(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles – WWE Extreme Rules 2016

Few wrestlers in modern times have been as controversial as Roman Reigns. At the same time, few wrestlers are as universally admired and praised as AJ Styles.

Both of them could stake a claim to being the best wrestler active today for both similar and different reasons. Reigns has enjoyed some of the most consistently solid booking and presentation in decades, despite being arguably the most hated wrestler since 2000. Conversely, Styles earned a reputation for incredible in-ring work and managed to overcome some truly questionable booking before finally “making it” to WWE.

But which one of them truly deserved to be called the best? Was it the guy who wore the title and got management’s full support in front of the camera? Or was it the guy that the audience cheered above all and whose praises they sang in person and online? Read on to find out.

Previously I was writing for a site called TJR Wrestling and now this series is coming to Blog of Doom. For now you can check out the series in its entirety here.

The story

Roman Reigns was in an odd place in 2016. As the company’s handpicked replacement for golden boy John Cena, Reigns received a main-event push so ham-fisted and obvious he might as well have worn Cena’s merchandise on his way out to the ring.

On one hand, this was a necessary decision on WWE’s part: with Cena’s in-ring career winding down and his attention shifting towards Hollywood the company needed someone to fill his role as the heroic babyface archetype that Vince McMahon had been promoting more or less nonstop since the 1980s.

On the other hand, large swaths of fans hated Reigns, or at least what he represented. For years there had been a growing contingent of fans that resisted the WWE machine’s overt attempts at manufacturing a wrestler’s popularity and those fans targeted Reigns vociferously. He was booed as the winner of the 2015 Royal Rumble, so much so that not even his universally-adored cousin The Rock could salvage the situation. One year later, Reigns entered the Rumble match as the defending world champion in a weird storyline that tried to paint him as a sympathetic underdog fighting against the very machine that had created him (this was like trying to sympathize with the T-800 in the first Terminator film). Reigns almost made it to the end but was eliminated by Triple H of all people who, despite being a semi-retired authority figure who abused his power against almost the entire roster, was cheered like a conquering hero. The whole story was filled with gaps in logic and contradictions, but that’s what happens when bad writing mixes with a frustrated audience and the wrestlers are stuck in the middle.

Speaking of the 2016 Royal Rumble, that’s where and when Styles made his WWE return. Technically speaking Styles had worked for WWE in 2001-2002 but only wrestled on developmental shows and in dark matches, so for most people this was his debut and boy were people happy to see him:

Styles had spent the prior fourteen years honing his craft elsewhere, to the point that many considered him to be the greatest wrestler active at the time. He was a multi-time champion in TNA, ROH, and New Japan. He collected titles and accolades across the wrestling industry in the same way most people collect paychecks. In later years he would be praised by the likes of Stone Cole Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Paul Heyman, and Kurt Angle. He seemed like the perfect opponent for Reigns, who was being positioned as the company’s chosen ace and not the fans’ chosen ace.

Given Styles’ widespread popularity, it wasn’t long before he found himself in a world title program. Despite losing in his first WrestleMania appearance to a guy who ended up doing nothing with that win, Styles soon found himself #1 contender to Reigns’ world title. Styles challenged Reigns at Payback in a match that could best be described as “overbooked”. After that match ended, the McMahons all concluded that Styles should get another title shot, this time in an Extreme Rules (read: no rules) match.

While few people believed Styles could actually beat Reigns one-one-one, some still hoped that maybe, just maybe, Styles’ superior wrestling skills would help him overcome Reigns’ power advantage. But was that possible under these circumstances? Given that this was a match without rules (at least on paper), would Styles be able to find a winning formula against the man with the golden jetpack strapped to his back?

The match

This match originally took place on May 22, 2016. It was rated ****1/2 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

This is for Reigns’ WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Clever “Roman is Anoa’I’ng” sign right above Lillian Garcia’s head during intros. Styles gets a big pop on his entrance while Reigns gets booed loudly even on the WWE Network version of this match. Reigns powers Styles into a corner right away but Styles ducks a clothesline. Some chain grappling ensues as a “you can’t wrestle” chant begins among the crowd. Styles lands a quick flurry of strikes in a corner to a pop but Reigns shoves him down once more. Reigns follows with a barrage of corner clothesline and teases a big wind-up one but Styles hits first forearms. Styles charges to the ropes but Reigns drops him with a jumping knee.

Styles rolls to ringside and grabs a chair but Reigns hits him first before he can use it. Reigns gets the chair and goes to swing it but Styles avoids it and trips the champion. Reigns kicks Styles into the barricade and swings the chair again but this time Reigns hits the steel steps instead and appears to hurt his hand in the process. Styles fires back with another strike volley and then clotheslines Reigns over the barricade. The fighting spills into the stands as both men throw each other into various hard objects around the arena. Reigns biels Styles onto a glass structure but Styles hits back with a flying forearm.

Both men fight their way back to the ringside area and Styles smashes Reigns’ face into an exposed piece of the metal barricade. Styles teases a Clash onto the exposed concrete floor but Reigns escapes. He teases a powerbomb onto the Spanish announce table but Styles fights out. Styles tries a Clash onto that same table but again Reigns blocks it. Styles attempts a Phenomenal Forearm off the barricade…only for Reigns to counter with a big back body drop, sending Styles into another announce table tailbone-first. That gets a big pop for Reigns, but then seconds later the audience realizes, ‘wait, we’re supposed to hate this guy no matter what he does’ and they switch to chanting “you still suck”.

