ROMAN REIGNS VS. JOHN CENA

Ah, this match. The match all of us internet fans were waiting on. Michael Cole considers these two men "the most polarising figures in WWE" which translates to guys we're told to like but just don't. Roman Reigns has been running Cena down for being a part-timer, but Cena thinks that if Roman Reigns was doing his job as well as Cena did, John Cena would be a happily retired man by now. Michael Cole, Booker T, and Corey Graves are on commentary for this match. Michael Cole considers this a "Wrestlemania-worthy" match. The video package goes over the parallels in their careers before showing how intense this feud has gotten in the past month. John Cena enters first to a mixed reaction, telling Booker T on the way that he's walking with a purpose before sprinting to the ring. Roman Reigns walks down to a chorus of boos and Cole reminds us it was in this building that Cena won his first WWE Championship, beating John "Bradshaw" Layfield at Wrestlemania 21. They soak in the crowd reaction before the bell rings.

ROMAN REIGNS VS. JOHN CENA

(Stipulation & Championship)

WWE No Mercy 2017 (24^th September 2017)

They lock up and Reigns pulls Cena into a headlock, John Cena sends Reigns into the ropes but is knocked down with a shoulder tackle. John Cena gets to his feet and motions to leave as the fans tell both men they suck. Roman Reigns yells at Cena for being a pussy as he walks out, Reigns chases him up the ramp and hits him with a right hand. John Cena is sent back into the ring, Reigns knocks him loopy with the second right hand knocking him down. John Cena gets to his feet, pulling himself up using Reigns and blocks a right hand, Cena fights back but Reigns ducks a haymaker and plants Cena for a nearfall. Roman Reigns boots at Cena in the corner and the camerawork is really distracting. Roman Reigns dumps John Cena out to the floor and follows, but Cena reverses an irish whip sending Reigns into the ring steps. John Cena gets a taste of his own medicine on the other side of the ring though. John Cena crawls around ringside but Reigns stalks him and hits him with a Drive-By kick as he uses the apron to get to his feet.

Roman Reigns sits on the apron talking trash to Cena before bringing it back into the ring, getting a quick nearfall. Roman Reigns knocks Cena down with another right hand, John Cena fights back, getting three rights of his own in but Reigns hits a superkick to the midsection and a kick to the chest knocks Cena down. Usually, that just makes them stand but Reigns is able to pick up a nearfall. Roman Reigns applies a chinlock on the mat and the fans tell him it's boring, Cena listens to the crowd, getting to his feet and prying himself free. John Cena catches a kick to the gut, he ducks under Reigns' punch and knocks him down with a shoulder tackle but Reigns cuts off the second attempt with an uppercut. Roman Reigns knocks Cena down with a clothesline that it looks like he stole from Randy Orton but the irish whip is reversed. John Cena hits both shoulder tackles and ducks Reigns' instinctive right hand, A protobomb plants Reigns but Roman Reigns cuts off the Five Knuckle Shuffle with a Samoan drop for 2.

Roman Reigns hits rapid fire clotheslines in the corner, but Cena ducks and hits another Protobomb, he drops the Five Knuckle shuffle without the run-up but Reigns is down to his feet, John Cena turns around into a big boot by Reigns. Reigns sets up for the Superman punch but Cena trips him and grabs his STF, Reigns screams as we can see how much space he has inside Cena's grip and he crawls to the ropes, Cena drags him back to the center of the ring and Reigns counters, rolling over with Cena but doesn't cover him. He lifts Cena with one arm with a sitout powerbomb for a nearfall! They exchange right hands when they get to their feet, wobbling from exhaustion. Reigns kicks Cena in the gut but can't take advantage, he ducks a right by Cena but his crossbody attempt is caught, Cena lifts Reigns up for the Attitude Adjustment and gets a close nearfall. John Cena slowly climbs to the top rope but is caught by Reigns and slammed to the mat, Reigns covers but still only gets 2 so he sets up in the corner and hits John Cena with a Superman punch, Roman Reigns covers 1, 2, no Cena barely kicks out. Roman Reigns goes back to the corner, waiting for Cena but John Cena sidesteps the Spear at the last second and sends Reigns into the ring post.

John Cena perches Reigns on the top rope, climbing to the middle to hit the Super AA! 1, 2, 2.999! The fans ask for it again but Cena refuses, disappointing a pair of young fans in the front row. Kind of like when you hear your mum say you're having pizza for dinner and you find out she meant one in the freezer. John Cena clears the Spanish and German announce tables and one of the announcers scrambles into the crowd out of the way. Roman Reigns avoids another AA and hits Cena with a Spear, sending them both through the announce table. Roman Reigns brings Cena back into the ring and covers but only gets 2. John Cena gets to his feet and lifts Roman Reigns for another AA, dropping him to the mat. John Cena rolls through, I thought he was going to pin him but he decides to lift him for another Attitude Adjustment and covers getting a close nearfall. John Cena talks to the referee about how close it can be before they just consider it three. He knows his numbers, he was the Doctor of Thuganomics. Roman Reigns catches him with another Superman punch, but John Cena doesn't go down so Reigns backs into the ropes and hits a Spear for the win.

WINNER: ROMAN REIGNS

I really wanted to like this match, it had all the hype and it made sense as a story. I can see why they would use it as a B event match due to hostile crowds not giving it the feel it would need at Wrestlemania but this was just the shits. The Attitude Adjustment isn't a move that works in a rolling sense the way Cena tried to use it, it just looked awkward. They both just played the hits and spent too long at the beginning trying to play a crowd that honestly didn't care. Nothing seemed to really come together to me it was just guys hitting their signature stuff with the added problem that Roman Reigns kicked out of a Super AA and Rolling AAs in the space of a couple of minutes. Reigns looked like he hurt himself with the announce table and although they got the crowd invested by the end this match did nothing for me. – WORKRATE: 2.5/10 PERSONAL ENJOYMENT: 2/5 OVERALL: 4.5/10

This match is available on the WWE release “Best PPV matches of 2016”