Last week on “WWE SmackDown,” it was determined that Sami Zayn will indeed get one other shot for the chance to challenge for the Undisputed WWE Championship, after he seems like he was screwed out of the title after just nine days by management and CM Punk. It won’t be really easy for him, nevertheless, as Finn Balor won a four-way match against Damian Priest, Royce Keys, and United States Champion Trick Williams to face Zayn at “The Biggest Party of the Summer” to find out the following contender for the title.
While SummerSlam is not a premium live event where fans often see primary contender’s matches, within the case of Zayn and Balor, it’s warranted. Those are two big names for the cardboard, which needs enough matches to span over two nights, and it needs to be one absolute banger of a bout, making all fans winners in the long run. Balor and Zayn make the winners list this week for making their way onto the show, in a match with actual stakes.
Fans have been begging for one more push for Balor for the reason that starting of 2026, and truly, even longer. He hasn’t held a top title on the predominant roster since his ill-fated Universal Championship victory over Seth Rollins a decade ago at SummerSlam 2016, where his shoulder was injured by a buckle bomb onto the barricade. Balor relinquished the title the following night, and hasn’t hit such heights since.
In only one night on “SmackDown,” in quite simple fashion, it sets up a singular match dynamic, with Balor fighting his way back to the highest ten years after his major injury on the event, and Zayn also searching for redemption after working so hard for thus long, only to lose the Undisputed WWE Championship to Punk after just a number of days with the gold.
The match is great for Zayn’s character arc either way. Either he wins the match to challenge for the title, or he can proceed his arc of descending further into madness. For Balor, personally, it has to feel fulfilling to even get the chance, and it seems somewhat likely he’ll emerge the victor to challenge either Punk or Rhodes down the road, if only simply to further Zayn’s story. The bout is up against some stiff competition in the case of in-ring motion during night two of the event, but there is no likelihood they do not deliver.
Balor vs. Zayn can have been certainly one of the last-minute additions to the SummerSlam card, however it could emerge as among the finest bouts of your complete weekend. The easy, yet effective option to book this match was an enormous win for WWE last week.
Written by Daisy Ruth