Finn Balor Revives The Demon On SmackDown

Roman Reigns got a shock on SmackDown when he was confronted by his Extreme Rules opponent Finn Balor, who appeared as his alter-ego, The Demon.

Balor donned the black, white, and red body paint of The Demon for the first time since 2019 as he closed out an incredible episode of SmackDown by confronting the Tribal Chief.

The show’s main event saw The Usos defend their SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Street Profits. With Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins looking good to reclaim the belts, Roman Reigns made his presence felt and took the disqualification loss for his cousins by choking out Ford with his guillotine, helping Jimmy and Jey retain their title.

It had been a long night for The Head Of The Table as he began the evening being confronted by The Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar. Lesnar caused ructions in The Bloodline as he asked his one-time advocate Paul Heyman why Heyman hadn’t told Reigns that Lesnar was going to appear at SummerSlam.

After Reigns and The Usos walked out on Heyman, Brock Lesnar told him he had five seconds to accept his challenge for Reigns’ WWE Universal Championship. With Heyman hesitant, Lensar hoisted him up for an F5, only to be stopped by Reigns. Brock Lesnar went after Reigns but The Usos interjected themselves so Lesnar took the SmackDown Tag Team Champions to Suplex City.

Later in the night, Reigns accepted Brock Lesnar’s challenge, with the two set to face one another at an unspecified time. And Reigns has the small matter of Finn Balor to deal with first.

With The Bloodline standing tall after the main event the lights dimmed and flashed red as smoke filled the entranceway. The signature sound of a heartbeat pulsed around Madison Square Garden and The Demon arrived to a raucous ovation. Balor slowly made his way to the ring, starring down the Universal Champion as the show went off the air.

Balor had teased the return of The Demon the previous week after being defeated by Reigns. As Balor lay prone in the ring, the lights flashed red and the sound of a heartbeat briefly flicked around the arena.