Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose

CLEVELAND — Who says there’s no such thing as second chances?

Certainly not Roman Reigns. The Big Dog will once again walk onto The Grandest Stage of Them All as a challenger for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after surviving the unpredictable offense of his “brother,” Dean Ambrose, as well as the raw carnage of Brock Lesnar in an insane Triple Threat Match at WWE Fastlane 2016.

Reigns persevered against an F-5, a steel chair flurry and more German suplexes than any one man should rightfully be able to stand up from to earn the right to face WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H at WrestleMania.

Call it destiny or fate, but don’t say it was luck. Reigns scratched and clawed every inch of the way to walk out of this one as the winner. Had there been a bit of quit in The Big Dog, the match would’ve been Brock’s from the opening bell.

There’s not a single Superstar on the roster who is as effective from the jump as Lesnar, and he made that clear in the first minute of this contest as he dispatched both of his opponents as if they were cruiserweights. Ambrose was dumped out of the ring within seconds while Reigns was German suplexed across the ring twice.

A third German suplex may have ended things early, but Ambrose saved his friend by blasting Brock with a missile dropkick. The Lunatic Fringe then had the gall to attempt a German suplex on The Beast Incarnate. Lesnar shrugged him off like a gnat then destroyed him with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex.

Guts, insanity or a mix of both; Ambrose refused to back down from Brock. When Lesnar went outside to bring the fight to Reigns, The Lunatic Fringe attempted to catch him off guard with a suicide dive. The freak athletic instincts of Brock kicked in as he snatched Ambrose out of the air and then deposited him onto the arena floor with yet another suplex.

Back in the ring, The Beast Incarnate flashed a twisted smile as he hit Reigns with a previously averted third German suplex. When he connected with another, he held four fingers in the air. The Conqueror was keeping score.

With Reigns looking like easy prey, Lesnar delivered an F-5 that may have very well won him the match had Ambrose not broken up the pinfall attempt. The Lunatic Fringe, in what was unquestionably a moment of insanity, showed he really did have no fear of the monster as he disrespectfully slapped him.  

A little fear can be a healthy thing, of course, which Lesnar made clear by obliterating Ambrose’s rib cage with a series of huge knees.  The trio of German suplexes that followed folded Dean up like an old wallet.

Brock then went to hit the F-5 on Ambrose, but was blasted by a Spear from Reigns. The big man scored a two-count on Lesnar, but, more than that, he took a bit of the gas out of The Beast’s tank. Reigns then delivered a huge Superman Punch, but Lesnar wisely rolled to the outside where he could not be pinned, proving there’s nothing scarier than a colossus who can strategize.

When Reigns followed him to the floor, he got snatched up into another attempted F-5. Brock may have been looking to put Roman through a table, but he was stopped in his tracks by a low blow from Dean.

Ambrose and Reigns were battered, but they traded knowing smiles and went to work. The two cleared off an announce table, then, in a moment reminiscent of their early days in The Shield, worked together to send Brock crashing through the hardwood with a powerbomb.

There was an awkward moment at this point in the match. Reigns and Ambrose have done such a good job of keeping their friendship intact while chasing the same goal, but who would be the first man to throw a punch?

It didn’t take long for Ambrose to take the lead and send his best friend into the steel stairs. The Lunatic Fringe went at him with a frenzied attack back in the ring, and connected with a huge elbow from the top rope that brought him within a second of the WrestleMania main event.

The two friends began trading haymakers until Ambrose noticed The Beast Incarnate stirring on the outside of the ring. They stopped their brawling and headed to the floor to put Lesnar down for a second time. Again, they double-powerbombed him through an announce table, only this time they buried him under the wreckage. If that didn’t keep the freak of nature down, nothing would.

With Lesnar neutralized, the “brothers” went at it again. Reigns gained the upper hand and went about brutalizing Ambrose in the corner with clubbing clotheslines. Ambrose answered a powerbomb attempt with a series of elbow strikes to the head, but when he went for another high-risk elbow from the top rope, he got hit with a Superman Punch.

Reigns readied to Spear his best friend into oblivion, but got hit in the face with a knee as he charged  in. The Lunatic Fringe sent Roman into the steel ring post, then connected with Dirty Deeds and almost scored the victory. Reigns stopped a second Dirty Deeds by hoisting Ambrose up into position for a Samoan Drop , but — and this actually happened — Lesnar entered the ring, grabbed Reigns around the waist and suplexed both men at the same time!

The Big Dog didn’t stay down for long, though, and answered with a Spear. Brock took the hit, absorbed the impact and snapped on the Kimura Lock. Somehow, Reigns got to his feet with Brock still applying the hold, while Ambrose entered with a steel chair and started teeing off on both men.

The Lunatic Fringe smashed his opponents with complete disregard, but he took his eyes off Reigns for one second too many when he began laying into Lesnar. With no time to spare, Roman charged Ambrose, cut him down with a Spear and pinned his best friend to earn a WWE World Heavyweight Title opportunity at WrestleMania.

Reigns’ theme didn’t sound out in victory for long. Soon, it was interrupted by the blistering guitar of Triple H’s music as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion made his way down the aisle to meet his challenger smack dab in the center of the squared circle.

With the WrestleMania sign hanging high above them in the rafters, the gladiators considered each other across a short distance of canvas. In 41 days, they will face each other for sports-entertainment’s most vital prize in the biggest match of the year.

That contest will be a war, no doubt, but the battle of wills started in that very moment. In the weeks that follow, each man will attempt to break the other spiritually, emotionally and even physically before they ever step onto The Grandest Stage of Them All.

Triple H will defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns on April 3, 2016, but, rest assured, the fight has already begun.