Watch: Seth Rollins Pays Homage to Florida Championship Wrestling After WWE Raw Goes Off The Air

July 25, 2023, 11:18am

For the second time in their careers, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor will do battle at WWE SummerSlam for a relatively new championship. Back in 2016, Rollins and Balor faced off to crown the inaugural WWE Universal Champion, a match which Balor won. That bout now lives in infamy, as Balor hurt his shoulder during the match and was forced to vacate the title just 24 hours after winning it. Fast forward seven years later, and these two are meeting once again, this time facing one another for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, a title that was just introduced this past May.

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Balor is a very different man today, but he is still driven by what went down at WWE SummerSlam 2016. As a result, the Prince has been attacking the Visionary at every available opportunity. Balor and The Judgment Day stood tall over Rollins to close Monday Night Raw earlier this week.

After Raw went off the air, Rollins addressed the Tampa Bay crowd.

“This city is special to me, this is where I got my start in WWE,” Rollins said, alluding to WWE’s pre-NXT developmental territory of Florida Championship Wrestling. “So [when] I came back here tonight, I wanted it to be a special night. Finn Balor and The Judgment Day ruined that.”

While Raw didn’t go as planned, Rollins declared that he will be victorious come next Saturday.

“I promise you, SummerSlam is going to be a different story,” Rollins continued. “I’m going to go out there, I’m going to beat his a–, I’m going to defend the World Heavyweight Title, and I’m going to do it for me, but I’m going to do it for every single one of you who supported me back in the FCW days and still supports me today.”

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Rollins reported to FCW upon signing with WWE in 2010. After just two years in the territory, Rollins had reigns as FCW Tag, FCW 15, and FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion to his name. Some of his most memorable programs included a tag run with Richie Steamboat and a blood feud with Dean Ambrose.

WWE SummerSlam 2023 Card & Rumored Matches

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Tribal Combat Rules)
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
SmackDown Women’s Championship: Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre
Ricochet vs. Logan Paul
Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus (Rumored)

WWE SummerSlam goes down on Saturday, August 5th.