WWE Universal Championship Match Set for WWE Raw, August 29

After Finn Balor was forced to relinquish the Universal Title, WWE announced that there will be a Fatal 4-Way match next Monday on Raw to determine the new champion.

Less than a day after winning the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, Finn Balor was forced to surrender the title due to a shoulder injury suffered in his match with Seth Rollins. 

According to WWE, the injury occurred after Rollins powerbombed Balor into the outside barricade. Balor dislocated his shoulder, but was able to finish the match after he pushed it back into place.

The former WWE Universal Champion may miss between four to six months if surgery or rehab are required. The following night on Raw, General Manager Mick Foley announced that a series of matches would take place to determine the next WWE Universal Champion.

The first qualifying match of the night was between Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn. Right after the announcement for this match was made, Rollins attacked Zayn and tossed him outside of the ring.

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Zayn was able to gain some momentum in the match, but lost it after he suffered an apparent ankle injury. Rollins was able to use the injury to his advantage and worked Zayn’s ankle throughout the match.

Despite the ankle injury, Zayn worked his way back into the fight. Just when it seemed like Zayn was going to win, Rollins countered Zayn’s attempt at a Blue Thunder Bomb and hit Zayn with a Pedigree to win the match and qualify for the Fatal 4-Way match next week.

The second qualifying match of the night was between Kevin Owens and Neville. Near the start of the match, Chris Jericho walked over to ringside to help out his tag team partner.

Neville took control of the match early on. He hit some impressive moves outside of the ring and from the ropes, including a spinning corkscrew moonsault.

Thanks to a distraction from Jericho, Owens stopped Neville from hitting his signature Red Arrow and hit him with a torture rack neckbreaker to win the match and move on.

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The third qualifying match for the WWE Universal Championship Fatal 4-Way was between United States Champion Rusev and Big Cass.

Rusev came to the ring with his ribs taped up after the scuffle he had with Roman Reigns at SummerSlam. Cass and Rusev traded a few punches and kicks, but we did not get to see much action in this match because Rusev walked away from the ring and lost the match by count-out.

Big Cass will move on and get his first shot at a major WWE singles title next week. This could be the beginning of a major singles push for Cass, which raises the question, what will happen to Enzo?

The final qualifying match for the Universal Championship Fatal 4-Way was between Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho. It was a very entertaining match with both superstars going back and forth.

One of the more surprising sports in the match came when Reigns hit Jericho with a Superman punch and Jericho kicked out. This was followed by a power bomb from Reigns that Jericho still somehow kicked out of.

Jericho worked his way back into the match, but it wasn’t enough. Even after a distraction from Kevin Owens, Reigns was able to hit Jericho with a spear to win and earn his place in the Fatal 4-Way match for the title.

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The competitors for the Fatal 4-Way title match have been decided. Roman Reigns, Big Cass, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins will battle next week on Raw to determine who will be the new WWE Universal Champion.