Wrestlemania saw the culmination of Roman Reigns’ ascension to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. During the months prior to this program, the WWE utilized Sheamus and Triple H as foils for the hero Reigns, but the fans continued to unjustifiably boo him regardless. Instead of continuing down that path, WWE opted to freshen Reigns up a bit.
Enter AJ Styles. “The Phenomenal One” surprisingly won an awesome #1 contenders four-way match on the Raw after Wrestlemania, and so the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match was made official for Payback.
Reigns adopted his “THE guy” mantra and seemed to become a bit cockier as champion. Styles was mere months into his WWE run, and was the obvious darling of the diehard (read: older) fans. Reigns’ character felt much more natural and the program, as a whole, felt fresh. Coincidentally, Payback was supposed to be the first show of a new era. It seemed that’s just where we were heading.
But, during the build for the first match between these two, an interesting dimension was added to the match. On an episode of Raw, the recently debuting Karl Anderson & Luke gallows delivered a massive beatdown to Reigns. Supposedly, Styles had no involvement, despite his known association with Anderson & Gallows.
Reigns, of course, didn’t buy it, and over the course of the next few weeks, tensions arose. At Payback, the match ended when Reigns was counted out. Shane McMahon came out to restart the match, which would then end with a Reigns disqualification. Not to be outdone, Stephanie McMahon restarted the match again. Styles was eventually pinned, but was awarded a rematch at Extreme Rules.
In an Extreme Rules match, Styles and Reigns brawled all over the arena in what remains one of the greatest matches of 2016. The feud ended when Seth Rollins returned post-match to deliver a Pedigree to Reigns and send both men on to their next program.
Nevermind that we had to bear witness to 5,000 Usos vs. Anderson & Gallows matches, this was definitely one of the most unique and fresh programs in recent years.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFO2_RL46Cg]
People still boo Reigns, but in hindsight, this looks like the turning point where even the harshest of internet marks started to recognize Reigns as one of the best in the world. Regardless of whether you’re still holding that grudge against Reigns or not, you can’t argue that this feud didn’t produce two of the greatest pay-per-view main events in years.
WWE’s Top 5 Rivalries of 2016 – #3
Stoney Keeley is the editor of the SoBros Network, Tennessee Titans Featured Analyst for Pro Football Spot, Contributor to FanSided’s Bama Hammer, and covers the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @PFSpot, @WrestlingNewsCo, @Bama_Hammer
Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork
