A Near-Perfect Roman Reigns Match Left Him Seriously Hurt

One of WWE's biggest goals in the late 2010s was to turn Roman Reigns babyface and make him the star of the company following the breakup of the Shield in the summer of 2014. It was something fans wouldn't ever get on board with, and the rise of Reigns, as a heel, really began after his return following the height of the pandemic in 2020. One of the more extreme ways creative attempted to turn him face earlier in his career was to garner sympathy for the star.

Following WrestleMania 31 in 2015, where Reigns was pinned by Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank contract for the World Heavyweight Championship, Big Show began attacking Reigns backstage. Big Show would beat up "The Big Dog" multiple times throughout April on "WWE Raw," and at one point, chokeslammed him through the roof of a car backstage. The attacks led to a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules that month.

While the match would go on to become known as one of the best matches of Big Show's career in the modern era, Reigns took the brunt of the punishment throughout the match before getting the eventual victory. At one point in the bout, Big Show chokeslammed him over the top rope, sending Reigns crashing through two tables set up below. In an interview with the "Tallahassee Democrat" just four months after the match, Reigns confirmed he didn't come out of the bout unscathed.

Reigns was asked what was the most painful thing to ever happen to him in the ring, and he confirmed that following the choke slam, he "threw up blood for a couple of days." Despite claiming he was injured to the point of being ill following his victory over the big man, he didn't miss any time.

Reigns told the "Tallahassee Democrat" that anytime a grown man picks someone up with the intention of dropping them, it's going to hurt. Despite being hurt and the lingering effects to follow, Reigns won the match after he sent Big Show through the Spanish commentary desk with a spear, then overturned the English broadcast desk and trapped Big Show underneath it for the count of ten. The match was well-received at the time and continues to be liked by fans across social media. It currently sits at a solid 7.71 rating by fans on Cagematch.

"This ruled. Even tho [sic] there was context [as] to why Roman's babyface run was a failure, you would be a fool to say that Roman wasn't doing his thing in ring during his time as 'the big dog,” wrote one fan who rated the match a nine. Another fan rated it a 10 and called it Big Show's best singles match ever, as well as a "star-making" performance for Reigns.

The match was brought up in 2020 following Reigns' return to WWE on the SquaredCircle subreddit, where wrestling fans, likely still stuck at home during the pandemic, discussed how much they enjoyed the bout. One of the most upvoted comments on the post of the full match said it "had no right being as good as it was." User u/Hamzh12 said that they were pretty sure it was one of Big Show's best matches and gave him props for putting Reigns over.

"One of Show's best matches ever," one user posted, to which another replied, "The, 'Oh hey, maybe Roman's good at this after all?' Match."