Reigns covers Styles in the ring but only gets a two-count. He follows with a Niagara Driver but Styles kicks out again. Reigns teases a Superman punch. Styles clips Reigns’ knee and tries another Clash but Reigns drives him into a corner. Styles answers with a snap suplex into the turnbuckles followed by a running knee while on the apron. Styles charges again but Reigns catches him upside down in a Styles Clash position and smashes him head-first into the barricade and the side of the ring. Still not satisfied, Reigns powerbomb tosses Styles into another table, smashing it to pieces in the process.

Reigns teases a spear but Styles dodges it, causing Reigns to hit another piece of barricade. Styles tosses Reigns into the ring and goes for another Phenomenal Forearm but Reigns cuts him off with a Superman punch as he jumps onto the top rope. Styles goes crashing to the floor and this time Reigns connects with a spear at ringside. Reigns tosses Styles into the ring but Styles’ allies Gallows & Anderson come in to make the save. They land a double-team move on Reigns and put Styles on top of Reigns for a cover. One, two, Reigns survives.

G&A grab a chair but they’re cut off by the Usos who interfere to save their cousin (some things never change). After superkicking G&A, one of the Usos hits a diving splash and then Reigns covers Styles but this time he kicks out. G&A take out the Usos but then Reigns takes both of them out. Reigns charges for a spear. Styles blocks it and lands a Styles Clash. One, two, Reigns kicks out at 2.9. Styles attempts a Clash onto a steel chair. Reigns back body drops him and he lands ass-first onto that same chair. Reigns charges again and runs into a Pélé kick. Styles lands a Clash onto the chair but one of the Usos grabs his leg. Styles kicks him away but that momentary delay gives Reigns enough time to kick out again. Styles goes berserk and destroys Reigns and both Usos with chair-shots. Then he rips off his elbow pad and teases one final Phenomenal Forearm. He springboards, but Reigns hits first and spears him in midair. One, two, three! Reigns beats Styles!

Winner and STILL WWE World Heavyweight Champion after 22:12: Roman Reigns

Post-match, Reigns recovers as the crowd gives him a lukewarm response when suddenly they go nuts. Here comes Seth Rollins returning from injury. Pedigree to Reigns. Rollins grabs the title and signals he wants to be the next challenger for Reigns’ championship.

Review

What a strange match. If one were to watch this on mute then this would be a fun and exciting back-and-forth contest between a Goldberg-style wrecking ball and an agile wizard that did everything in his power to make said wrecking ball look great. But the live crowd’s reactions all night really put a damper on this match. They didn’t give Reigns the benefit of the doubt no matter how well he fought and how impactful he made his stuff look. Maybe the live crowd (and some of those online at the time) were simply tired of WWE’s corporate machinations and wanted to sabotage Reigns’ artificial transformation into a long-haired John Cena clone, regardless of whatever effort Reigns put into his work. Or maybe they were so into AJ Styles and other wrestlers like him that they were trying to send a message to WWE’s power-brokers that he deserves the top spot more than Reigns (which, incidentally, would come true months later). Either way, this was a fine match but not the classic that some might’ve considered it at the time.

The other big story here, aside from the fan hostility towards Reigns, was how many insane bumps Styles took from bell to bell. The man was working with a bad back yet landed tailbone-first on the announce table, which then collapsed beneath him. Though Bull Nakano’s top-of-the-cage leg drop this was not, it still looked like a nasty landing yet Styles soldiered on. He continued flying around and trying everything he could to stop Reigns dead in his tracks yet failed on each attempt. He tried all his usual fancy moves only to get ragdolled by a much stronger opponent yet still persevered. He came incredibly close to winning once or twice, with both men getting some great near-falls that actually had a degree of believability.

Even if you were to watch this match on mute or somehow take the fan reaction and the somewhat irritable commentary out of the equation then it’s clear that this match’s dynamic was completely off. While WWE doesn’t really have that much of a face/heel distinction anymore, the match highlighted the problem with how fans are supposed to react. In prior decades heels were supposed to do certain things while babyfaces were supposed to do other certain things. In this match everything was blurred. Styles flew around like Shawn Michaels yet he was the heel in this match. Reigns was supposed to be the babyface defending champion yet he moved and sold like the cocky stronger heel that knew he was better than his opponent.

If the whole point of this match was to make people cheer Reigns and hate Styles, why then didn’t Styles go after Reigns’ knee with his Calf Slicer after clipping it? If WWE’s plan here was for Styles to get heat and not cheers, why was he allowed do wrestle like a babyface and do things that were pretty much guaranteed to be cheered instead of building heat to make Reigns look like he actually has a genuine challenge to overcome?

Final rating: ****

Even after eight years this match holds up well enough. It was a fine car-crash WWE-style main-event filled with plenty of mayhem and crazy moments. If there were to be two takeaways from this match it’s these: 1) AJ Styles earned his right to be in main-event feuds by throwing himself around with reckless abandon like almost nobody else; and 2) Roman Reigns proved he wasn’t a bad wrestler. A solid and capable wrestler for sure, but one who had the mixed luck of being Vince McMahon’s pet project.

One need only look at how fans reacted to Reigns at different points to see the difference bad creative makes. In 2014 prior to his departure for hernia surgery he was still getting more cheers than boos. The same has been true since August 2020 when Reigns returned and became the Tribal Chief for the first time. But during that period from the fall of 2014 to mid-2018 when certain people exerted direct and immediate control over Reigns and his character, he was loathed. He was such an overwhelming and domineering presence that people quickly grew tired of his manufactured and sanitized personality.

Those in charge in WWE must’ve learned something and things have been much smoother for Roman Reigns since 2020. Then again, had the Tribal Chief entered WWE in the fall of 2014 instead of the fall of 2020, many people on both sides of the barricade would’ve been spared plenty of headaches.

Thanks for reading. You can email me with any questions or comments, and be sure to check out my 5-Star and Almost 5-Star Match Reviews series here.