Roman Reigns Turns Down John Cena SummerSlam Match, Accepts Finn Balor Challenge

By Marc Middleton

WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns has accepted a challenge issued by Finn Balor.

Tonight's WWE SmackDown on FOX from Cleveland opened up with John Cena returning to the blue brand to officially challenge Reigns for the title at SummerSlam. Cena called Reigns a "life-less ego-maniac" and said SmackDown with Reigns as champion "absolutely sucks," and that's just his opinion.

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Cena continued his promo and asked fans if they are "Team Jorts or Team Cargo Pants, Team Hustle, Loyalty & Respect or a team that fans always reject?" Cena called Reigns to the ring but Reigns never came, sending Paul Heyman instead for a quick back & forth with Cena.

Reigns later came to the ring in the show-closing segment to respond to Cena. He knocked Cena for coming back as a "nostalgic act" on Sunday, with the same music, same outfit, same entrance, same run to the ring, same promo, and same insults. Reigns said if he wanted what he saw, he could've just went online and searched for 2005 John Cena. Reigns compared it to "the same thing over and over, like missionary position every single night."

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Reigns then declined Cena's challenge for SummerSlam, saying he has no desire to see Cena, and the one place we won't be seeing Cena is the main event of SummerSlam because his answer is no. That's when the music interrupted and out came Balor.

Balor returned to SmackDown last week to attack Sami Zayn. He made his in-ring return earlier in tonight's show, defeating Zayn in singles action. Zayn confronted Reigns in the middle of the ring as Reigns laughed at him and asked if he came to acknowledge him. Balor said if Reigns isn't interested in Cena's challenge, maybe he is interested in this challenge from Balor. Reigns talked it over with Heyman as fans chanted "Roman's scared!" and then accepted the challenge.

SmackDown went off the air with fans cheering as Reigns and Balor faced off in the middle of the ring. There's no word on when Balor vs. Reigns will take place, but we should know soon. It's still believed that Cena vs. Reigns will headline SummerSlam on August 21 in Las Vegas.

The likely storyline for Balor vs. Reigns will have to do with Balor coming back for the Universal Title. Balor became the inaugural WWE Universal Champion back at SummerSlam 2016, but was forced to relinquish the title the next night due to a shoulder injury he suffered in the win over Seth Rollins to win the title. Balor has often talked about wanting to come back and regain the Universal Title.

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Stay tuned for more on Balor vs. Reigns and Cena vs. Reigns. Below are related shots from tonight's SmackDown at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio:

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