Finn Balor Wins Intercontinental Championship in Handicap Match

Finn Balor is finally champion once again.

The former WWE Universal Champion defeated Lio Rush and Bobby Lashley in an handicap match to win the Intercontinental Championship.

Balor spent the early portion of the match trying to get his hands on the outspoken Rush, but each of his attempts were quickly halted when Lashley was tagged back in.

Late in the match it looked like Lashley had the win in-hand while setting up for a spear, but Rush tagged himself back in to try and get the pin with a top rope splash. Balor dodged the attack, then turned his attention to Rush and kept him from trying to get back to his much larger tag partner.

Balor dumped both men out of the ring and hit a Tope con Hijo, then nailed Rush with a Coup De Grace. The referee handed Balor the title, and he escaped the ring before Lashley could get attack him.

The rivalry between the pair and Balor kicked off the night after the Royal Rumble, where the two interrupted Balor's promo after he reflected on coming up short against Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. Balor tried over the next three weeks to get a clean one-on-one match with Lashley, but was thwarted each time.

Rush attempted to appease Lashley after the match, but "The All Mighty" knocked his own hype man out with a slam before leaving the ring.

Did time just run out for the #ManOfTheHour?@fightbobby is IRATE after @ItsLioRush just lost him the #ICTitle! #WWEChamber pic.twitter.com/9FBUKNAdVb

— WWE (@WWE) February 18, 2019

The win marks Balor's first championship victory in the WWE since winning the Universal title at SummerSlam in 2016. He was forced to drop the title the next night due to injury.

Balor was just one of three newly-crowned champions during Sunday's event at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The show opened with Sasha Banks and Bayley defeating five other teams inside the Elimination Chamber to become the new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, the company's first since the late 1980s.

The match was followed up by Shane McMahon and The Miz losing the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to The Usos when the latter was rolled up for a pin.

Lashley would go on to appear later in the evening alongside Drew McIntyre as the two helped Baron Corbin defeat Braun Strowman. The three knocked the "Monster Among Men" out by triple powerbombing him onto two stacked tables.