5 Roman Reigns matches that exceeded expectations

Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley (Extreme Rules 2018)

One night removed from WrestleMania 34, Bobby Lashley made his highly anticipated return to WWE with a ton of buzz on the ever-exciting post-WrestleMania edition of Raw. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for WWE to cool him off in pointless programs with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and refrain from turning him heel, the role he has proven in the past he is most comfortable in.

It wasn’t until he entered a rivalry with Roman Reigns heading into Extreme Rules that he was finally able to break out of his shell and show makes him such a unique athlete. However, the buildup to their bout lacked excitement due to nothing being up for grabs, and it was also unknown how well they would work together due to the two being so similar in the ring.

Reigns had already stacked up a strong series of singles matches in his WWE career, whereas Lashley desperately needed a star-making performance against the former three-time world champion to remind viewers of how good he actually is.

At Extreme Rules, not being positioned as the main event on the show helped them tremendously, as the crowd was then more willing to give them a chance to shine. Sure enough, they brought the best out of each other and had an extremely entertaining encounter.

The match may not have been a mat classic, but it was exactly what it needed to be and gave Lashley a defining win over a certified main event player.