Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns and the Top WWE Matches for Week of May 4

No WWE collision compelled this week like Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns trying to smash each other into bits at Sunday's Payback pay-per-view.

Hunts for both the Intercontinental Championship and United States title thrilled. New champions emerged in memorable battles. But nothing hit home as much Strowman vs. Reigns. 

The two titans left stairs upended and flesh bruised as their personal war continued. And at this point, it's no surprise. Strowman has delivered WWE's best contest three weeks running now.

Where did Chris Jericho-Kevin Owens III rank? What Raw match nearly toppled Strowman vs. Reigns? Taking into account the bouts' stakes, build, storyline, action and big moments, here are the best WWE had to offer during Payback week. 

Honorable Mention

• Alicia Fox, Emma, Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, Bayley and Mickie James (Raw)
• Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe (Payback)

Normally, six-person or eight-person TV matches are nothing more than filler. Not in the case of Raw's women's division going at it Monday.

Electricity ran through a fun bout. 

Bliss evaded her rivals. Fox pleaded, "I'm trying!" A fiery Bayley went chasing down the women who dethroned her the night before. The tension built to the point where it felt like it would all explode.

Had this had more on the line and been built up more beforehand, it would have earned a higher spot here.

Joe vs. Rollins was a physical match with a strong story running through it. Joe focused on Rollins' knee, grounding him and making sure the match stayed at a grinding pace.

Rollins' fluky win sets up more future clashes, but it left this one feeling a bit incomplete.

5. Neville vs. Austin Aries (Payback)

As we saw at WrestleMania 33, Neville and Austin Aries have such good chemistry together. This wasn't quite as exciting as that title match but was similarly hard-hitting and intense. High-flying offense merged well with technical displays.

With the Cruiserweight Championship hanging in the balance, these warriors left each other rocked.

During the bout, we saw the first sign of vulnerability from Neville in a long while. Aries had him reeling, and Neville had to escape by underhanded means, pulling the referee into the action to earn himself a disqualification.

As good a move as that ending was for this rivalry moving forward, it didn't satisfy as much as the climaxes of some of the top matches on the list.

4. Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss (Payback)

A surprise win over Bayley at Payback proved to be a major statement for Alexa Bliss. 

The newcomer to Raw looked like an absolute star against the champ. Her heel work was at an all-time high as she yanked on Bayley's hair and screamed in her face. This was Bliss' career best by a large margin.

The babyface titleholder had a comeback in the bag until Bliss slammed her into a ring post. 

Bliss then played the unfeeling opportunist and had no issue taking advantage of that. A DDT and a three-count later, and the red brand had a new reigning queen, providing Payback one of its bigger moments in the process.

Champion and challenger weren't far away from producing something even better, though. Drew Wardlaw of Voices of Wrestling was spot on when he wrote, "A bit longer and a bit more fleshed out during the finish and this would have been great."

Luckily, Bliss and Bayley will likely get a shot at outdoing themselves in the expected rematch to come.

3. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens (SmackDown)

For the third time, Jericho and Owens faced off for the United States Championship.

Even though the first was on WrestleMania's grand stage and the second had PPV hype around it, the rubber match proved to be the best of the three. 

It was the most intense of their matches. It had a more high-octane pace. And much of the story played off what happened in their previous battles.

Owen's injured fingers, which saved him at WrestleMania, almost proved his undoing on Tuesday's SmackDown. Jericho later clamped on The Walls of Jericho for a long time, nearly repeating the second match's ending.

As the bout climaxed, Owens' monstrous side emerged, and Jericho was written off TV in dramatic fashion.

Y2J's sendoff was excellent, but this was quite the competitive week. Two matches leaned on an electric energy to move past the U.S. title contest here. 

2. The Miz vs. Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins (Raw)

Dean Ambrose's next challenger for the Intercontinental Championship was decided in a Triple Threat match between The Miz, Finn Balor and Rollins.

That sounded like a good match on paper, but the Raw bout was more than that. Monday's main event whirred throughout and had the crowd roaring by the end of it.

The Miz was the cowardly and crafty heel avoiding the fight early on. He later found himself caught in the middle as the babyfaces took turns firing off on him. 

The action pulsated. The three men's chemistry powered the clash.

Kyle Fowle of The A.V. Club wrote of the bout, "It's at once an incredible display of in-ring work and an example of how to tell multiple stories within a multi-man match." 

It managed to advance three feuds at once.

Bray Wyatt's attack on Balor put that feud in motion. Joe ambushing Rollins increased their bad blood. And The Miz's lucky win set up a showdown with a man he's been tangling off and on for months in Ambrose.

Only the Godzilla-versus-Gamera feel of Payback's marquee match topped it.

1. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns (Payback)

No other match this year had the advantage of an overturned ambulance being a part of the build.

Strowman's path of destruction on Raw has been a marvel to watch. It perfectly set up a slobberknocker between him and Reigns at Payback.

Reigns sold the attack inside the ambulance as he entered this fight taped up and hurt, a warrior fighting through the pain. 

What followed was a brutal, foot-on-the-gas contest complete with crashes into the ring steps and physicality that left Reigns' mouth bloodied.

Reigns weakly lifting one shoulder to escape a three-count was a huge moment as was Strowman actually besting him later on. 

WWE made the right choice, taking advantage of Strowman's momentum and further painting him as an unstoppable beast.

As WrestleZone writer Josh Isenberg put it, "Roman Reigns did not NEED to win. Braun Strowman needed to win. Plain and simple."

We'll have to wait and see whether WWE chooses to undercut Strowman down the road. For now, the company continues to hit all the right notes with him.