WWE News: Roman Reigns, Finn Balor Added To Next ‘Monday Night Raw’ Pay-Per-View

Roman Reigns is back in the world title scene. The WWE opened this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw in huge explosive style. Thanks to the serious injury to Braun Strowman, Kurt Angle came out and announced that a new match was planned for the next Monday Night Raw pay-per-view Extreme Rules to determine the new No. 1 contender to Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire in July.

Kurt Angle then introduced the men involved in that match – Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, and Samoa Joe. The fans seemed most excited to see Finn Balor come down to the ring, especially after Roman Reigns cut a promo that seemed to veer towards a heelish attitude.

The segment was set up because the Braun Strowman injury damaged the WWE’s plans for the next three months. Angle announced that Strowman was out for up to six months and then the WWE spun the injury into a victory for Roman Reigns over Braun Strowman in their feud based on last week’s attack on Monday Night Raw.

Roman Reigns then came out to the ring and acted smug to Kurt Angle. As the fans booed Roman Reigns, he stood there and said that there was no five-way match at Extreme Rules needed because he is clearly the number one contender. As the fans booed louder, Roman Reigns reminded everyone he beat and retired The Undertaker. Fans were all over Reigns when Finn Balor came out.

Finn Balor got a lot of cheers and reminded both Roman Reigns and the fans that he was the first ever WWE Universal Champion, so the line starts behind him. Finn Balor then reminded Roman Reigns that he beat him on his first night in the WWE. The fans were eating out of his hands so it was time for a heel to arrive.

Samoa Joe was out next and was talking about how he was going to win, talking down to both Finn Balor and Roman Reigns, and unfortunately got little reaction from the WWE crowd. Joe was then interrupted when the lights went out and came back on with Bray Wyatt in the ring.

After Bray Wyatt spoke for a bit, Seth Rollins ran out and attacked Samoa Joe. Rollins chased off Joe, Bray Wyatt then attacked Rollins but Finn Balor took out both of them. Balor then went into the ring, dodged a Roman Reigns “Superman Punch” and then took out Roman Reigns to end the segment.

This is a huge event and will help the WWE cover for the loss of Braun Strowman. While Braun was supposed to fight Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire and then again at SummerSlam, there was already rumors that Seth Rollins and Finn Balor would both get a shot at Lesnar over the next year.

Roman Reigns is already scheduled to fight Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34 next year and the WWE will likely keep the two men apart until that time. Paul Heyman set up that match by suggesting that they were the only two wrestlers in the WWE that ever beat The Undertaker in a WrestleMania event and Roman Reigns needed to face Brock Lesnar to see who the better man is.

With that WWE match a year away, the Braun Strowman injury will just pretty much speed up the matches that the WWE had planned for Brock Lesnar with Seth Rollins and/or Finn Balor. There have also been rumblings for a Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe match, although the fans on Monday Night Raw seemed to care about Joe the least of the five men with Roman Reigns as the most hated.

For now, the WWE rumors for the Monday Night Raw brand are for Roman Reigns to possibly feud with The Miz, Bray Wyatt to feud with Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins to continue their feud. One of those feuds will have to wait until after Great Balls of Fire as Brock Lesnar’s next opponent will be revealed at Extreme Rules.

[Featured Image by WWE]