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The annual Voices of Wrestling Match of the Year Poll shows a startling lack of Reigns near the top spot.
2013: *December 10, 2012: Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, & Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan, Kane, & Ryback: (#14)
2014: February 23, 2014: Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, & Seth Rollins vs. The Wyatt Family (#3)
2015: March 29, 2015: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins (#6)
2016: May 22, 2016: AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns (#12)
2017: August 20, 2017: Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe (#21)
2018: Roman Reigns matches received no votes
2019: Roman Reigns matches received no votes
2020: September 27, 2020: Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns (#67)
2021: March 21, 2021: Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns (#40)
2022: July 30, 2022: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (#60)
*Matches from December 2012 were eligible for the 2013 VOW MOTY Poll.
To his credit, Reigns was involved in historically great matches in both 2014 and 2015, although I would argue that he was the least interesting part of those matches. Starting in 2017 with a four-way match that I have absolutely no recollection of, Reigns began to falter despite a widening pool of voters. He has become a complete non-entity when it comes to high-level matches.
There is no “if not Reigns, then who?” conversation to be had when it comes to analyzing possible inductees from this era of WWE. The “content farm” era of this promotion, which dates back a decade to the launch of their very own Network, is largely devoid of merit at this level. This is not an era of wrestling that should be celebrated. It is an era of dry television and uninspired creative. Depending on her next move, I think we are a few years away from being able to truly analyze the impact of Mercedes Mone. She, to me, is on the cusp of being celebrated. I fail to see anyone else with an outstanding pedigree in any of the three categories.
