SummerSlam 2016 was a historic premium live event as the first ever WWE Universal Champion was crowned during the show. Seth Rollins and Finn Balor faced off in a match that saw Finn become the inaugural Universal Champion, but Finn unfortunately suffered a shoulder injury during the match.
During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Finn Balor was asked how much pain he was in during the match, and he revealed that at one point he offered to change the finish for the match.
“No pain, but I knew there was a big issue, and it actually came out like three more times in the match, because any time I lifted my arm to hit the ropes, it came out. I remember I got whipped to the buckle one time it came out. So I don’t know if I’ve ever told this story, and I’m not sure if I should, but I remember at one point in the match, so me and Seth, I was very lucky to be in there with Seth when it happened, because Seth is an absolute pro, and we were able to communicate, and I was able to tell him, hey, I’m hurt, so we were kind of calling the match on the fly and editing spots and changing spots and talking the whole time, so the match that we’d done wasn’t actually the match that we’d laid out.
I must give Seth credit, because there was a point, we were outside the ring and I was rolling him back into the ring, and I said, ‘Dude, I’m hurt. I don’t think I’m gonna be wrestling for a while. Do you want to switch to finish?’ And he said, ‘No, stick to the plan.’ I just rolled him back in, and we stuck to the plan. I often wonder what that would have done for my career if we had switched the finish.”