10 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE SummerSlam 2016

by Scott Carlson

1. A Universal Demon King

Finn Balor WWE Universal Title
WWE.com

After the John Cena/AJ Styles match mid-PPV, anything that followed it was going to have its work cut out for it. Thankfully, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins were more than up to the task.

Rollins and Balor hooked up in a high-energy, fast-paced match that showed that both men were evenly matched and willing to pull every move out of their arsenal. The storyline was pretty simple: Rollins never lost his first world title, then Ambrose cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to take Seth’s second title. He was looking to recapture that glory. Balor, on the other hand, was the longest-reigning NXT Champion and was a force of nature invading Raw.

Both men battled to become the first WWE Universal Champion, and it showed how badly both wanted to hold that distinction. In the end, WWE wisely went the route of vaulting Balor straight to the top, making him a legit star in just one month’s time (compare that to Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin, languishing on SmackDown).

While he might not have a long reign (you’ve got to imagine Rollins will end up with the title sometime soon), Balor winning here was both an awesome moment and the right call.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.