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**Mr. Nerfect** · 08-18-2016, 10:18 PM

I'm curious as to see what they do with the Universal Title at SummerSlam. There are a few avenues they could take:

* They might go all-in with Balor winning the belt cleanly. A new era, a new champion for that era. It's a morale booster for those toiling in NXT too. Rollins has already had his moments and is cemented as a main eventer in the eyes of management. Him losing "makes" Balor in their eyes. Expect the Balor toys to be rolled out and Balor to be shoved down throats as the new John Cena/Roman Reigns type project.

* Balor wins the belt with help from The Club. They already have The Balor Club licensed and merchandised. This seems like the obvious decision from a marketing standpoint. This accomplishes the "new champion" agenda of the first scenario, but it also creates a new top heel (something they arguably need) and it turns Seth Rollins babyface. The benefits to a face Rollins are pretty obvious: People seem to want to cheer him, he's had his run as the lead villain, his merchandise is already in stores, etc. Rollins is arguably mature enough as a performer to handle being a top babyface with nuance at this point.

* Seth Rollins wins the Universal Title, probably with help from The Club, continuing the main story thread of him being the top heel of the brand. As an established main eventer, he's a good choice to "install" a championship. He's done that before with the NXT Championship, but that actually helps the Universal Title by drawing a parallel between them. Balor being screwed out of the belt by his friends would set him up as the new top babyface relatively smoothly, but also give him a chase.

Truth be told, the more I think about it, the more I think that the best creative decision would actually be to pull the trigger on The Balor Club. It's probably the best from a money point of view, it allows Rollins to become more important while also putting Balor center-stage in an arguably "easier" role. The angle does pretty much write itself. Having Roman Reigns floating around the main event in this context works too, as Rollins is going to need fire-power, and he's isolated everybody on the roster. Rollins & Reigns would be one man down, but that makes people think about Dean Ambrose and could encourage them to watch SmackDown. Yes, Balor winning the Universal Title helps SmackDown and creates a new major babyface slot for someone to take -- whether that be someone already on the roster, like Sami Zayn or Cesaro, or someone from NXT, like Shinsuke Nakamura.

08-18-2016, 10:18 PM	#27938
Mr. Nerfect Posts: 61,456	I'm curious as to see what they do with the Universal Title at SummerSlam. There are a few avenues they could take: * They might go all-in with Balor winning the belt cleanly. A new era, a new champion for that era. It's a morale booster for those toiling in NXT too. Rollins has already had his moments and is cemented as a main eventer in the eyes of management. Him losing "makes" Balor in their eyes. Expect the Balor toys to be rolled out and Balor to be shoved down throats as the new John Cena/Roman Reigns type project. * Balor wins the belt with help from The Club. They already have The Balor Club licensed and merchandised. This seems like the obvious decision from a marketing standpoint. This accomplishes the "new champion" agenda of the first scenario, but it also creates a new top heel (something they arguably need) and it turns Seth Rollins babyface. The benefits to a face Rollins are pretty obvious: People seem to want to cheer him, he's had his run as the lead villain, his merchandise is already in stores, etc. Rollins is arguably mature enough as a performer to handle being a top babyface with nuance at this point. * Seth Rollins wins the Universal Title, probably with help from The Club, continuing the main story thread of him being the top heel of the brand. As an established main eventer, he's a good choice to "install" a championship. He's done that before with the NXT Championship, but that actually helps the Universal Title by drawing a parallel between them. Balor being screwed out of the belt by his friends would set him up as the new top babyface relatively smoothly, but also give him a chase. Truth be told, the more I think about it, the more I think that the best creative decision would actually be to pull the trigger on The Balor Club. It's probably the best from a money point of view, it allows Rollins to become more important while also putting Balor center-stage in an arguably "easier" role. The angle does pretty much write itself. Having Roman Reigns floating around the main event in this context works too, as Rollins is going to need fire-power, and he's isolated everybody on the roster. Rollins & Reigns would be one man down, but that makes people think about Dean Ambrose and could encourage them to watch SmackDown. Yes, Balor winning the Universal Title helps SmackDown and creates a new major babyface slot for someone to take -- whether that be someone already on the roster, like Sami Zayn or Cesaro, or someone from NXT, like Shinsuke Nakamura.