Braun Strowman could not contain his hatred for The Fiend, and he attacked the universal champion during his entrance. But the masked madman of WWE endured and delivered a uranage that drove his rival through the announce table.
However, there was still no sign of third competitor, Roman Reigns, at this point.
Alexa Bliss watched via monitor in the back, twirling her pigtails while Michael Cole hopped the guardrail to avoid The Fiend.
The champion retrieved a giant mallet from under the ring and, after some back-and-forth, utilized it on The Monster Among Men. The Fiend screamed in twisted pleasure as he punished his opponent.
The champion fought Strowman up the entrance ramp, where the challenger recovered and bulldozed The Fiend through a table. Back in the ring, he met The Monster up top for a big superplex that demolished the ring.
With both men down, Roman Reigns nonchalantly made his way to the ring with Paul Heyman by his side, signing the contract as he did so. The Big Dog tried to win the match by pinning both competitors, but he could not keep either down for three.
Reigns lit up Strowman with a barrage of steel chairs, but The Monster refused to stay down; he grabbed the chair but The Fiend caught him with the Mandible Claw. Reigns escaped, blasted Strowman with the spear and won the Universal Championship.
The Big Dog celebrated his win with Heyman as the show went off the air.
Reigns defeated Strowman and The Fiend to win the title
Ignoring the fact that signing a contract midway through a match is probably illegal, this was a perfect way to put over the heel persona of Reigns.
With Heyman's guidance, he took the most underhanded approach by waiting until he saw an opening created by his brawling opponents and sneakily absconded with the title.
It was a great bit of booking, though Reigns' titantron visual and music need an upgrade if we are going to go full steam ahead with this turn.
The other development of note was Bliss watching intently as The Fiend controlled the match early. She is clearly going the way of Harley Quinn, and we should all be here for that. There are, after all, far worse storylines for WWE to rip off than that modern-day classic.
Overall, this was an explosive finish to a pay-per-view event that pleasantly surprised. There were no skippable matches, everyone seemed to be working hard, and the result was a two-and-a-half-hour good time.
