Roman Reigns Beats Seth Rollins at Raw Ahead of Fatal 5-Way at WWE Extreme Rules

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins renewed their rivalry Monday night on Raw, and it was Reigns who prevailed during the build toward Extreme Rules.

Both stars traded heavy blows and big moves. Rollins did a great job of avoiding the Spear for much of the match, but eventually Reigns connected for the win.

WWE Universe showed Reigns raising his arms in victory as Raw drew to a close:

Both Sirius XM Radio's Sam Roberts and Bleacher Report's Kevin Berge enjoyed the match:

It was announced two weeks ago on Raw that Rollins, Reigns, Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt and Samoa Joe would do battle in a Fatal 5-Way at Extreme Rules with the winner going on to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at Great Balls of Fire.

Rollins and Reigns teamed up last week to face Wyatt and Joe in the tag team main event of Raw, but the former Shield brethren came out on the losing end when The Samoan Submission Machine made the King Slayer pass out in the Coquina Clutch.

Raw general manager Kurt Angle later announced that Rollins and Reigns would face each other the following week in a reprisal of what was a long-running rivalry.

Issues between Reigns and Rollins date back to Rollins breaking up The Shield in favor of joining Triple H and The Authority.

The move was a fruitful one for Rollins, as it garnered him a lengthy WWE Championship reign, but he had fallen out of favor upon returning from a knee injury.

Rollins eventually turned face and found common ground with The Big Dog once again when they joined forces to do battle with Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho.

While they have been caught up in their own situations over the past several months, Rollins and Reigns are now crossing paths again since they both have their eyes set on the same prize.

Rollins and Reigns each have plenty of history with Lesnar as well.

Reigns and Lesnar clashed for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 31, but it was Rollins who emerged from the event as the titleholder when he successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and made the bout a Triple Threat.

With Rollins and Reigns each looking to regain championship glory at Lesnar's expense, Monday's match was a big one in terms of building momentum.

By virtue of Reigns' victory, he may very well be the favorite to outlast four other Superstars at Extreme Rules and become the No. 1 contender.

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