6 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (August 21)
2. Reigns, Balor Battle For The Title
The last time the WWE Universal Championship was defended on Raw was in January 2017. So when Roman Reigns declared he was a fighting champ and asked for a title match with former champion Finn Balor, it was a huge step forward for the title.
Balor and Reigns had a solid title match, with fans getting into the false finishes at the end. Sure, Balor lost the battle, but that was to be expected. Even the most ardent Finn fans had to know that he was going to come up short. However, going from feuding with Baron Corbin to taking the new Universal Champion to the limit is a step forward for him.
But the bigger story here is that the Universal title is now back on Raw and capable of being defended on television again. That alone merits an “up” here.