Roman Reigns' 10 Best WWE Matches
3. Vs. AJ Styles (Payback 2016)
It was the spring of 2016, and fans were rather cross.
WrestleMania 32 was an oppressively long show full of contrarian booking, capped off by a dull main event that saw Roman Reigns win the WWE Championship to a chorus of boos. Sensing this discontent, WWE promoted Payback as the start of a "New Era," and thus, the main event featured AJ Styles, who was just a few months into his WWE tenure.
Given that this was Chicago, Styles was a beloved former Indy star, and Roman was Roman, the energy in the building was very much pro-AJ and anti-Reigns. The two competitors were able to channel that energy, with Roman playing the big, domineering, almost heelish champion, and Styles the determined, agile up-and-coming babyface. As much as this was a coming-out party for AJ as a headliner, this match was a showcase for how good Roman is at selling for and working with smaller, more agile performers. After shoving Roman into slow, plodding matches with the likes of Big Show and Triple H, it was refreshing to see WWE allow the Big Dog to play to his strengths.
Of course, as good as this match was, it was marred by an over-booked finish that had the match restarted twice.
Then again, Reigns and Styles were able to rectify this weeks later...