paul”Triple H”Levesque announced the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship. It would be a championship exclusive to the RAW brand whereas the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship would be exclusive to the SmackDown brand. The inaugural World Heavyweight Champion would be decided through a single elimination tournament which included superstars from both the RAW and SmackDown brands. The first round were four triple-threat matches that took place on May 8, 2023 and May 12, 2023. The semi-finals were singles matches between the winners of the previous triple-threat matches and those matches were held later on the night of the first round matches. Once the finals of the tournament were decided between Seth”Freakin”Rollins and “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, the match would take place at WWE Night of Champions 2023 with Rollins becoming the first-ever champion. In the weeks that followed, Rollins stated numerous times that he wanted to be a fighting champion and wanted to bring prestige to the World Heavyweight Championship.
It would be at WWE Money in the Bank where we would see a rematch between Rollins and Bálor. Before the match took place, Damian Priest defeated Butch, LA Knight, Santos Escobar, Shinsuke Nakamura, “The Maverick” Logan Paul and “The One and Only” Ricochet to become Señor Money in the Bank. Then as Rollins battled Bálor, Priest made his way to ringside and as it looked like Rollins might be losing his newly won World Heavyweight Championship, Priest stood up. However; this action gained the attention of Bálor and some argue caused Priest’s stablemate in The Judgment Day to lose the match.
It appeared as if there were cracks forming in The Judgment Day as Bálor seemed ticked off at Priest but Priest stated that he was just at ringside attempting to distract Rollins. Many members of the WWE Universe were predicting the end of The Judgment Day but their predictions appeared to be incorrect by the end of the July 10th episode of RAW as Bálor, Priest and fellow Judgment Day member “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio defeated the World Heavyweight Champion: Seth”Freakin”Rollins and the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a Six-Man Tag Team Match.
This past Monday, Rollins was scheduled to be interviewed by Byron Saxton but the interview was interrupted by Bálor. The two superstars talked before Bálor appeared to be leaving. Then Bálor viciously attacked the champion. Earlier this week, it was made official by WWE.com that a rematch would take place between the two men.
Now nearly seven years later, the two men who battled to crown the first WWE Universal Champion will battle for the second time in 2023 but this time it’s for the World Heavyweight Championship. World Heavyweight Champion: “The Visionary” Seth”Freakin”Rollins will defend the World Heavyweight Championship against The Judgment Day’s Finn Bálor at SummerSlam!
WWE SummerSlam’23 originates live on Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 8:00 P.M. Eastern/5:00 P.M. Pacific from Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. SummerSlam’23 will air live on NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, in the United States of America and on WWE Network everywhere else. Check tickets availability at Ticketmaster.com.
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