For months, Roman Reigns has called himself the uncrowned Universal Champion. Now, the throne is finally within his grasp once again. The Big Dog outlasted Bobby Lashley in a WWE Extreme Rules rematch to earn a Universal Championship Match against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, setting up the fourth one-on-one confrontation between the two since their first tussle at WrestleMania 31.
To get there, Reigns had to overcome a Superstar who convincingly defeated him just eight days ago and was well on his way to doing so again, thwarting Reigns’ strategy at every step and wearing him down in an attempt to neutralize The Big Dog’s more powerful maneuvers before he could tee them up. Much like Extreme Rules, Reigns fought back to bring things to a war of attrition that could only be ended with a Spear, and like Extreme Rules, Lashley landed the move first.
Unlike Extreme Rules, however, Reigns kicked out and Lashley got nervous, quickly resetting to line up a second Spear to put Reigns away. The Big Dog thwarted the move with a Superman Punch, however, and while Lashley was able to swat Roman away once as a last gasp, he was too drained to stop the Spear that followed and ended the bout. Reigns gave due credit to Lashley for a big fight with a handshake, but Lashley’s goal will have to wait. Reigns is going to Brooklyn, and The Beast awaits.
Article source: WWE.com