Bobby Lashley Beats Roman Reigns with a Spear at WWE Extreme Rules 2018

Bobby Lashley may have established himself as the top challenger to Brock Lesnar and the WWE Universal Championship on Sunday at Extreme Rules in Pittsburgh, as he beat Roman Reigns in a grudge match.

Reigns knocked Lashley off the top rope with a Superman punch and started setting up for a spear. However, The Dominator regained his faculties quickly enough to catch The Big Dog with a spear instead. That was enough to keep Reigns down for the three-count:

Many thought the win did wonders to elevate Lashley's stock:

Reigns and Lashley have been at odds for the past several weeks dating back to The Dominator interrupting The Big Dog during a promo in June.

Reigns claimed he was the one who deserved to face Lesnar after getting screwed out of the win in a steel cage match at the Greatest Royal Rumble, but Lashley begged to differ.

Lashley made it clear he returned to WWE after 10 years away with an eye toward facing Lesnar and becoming a world champion.

That incident started what initially looked like a friendly rivalry between Reigns and Lashley.

It even led to them teaming up to face The Revival in a tag team match, which resulted in Reigns and Lashley picking up the win.

In a rematch the following week, though, Reigns was pinned because of a surprise roll-up, allowing The Revival to pull off an upset.

That increased tension between Reigns and Lashley, and the heat between them came to a head on the go-home episode of Raw prior to Extreme Rules.

Another argument between Reigns and Lashley turned physical, and it led to a massive, pull-apart brawl that saw the entire Raw locker room empty in an attempt to restore order.

Both Reigns and Lashley got some shots in on each other, and The Big Dog put an exclamation point on the segment by diving over the top rope to take out not only The Dominator but also all the Superstars who tried to break them up.

That added some much-needed animosity leading up to Extreme Rules, and it aided in making Reigns vs. Lashley one of the most anticipated bouts on the card.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Sunday's bout was the fact Reigns and Lashley are similar in so many ways.

Much like Reigns receives a great deal of criticism from hardcore fans currently, the same could be said for Lashley when he was in the midst of a huge push in WWE a decade ago.

Additionally, both men employ the spear as a finisher, which made for an easy and effective story to be told.

Ultimately, Lashley prevailed in the battle of behemoths, and it is safe to assume Lesnar is on his radar whenever The Beast Incarnate returns to the WWE fold.

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