Roman Reigns accepts challenge from Finn Balor on WWE SmackDown

Image: WWE

Finn Balor is back in the Universal Championship picture.

Friday night’s episode of SmackDown ended with Universal Champion Roman Reigns accepting a challenge from Balor. The match wasn’t officially announced and it wasn’t made clear when it would be taking place.

The main event segment of Friday’s show was Reigns responding to John Cena’s challenge for a Universal Championship match at SummerSlam. Reigns called Cena a nostalgia act and denied his challenge. Reigns said he wouldn’t be seeing Cena in the main event of SummerSlam.

Balor then made his way out to the ring and asked if Reigns was interested in a challenge from him. After the crowd chanted “Roman’s scared,” Reigns told Balor that he accepts.

Cena had kicked off tonight’s SmackDown by calling out Reigns. Paul Heyman promised that Reigns would provide an answer by the end of the night.

Balor returned to SmackDown last Friday, appearing on the main roster for the first time since SummerSlam 2019. Balor had been in NXT since October 2019.

Balor defeated Sami Zayn on SmackDown tonight.

Balor became the first-ever Universal Champion in 2016 but had to relinquish the title the day after winning it due to a shoulder injury.

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Joseph Currier
Joseph Currier

Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.

In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.