Seth Rollins Retains Intercontinental Title at Greatest Royal Rumble

Seth Rollins defeated Finn Balor, The Miz and Samoa Joe in a Fatal 4-Way ladder match at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday to retain the Intercontinental Championship.

All four Superstars laid it on the line in the ladder match, and it took an amazing feat of athleticism for Rollins to retain.

"Monday Night" Rollins used the ropes as a springboard, allowing him to leap to the ladder, scale it and grab the title before Balor could secure it.

WWE tweeted a photo of Balor's reaction to the narrow loss:

Friday's match was partially the continuation of a feud that took center stage at WrestleMania 34 in the opening bout of the show.

At The Showcase of the Immortals, The Miz entered with the IC title in tow, but Rollins left with it after beating both Miz and Balor in a highly entertaining Triple Threat.

On Raw the night after WrestleMania, Samoa Joe returned to the fold. He had been out for multiple months due to injury, but he called out Roman Reigns and was announced as a participant in the Greatest Royal Rumble IC title ladder match.

The Intercontinental Championship has a long history of ladder matches, with perhaps the most notable one being the clash between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon at WrestleMania 10.

Although the ladder match at the Greatest Royal Rumble didn't live up to that classic bout, it was an exciting affair that featured four of the best all-around Superstars WWE has to offer.

With the Superstar Shake-up occurring last week, the match took on an interesting dynamic with major brand implications.

Rollins and Balor remained on Raw, while both Miz and Joe were sent to the blue brand.

With Jeff Hardy taking the United States Championship back to SmackDown Live after winning it from Jinder Mahal on Raw, it created some questions regarding whether it was feasible for a SmackDown Superstar to win the Intercontinental Championship.

That made Rollins and Balor heavy favorites in the match. However, there was still reason to believe that Miz and Joe had a fighting chance.

The Miz entered the Greatest Royal Rumble closing in on the WWE record for most cumulative time spent as IC champion, while The Samoan Submission Machine vowed during his SmackDown debut that he would bring the intercontinental title and possibly the Universal Championship with him to the blue brand.

Coupling the unpredictability of a ladder match with every Superstar staking claim to the IC title made for a tough-to-call match that had fans biting on every near-finish.

Rollins' first run with the Intercontinental Championship will continue after Friday's win, and he figures to be a focal point of Raw in the months to come.

Although many of his top potential challengers have migrated to SmackDown Live, The King Slayer is a machine when it comes to putting on quality matches, and keeping the IC title on him essentially guarantees that the championship will be involved in some high-profile feuds.

Continuing his friendly rivalry with Balor is an option moving forward, and that alone could make Raw appointment viewing, even though SmackDown looks to have the stronger overall roster.

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