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It was with a heavy heart that on the October 22 edition of WWE RAW in 2018 that the then WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns announced that his returning Leukemia has forced him to relinquish the Universal title and take time away from WWE to be with his family while he once again returns to fight the horrible disease.
After an emotional speech that very quickly turned boo's into loud echoing chants of ''Thank You Roman'', his Shield brothers Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins joined him on stage for a heart-wrenching embrace. As Roman prepares for the biggest fight in his life, I have recently made some articles in honour of him, looking over his best matches with The Shield and his best solo matches, but there is more.
While Roman has had many great matches with his brothers in The Shield, as well as solo matches with the like of John Cena and Brock Lesnar, Roman has also had many solid matches that have simply gone overlooked by fans. Whether it be that they happened when a large portion of fans detested his character or didn't care for his particular storyline, these are what I feel are five underrated matches from Roman Reigns.
#5 Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan - WWE Fastlane 2015
When you look at the best matches in the solo career of Roman Reigns, this should actually be among the first to come to mind as it was a pretty damn good match. However surprisingly, it also seems to be one of those matches that fans have forgotten about.
I don't think anyone was surprised by the outcome of Roman Reigns coming out on top, but Daniel Bryan was there to give Roman the best match possible, and that is what he did. There was some nice back and forth action through the first half of the match. Despite the size difference between them, there was never a point where Roman used his size and strength to make Bryan look inferior, which was nice to see.
The live audience was into it and were very loud through the whole match. The fans certainly wanted Bryan to win but Roman didn't receive his then usual rough crowd reaction, so it could have been worse. The end came when Bryan set up for the running knee, but Reigns countered with a Spear for the pinfall after about 20 minutes.
#4 Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton - WWE SummerSlam 2014
This one was a big test for Roman Reigns. It was the Big Dog's first big one-on-one match since The Shield disbanded following Seth Rollins betrayal two months earlier.
It was no secret that Roman was in the eyes of management as WWE's next big thing, so it was no surprise he would go over here. As he hadn't much experience in big one-on-one matches, however, and with opponent Randy Orton not having many good one-on-one matches himself in several months, I think most were expecting this one to not be much, but they were wrong.
Roman was strong and aggressive in the early going, but Orton soon took control as they fought to the outside. Some use of the steel steps, barricade and announcers tables for Orton to weaken Reigns. Some back and forth action back in the ring for a while before everything started to slow down just a little bit. As Orton was preparing for a punt kick, Roman hit the Spear for the win.
#3 Roman Reigns vs. Finn Bálor - WWE RAW July 25, 2016
This one was a great one to see, even if WWE and Roman Reigns elevating Finn Bálor didn't last very long.
Roman Reigns had shockingly lost the WWE Championship after a 77-day reign at Money in The Bank to Seth Rollins on June 19. It soon became clear as to why when WWE announced just two days later that Roman Reigns was suspended for 30 days for his first violation of WWE's Wellness Policy.
When Roman returned to action, he didn't regain his main event push for a few weeks, and during that time, was used to help elevate WWE's newest main roster star set for the main event, Finn Bálor. The two had a great back and forth match, so good that you would have thought it was on pay-per-view, rather than RAW.
Despite the size difference between them, Bálor kept up with Reigns and even burst out a lot of power moves on the Big Dog. Finn would pin Roman Coup De Grace to advance to the Universal Championship match at WWE SummerSlam.
#2 Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus - WWE TLC 2015
I think what makes this one so underrated is that many fans were against both men. It seemed like no one still wanted Roman Reigns in the Championship picture and even fewer wanted Sheamus to be WWE Champion.
Never the less, I think both men busted their ass to make this shattered everyone's expectations in this Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. The match started off with both men quickly taking it to the outside where they fought with several chairs. Back int he ring the ladders came into play and we had a lot of back and forth action. Reigns was then on the apron, where he picked up Sheamus and gave him a Samoan Drop off the apron onto the ladder that was bridged from the announce table to the ring earlier. It was a brutal spot.
Back in the ring both men attempted to grab the WWE title, but stopped each other after a few attempts each. Sheamus climbed up, grabbed a piece of the title and Reigns went up with a Superman Punch that sent Sheamus crashing through a table at ringside, it was a sick spot. Sheamus stable mates Alberto Del Rio and Rusev showed up to help him, but were eventually taken down by Superman Punches. Sheamus would still take advantage however and Brogue Kick Roman out of the ring and grab the title.
I think this match was heavily underrated by the Boston crowd that night as they spent much of it chanting 'boring', 'Cena', 'NXT' and other chants that had nothing to do with the match. Roman and Sheamus would also have an exciting rematch on RAW the following night, this time with Reigns coming out on top.
#1 Roman Reigns vs. The Big Show - WWE Extreme Rules 2015
I don't think anyone expected this Last Man Standing match to be as good as it was, and no one sure as hell expected it to be what it was, the best match of WWE Extreme Rules 2015.
As both Roman Reigns and the Big Show are huge stars, on paper, it shouldn't sound like too much of a big deal that they put on the best match, but Roman was still finding his way as a solo main event player and the Big Show has never been someone to always give a great match.
Once again, I don't think anyone doubted that Reigns wouldn't come out on top, but they still did a convincing job to show that he earned it. Big Show was dominant for the first half of the match. Roman eventually took control after sending Show flying from the top rope. Show gave Reigns a Chokeslam from inside the ring through the two tables that were on the outside, which was a great spot.
Roman eventually recovered and hit Show with a Spear through the barricade at ringside through the barricade. They then made their way to the announcer's tables and climbed on top as Roman Speared Show through the announcer's table, and tossed its remains on top of him to secure the 10 count and win.
