Every Roman Reigns WWE Universal Title Defence Ranked In Order Of Greatness
21. Vs Rey Mysterio (WWE SmackDown, 18th June 2021)
Indicative of the drab spell the title reign was charging headlong towards, Roman Reigns and Rey Mysterio’s Hell In A Cell match was little more than a few weapons in a cage rather than the bloody end to a blood feud.
Not that the blade was needed or expected in a WWE match, but it’s the job of the wrestlers to work around this by assembling a contest that feels every bit like the combatants are willing to die for the cause of stopping their opponent killing them first.
This just didn’t have enough of that.
Reigns had brutalised Rey and son Dominik in the build, but the match itself taking place on television rather than the Premium Live Event sporting the stipulation’s name betrayed the supposed heft of the story in an empty quest for ratings.
At its peak, it was very good but never truly great. It is reasonable, given all the components, to have expected much much more.