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Roman Reigns’ victory over Buddy Murphy on the August 13 episode of SmackDown Live is likely to go down as one of the best WWE matches of 2019.
Prior to the show, Murphy had not competed in any televised matches on SmackDown Live since being drafted to the brand from 205 Live in the Superstar Shake-Up in April, but his performance against Reigns cemented his status as one of WWE’s brightest young talents.
A fan noted on Twitter that Reigns’ ability to have 5-star matches with any opponent is “horribly underrated”, prompting the four-time WrestleMania main-eventer to dub himself the “Best Performance Fighter Alive”.
Is Roman Reigns the real ‘Best In The World’?
Although Roman Reigns has had lots of critics throughout his WWE career, the former Shield member has consistently been involved in high-quality matches since bursting onto the main-roster scene in November 2012 alongside Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.
One of his most successful stints in the main-event picture came in early 2015 when he followed up an impressive victory over Daniel Bryan at Fastlane by facing Brock Lesnar in the headline match at WrestleMania 31. WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart, who has been known to be critical of the modern-day product, heaped praise on the Lesnar vs. Reigns encounter, describing it as an “instant classic”.
Since then, Reigns has featured in marquee matches at WWE’s biggest events against star names including Triple H, The Undertaker, John Cena and Braun Strowman, and he previously made another bold claim about his wrestling ability by stating in a WWE Network interview in December 2017 that he is “the best in-ring performer in the world right now”.
What’s next for Roman Reigns in WWE?
Right now, Roman Reigns is involved in a mystery attacker storyline on Raw and SmackDown Live, and it emerged on the latest episode of SmackDown that Daniel Bryan knows who is responsible for the attacks and he will reveal the person’s name next week.
WWE is advertising Reigns vs. Bryan at upcoming live events, so the former Universal Champion will have the chance to prove that he truly is the “Best Performance Fighter Alive” when he goes head-to-head with one of the most accomplished in-ring performers of his generation.
