WWE Extreme Rules 2018 review: What we learned, highlights, takeaways, future projections

Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley

What we learned: WOW!!! I think we learned here that Roman Reigns doesn’t have to be in every main event. All kidding aside, this match was quite a surprise on so many different levels.

Going into this first-time matchup between Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect…other than the live crowd would try to sabotage it from the start. But even they were into it by the end and for good reason. I said that this match could be successful if they didn’t try to do too much and just let the nature of this rivalry work itself into the psychology of the match, that being sheer dislike and aggression, and that’s what we got.

Okay, it started out a little slow with Lashley taking things to the mat but when things started to pick up, they picked up and things got pretty physical. The biggest bump of the match came when Roman just dumped Lashley over the top rope onto the floor with Big Bob (I imagine that’s what Roman really wants to call him) landing hard on his shoulder. Things continued to stay physical on the outside with the suplex Roman took on the table and then came the biggest surprise of the night.

After some very good nearfalls, it looked like the typical Roman ending was coming as he went for the spear but Lashley was able to counter and turned in one of his own to pick up a squeaky clean 1-2-3. What a shock and easily the biggest win that Bobby Lashley has had since his return to WWE and one of the biggest of his career. Good showing by both guys here.

What’s next: Well, things just got a little tricky, didn’t they? With Lesnar seemingly ready to return, it stood to reason that Roman would pick up a win here and move onto Brock at SummerSlam and finally pick up that win. I’m not saying that still can’t happen as I do see an official number one contender’s match coming. Whether it’s a one-on-one rematch between these two or the multi-man deal we were originally supposed to get, I still think Roman gets into the Universal Championship match next month. Lashley can then claim he has the right to face Roman when he wins and so and so forth while Strowman just waits in the wings. Lots of options coming.