WWE Payback 2017: Assessing The Potential Quality Of All 8 Matches
2. Roman Reigns Vs. Braun Strowman
The match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman at Fastlane smashed expectations as effectively as it did the ringside area. It was carnage, an impossibly entertaining and athletic big man match, one in the eye for those still of the disposition that both men were little more than limited and undeserving Vince McMahon pet projects.
As violent and over the top as it was, it benefitted from the restraint WWE demonstrated in building the Strowman character. Those months of patient squashes were worth it when Strowman, faced with the competition he had craved, was forced to ascend the turnbuckles and attempt to flatten Reigns with a frog splash.
It will be difficult for Reigns and Strowman to recapture that novelty element, but Strowman improves by the week. His recent match with The Big Show was an improvement on the original. There's no reason why Strowman and Reigns can't at least equal their blinding effort in March.
The sequel is altogether more difficult to predict. As well as both men did to manufacture doubt at Fastlane, there was no way WWE was about to put Strowman over when he was penned in to retire the Undertaker in Orlando. The unpredictability could well compensate for familiarity; Strowman is a lock to challenge for Brock Lesnar's Universal Title in the summer, and Reigns has been practically murdered in the build to justify a loss here.
Anything else would make no sense whatsoever - but little about Roman's booking does.