5 underappreciated Roman Reigns matches
Roman Reigns has reached a level that not many in professional wrestling have touched, let alone in WWE, in years. The Head of the Table finally hit his stride as the heelish Universal Champion on Friday Night SmackDown.
Fans have been clamoring for this kind of run from Roman Reigns for half a decade. But in wanting that, the WWE Universe may have missed out on some of his greatest moments. Through all the heavy booing and outright hatred, fans blinded themselves from some fantastic matches.
Love or hate the guy, Roman Reigns' in-ring ability has always been on point. Looking back on his career, you can see why WWE saw him as the new face of the company. We'll be taking a look at five underappreciated matches from Roman Reigns throughout his career.
If you're looking for his classics with the likes of AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, or that fantastic SummerSlam Fatal-4-Way, look elsewhere. We're specifically looking for underrated matches.
Honorable Mentions:
- Roman Reigns vs Buddy Murphy - SmackDown August 13th, 2019
- Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens vs Big Cass vs Seth Rollins - RAW August 29th, 2016
- Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens - Royal Rumble 2017
#5 Roman Reigns vs Cesaro - RAW November 16th, 2015
Roman Reigns and Cesaro have clashed a handful of times in WWE. Though we had a stellar showcase between the two at WrestleMania: Backlash this year, one of the greatest matches we got out of the two was in 2015. At this point, we weren't at that peak Roman Reigns hate, but it was getting there.
This was also right after Seth Rollins suffered a freak injury that forced him to abandon the WWE Championship, leading to a sixteen-man tournament to crown a new champion. Reigns defeated Big Show in the opening round while Cesaro knocked off his future tag team partner Sheamus, leading to a stellar quarter-final contest.
Cesaro, always the workhorse, put on an eighteen-minute war with Roman Reigns. Cesaro's incredible power was enough to stall the multi-time WWE Champion, and several times over, the crowd believed he was going to advance. One moment, specifically, saw Cesaro counter a spear with a pop-up European uppercut, and Reigns looked to be out cold.
Roman Reigns had to fight off several submissions as well, as the WWE Universe chanted, "This is awesome!" It was a stellar showcase of both Cesaro's neverending reserves of stamina and Roman's undying will.