WWE Extreme Rules 2015 match card preview: Roman Reigns vs. Big Show

Last Man Standing Match

Big Show vs. Roman Reigns

Big Show wants to halt Roman's rise to the top of WWE. Roman Reigns wants to punch Big Show in the mouth and retire him for good. What better way is there to handle this sort of conflict than with a Last Man Standing match?

The Road to Extreme Rules

Let's just deal with reality here. Big Show versus Roman Reigns is a match that nobody wants to see.

WWE firmly believes that Big Show is the best heel around to get the audience behind Roman Reigns. But this plan already failed during the build up to the Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV), it backfired during the Royal Rumble match itself, and it isn't faring any better right now on the road to Extreme Rules.

Reigns was already supposed to be the top star in the promotion at this point, but it's no longer clear what his future holds in WWE. One thing that is certain though is that feuding with Big Show is doing his career no favors.

I enjoy keeping you down. My mission, my goal, my pleasure, is gonna be making you the most epic failure in WWE history.

These are the words that Big Show directed towards Roman Reigns a couple weeks ago on Raw, and this quote suggests that WWE is actually aware of how much this feud is hurting Roman's short-term momentum as a baby face. There are even rumors that this feud will continue beyond Extreme Rules.

The bottom line is that Roman Reigns deserves a more interesting opponent than this, especially when you consider that a fresh heel with tons of talent like Bray Wyatt is sitting around twiddling his thumbs because creative has nothing for him.

The storyline itself is fine for what it is. Big Show is the old man who won a battle royal and thinks he is still the baddest man on the roster. Roman Reigns is a fierce young warrior who never stays down. He took a vicious beating at the hands of Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31.

Yet Roman laughed his way through it while he kept getting up after every bone-crushing suplex. This sort of defiance stunned the Beast Incarnate. Big Show felt threatened by this hot rising star, and so he choke slammed him through a taxi to let him know who the dominant man is in WWE. But Roman still got up.

Big Show has vowed to knock Roman down every time he gets up. So naturally, a Last Man Standing match is the most suitable way to conclude this battle of wills.

The main problem with this is that the audience seems completely tired of Big Show right now. He and Kane have dominated upper card positions for such a long time and the audience is exhausted and ready for a new wave of upper card heels. But Big Show is a really large man who is getting paid a ton of money, and so more often than not he is going to find himself in prime spots on the card, just like this one.

Roman Reigns will truly be a superman if he can save this feud and come out on the other side as a hotter star than he was when it began.

What's at Stake?

There's a lot of ego on the line in this Last Man Standing match, as both competitors are basically going to beat the crap out of each other until one man can no longer stand up.

The patience of the WWE Universe is also at stake though, as it seems like many fans would rather watch paint dry for 15 minutes than spend that time watching Roman and Big Show slowly make their way up to their feet multiple times before a referee counts to ten. But if you like Superman Punches, Choke Slams, and Spears, then maybe you will be able to tolerate one more Big Show match near the top of the card.

Who will be the last man standing?  Tune in to Extreme Rules 2015 and keep it here on Cageside Seats to see all the action unfold!