WWE SmackDown 07/24: Finn Bálor Earns High-Stakes SummerSlam Match in a Chaotic Main Event

A decade after experiencing a career-high in 2016, Finn Balor will look to match that glory at this year's WWE SummerSlam.

WWE SmackDown 07/24: Finn Bálor Earns High-Stakes SummerSlam Match in a Chaotic Main Event

Finn Balor is headed to WWE SummerSlam [via- WWE]

This week’s WWE SmackDown in Oakland saw Finn Bálor earn his way into a high-stakes matchup at SummerSlam. ‘The Prince’ emerged victorious in a chaotic Fatal-4-Way showdown against Royce Keys, Trick Williams, and his former Judgment Day ally Damian Priest, whom Balor eventually pinned.

The Irishman is now set to wrestle Sami Zayn in a No. 1 contender’s match to determine the next rightful challenger for the Undisputed WWE Title. It will take place at SummerSlam. And speaking of which, it was where Bálor won the now-defunct WWE Universal Championship, beating Seth Rollins back in 2016.

However, he sustained a dislocated shoulder during the course of that match and had to relinquish the title the next night on Raw. Prior to his match on this week’s SmackDown, the former Bullet Club leader said in a backstage interview that he couldn’t help but think about that SummerSlam being the best and worst night of his career.

And for the past decade, he’s been trying to get back the glory of that night. Once he said it, Bálor got cut off by Gunther, who scoffed at the Irish Captor’s plans by asserting that he’d be next in line to challenge for the Undisputed WWE Championship regardless of who’s the champion.

Now that Finn Bálor has a ticket to the ‘Biggest Party of the Summer’, he will be gunning to walk out of the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis with a guaranteed title shot. However, he must put away an obsessed Sami Zayn for that. The latter had a valid crash out over him seemingly being left off the SummerSlam card.

‘The Last Real Good Guy’ slammed both Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis for not wanting to see him as the world champion, which is why they made him defend the title just days after he won it on a show he wasn’t even a part of. As he continued ranting about his unfair treatment, Zayn asked Pearce to add him to the CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes match at SummerSlam.

Pearce, however, affirmed that it wasn’t going to happen, and Zayn will instead have to earn his way back into the title picture. The Syrian-Canadian wrestler mocked the hypocrisy of the so-called big-time players like Rhodes and Punk just getting handed everything while he continues to get pushed aside.

Zayn also mentioned how Nick Aldis did collateral damage to him at Saturday Night’s Main Event by decking Gunther. With Pearce having heard enough, he informed Zayn to be ready to face the winner of the aforementioned Fatal-4-Way at SummerSlam. After initially deeming it unfair, the former ‘Honorary Uce’ ultimately agreed to the proposal.

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Nikki Bella returned on WWE SmackDown from her foot injury

Being sidelined with a foot injury since before this year’s WrestleMania, Nikki Bella finally made her return on this week’s SmackDown. Nikki’s twin sister Brie Bella had just won her match against Lainey Reid, and it was followed by the Fatal Influence trio using the numbers against Brie and her tag team partner Paige.

Nikki Bella hammering down on Jacy Jayne in her WWE return
Nikki Bella hammering down on Jacy Jayne in her WWE return [via- WWE]

As Brie and Paige were getting beat up Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Lainey Reid, Nikki Bella’s music hit. She made a beeline to the ring. The Fearless One’s run-in proved too much for the Fatal Influence to handle, and those women had to retreat. Bella got on the mic and challenged Jayne, Henley, and Reid to a 6-woman tag team match at SummerSlam.

It should be noted that Henley and Reid recently took the WWE women’s tag team titles off Brie Bella and Paige at Saturday Night’s Main Event. And now with the highly experienced trio of The Bella Twins and Paige set to take on The Fatal Influence at SummerSlam, it’s basically going to be a clash of two different generations.

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