[8.0] "This was a great match. For years by this point, the people were booing Roman Reigns because of how shoved down their throats. So the crowd was cheering for Finn Balor, and they had to have known this going in, so they had Reigns playing the power game while Balor would get the babyface comebacks. Out of all their singles matches, this was probably the best one. ****"
[8.0] "This was much like their #1 contender match on Raw in 2017 with Reigns working like a heel overpowering Finn, and Finn having to find ways to counter it and that made for a good combo. Finn's comebacks in this were also really good.The last 3-4 minutes of this was really good with both of these two trading big moves with the crowd going crazy for everything, and the crowd would have exploded if Balor won, but Reigns won this one.***3/4"
[7.0] "Very good match. Roman did a nice job working on top. Loved his smug attitude when he was dominating and overpowering Balor. Balor's comebacks were really good too. Had nice energy and technique to them. A lot of counters and big moves in the closing stretch and I enjoyed it. Crowd was going crazy for a Balor upset. This was fun. ***1/2"
[8.0] "Very good match this time between Reigns and Bálor in a much more different and important context than their first two matches in 2016 and 2017, here was the very first rematch Bálor had managed to get for the title he had never lost two years before and had to release due to a sad injury and that alone was already something huge. The opener segment of the show laid the groundwork as this match just had no build up, it was simply a vengeful Bálor coming out to face the champion to declare his thirst for revenge and Reigns as fighting champion accepted with no problem as he loves that kind of challenge. Easily the best title defence Reigns has had in this short reign, and their best match together on par with their title bout on SmackDown earlier this month. The action was terrific and the crowd was nuts for any nearfalls, great content."
[7.0] "Really good match. Reigns is always great as a heelish big man and Balor did a good job as the babyface fighting from underneath. The crowd was 100% behind Balor on this night which resulted in a very exciting finishing stretch with lots of nearfalls. If they'd been given 5 or so more minutes, this would've been a RAW classic. (***1/2)"
[5.0] "There's no denying it's competently worked (stunningly boring first act aside) but it's all so superfluous and heatless isn't it? All just Roman Reigns gurning preamble for the reunion of WWE's stalwart company men cash cows The Shield. Maybe I'm missing something, but this seems so backwards. Angles should hype matches, matches shouldn't hype angles. It's a perfectly decent match, occasionally even great, but the inconsequentiality of it just smacks of WWE. Not in a good way."
[0.0] "The appeal of this is completely lost on me. Finn Balor is a robot and I can't seem to invest in anything he does, and Reigns will impress me one moment and then irritate the life out of me the next by wandering around the ring, cocking his fist, roaring, walking around some more, and hitting a lousy punch as a finisher. Just not for me, not at all."
[8.0] "Very good overall. A nice title defense for Reigns. He worked better on top here and Balor did great job as babyface as well. Crowd was super hot and behind Balor obviously. The distraction was lame and unnecessary but this still has a lot of fun to sit through."
[7.0] "7. 75/10 - #5 Best of SS18 Weekend : Great tv match to emphasize the biggest positive coming out of Summerslam, the new era of the universal championship. Roman Reigns is a guy athletic enough to be able to put up really good exciting matches when put up against great wrestlers, a statement I have always believed and was further evidenced last night. Fast-paced explosive wrestling from Finn and Roman with the counters to match. Fun, quick and exciting « WWE style » match at its best ? Look no further !"
[8.0] "Really great first defense for Roman. This was the match both men needed after neither was doing anything impressive most of the year. Finn's urgency as the underdog was a superb performance. This was easily better than anything on the PPV the night before, ****1/4."
[7.0] "Finn und Roman stellen im Main Event ein feines TV-Match auf die Beine und spielen schön mit dem Upset. Gute Dynamik, paar feine Sequenzen. Brauns Eingriff wirkt passend für die Story. Gutes Ding! (***½)"
[6.0] "Handwerklich sicherlich ziemlich okay, auch wenn Reigns nicht mehr als seine üblichen vier Moves verwendet. Die Dramatik entwickelt sich dann eher aus dem Auftauchen Strowmans, denn bis dahin ist das im Ring ganz okay, aber ein Titelwechsel halt ziemlich unwahrscheinlich. Ganz anders danach - Strowman gibt der Partie einen hauch Unabwägbarkeit, nur um dann dem Kollektiv der Shield-Jungs zum Opfer zu fallen. Handwerklich also passabel, dramaturgisch alte Schule. In meinen Augen knapp auf sechs Punkte abgerundet."
[7.0] "was pretty good. I don't really care much for the Shield or this reunion but the crowd seemed to love it. Loved the match too. Roman being very dominant, over powering Balor all match but doing very well to make Balor look good too. Balor's comebacks were awesome and had some emotion in them rather then the usual mechanical comeback that every face does. ***1/2"
[6.0] "Ohne die Ablenkung im Finish hätte ich 8 Punkte gegeben. Finn Balor geht in die Midcard und Reigns schiebt man uns gegen den Brechreiz kontinuierlich die Speiseröhre runter. Bis zum Auftritt von Braun schauen und dann schnell wegschalten."
[8.0] "Fantastic match up that helped the Universal title look worth fighting for. If this is how Romans title reign will go then I think soon he'll be able to silence a majority of his haters. ****"
[9.0] "Delightful lil TV match, Finn finally getting his rematch, Universal title back on RAW. Shield reunion during the post match with Braun. All really fun. No complaints. More of this Roman please! **** or ****1/4"
[9.0] "Great match from Balor and Reigns. If Reigns gives us matches like these frequently, then I am all for his title reign. He hasn't been booked well, but the man surely can wrestle great matches. His booking this year was so bad that he didn't even have the opportunity to have good matches, outside of his encounters with Lashley. Finn reminded us once again why he belongs in the main event scene. ****+"
[4.0] "Well done by Balor and Reigns but it was 100% obvious that Roman would win because there was no Demon. So it was very boring. Well, a loss for the demon would have sucked but this would be the perfect time for a demon universal title run. Braun Strowman fails to cash in the Briefcase due to the shield, Finn wins the Match and The Shield breaks apart."
[8.0] "Great match. The 2 of them have such a great chemistry and worked really well together. Bàlor didn't look weak despite his loss. Post-match was awesome as well. I will be looking for an other match between the 2 in the future (not now, I guess), this time maybe with the Demon King involved so this battle can be better yet. (****)"
