Count Seth Rollins among those who is no fan of Brock Lesnar's schedule. The Architect surprised the WWE Universe during his first post-Greatest Royal Rumble address by announcing that, instead of competing on the same limited basis as The Beast Incarnate, he wanted to defend his Intercontinental Title as a “fighting champion.” Finn Bálor, who missed out on the title by, literally, the tips of his fingers, was the first (extraordinary) man to take Rollins up on that offer.
The former Universal Champion had floated the title match as a “tiebreaker” of sorts between the two, as each have two wins against the other in one-on-one competition. Fittingly enough, the epic match was at a dead heat; Bálor had an answer for everything The Kingslayer attempted, including a very creative counter of the superplex-Falcon Arrow combo (after the superplex, Bálor was the one who hit the Falcon Arrow on Rollins). Despite Rollins’ dodge of the Coup de Grâce, several of the champion’s stomp attempts came up empty, and the war of attrition seemed to be tilting in Finn’s favor the longer the match went.
It was going to take a last-ditch effort for Rollins to pull out the win and, luckily for him, The Kingslayer came through in the clutch: As Bálor attempted his running dropkick, Rollins stopped him cold with a superkick on the button and stomped him into the canvas to earn the victory. Bálor’s quest for the title comes up short again, while Rollins’ stint as a fighting champion is off to a rousing start. Should Rollins survive The Miz at WWE Backlash, it’s even possible that they’ll see each other again. They may not be part of the new Four Horsemen as The Miztourage hoped they would, but “the new Steamboat and Savage” has a nice ring to it indeed.
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