Bálor later entered the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament in August, pairing with Samoa Joe and defeating The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara and Kalisto) in the first round, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady in the quarter-finals, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson in the semi-finals and Baron Corbin and Rhyno in the finals on 7 October at NXT TakeOver: Respect to win the tournament. On 4 November episode of NXT, Bálor defended the NXT Championship against Apollo Crews, but the match ended in a no contest after Baron Corbin interfered, attacking both men. Joe came out and chased Corbin away before turning on Bálor and attacking him, which ignited a feud between the two. At NXT TakeOver: London on 16 December, Bálor defeated Joe to retain the title. On 1 April at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, Bálor retained the NXT Championship in a rematch with Joe. On 17 April, Bálor became the longest reigning NXT Champion in history (the record has since broken by Adam Cole in 2020) by surpassing Neville's previous record of 287 days. On 21 April, Bálor lost the NXT Championship to Joe at a live event in Lowell, Massachusetts, ending his reign at 292 days. At NXT TakeOver: The End on 8 June, Bálor lost to Joe in the first ever NXT steel cage match in a rematch for the NXT Championship, marking his first TakeOver loss, and subsequently his first loss under his "Demon" persona. Bálor wrestled his final NXT match on 30 July, teaming with Shinsuke Nakamura to defeat Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe. Universal Champion; shoulder injury (2016–2017) On 19 July 2016, Bálor was drafted to the Raw brand as the fifth overall pick in the 2016 WWE draft, later declaring that he should have been the first pick. He made his first appearance for the brand on 25 July episode of Raw (on his 35th birthday), where he won the right to compete for the newly established WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam by first defeating Rusev, Cesaro, and Kevin Owens in a fatal four–way match and then defeating Roman Reigns, who had won a similar fatal four–way match. At SummerSlam on 21 August, Bálor defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural Universal Champion and win his first world title. Since then, WWE reported that he sustained a shoulder injury during the match and an MRI revealed a labrum tear that would require surgery,