JBL says Roman Reigns has become something the wrestling business almost never produces anymore, a genuine attraction, and one who should be protected accordingly.
JBL made the case on the latest episode of Something to Wrestle, which he co-hosts with Conrad Thompson, while discussing Reigns’ Raw main event against Penta in Mexico City. He compared Reigns to the touring draws of a previous era, naming The Sheik, Bruiser Brody, Abdullah the Butcher and Jack Brisco as the kind of act Reigns has become.
“Roman Reigns has become the guy that’s very rare in this business, that can come along as an attraction,” JBL said. “You don’t want them wrestling on TV every week.”
That scarcity, JBL argued, is exactly what made the Penta match land.
“When he has one of his first matches on television, it’s a big freaking deal,” JBL said.
The comparison is to a model that barely exists now. The names JBL listed built their value by moving between territories and appearing sparingly, so that each booking felt like an event rather than a weekly obligation. Reigns has been used the same way since his 2020 return, working a limited schedule built around premium live events, and the Penta match was one of the rare occasions he defended a world title on a regular episode of television.
JBL was equally high on Penta, pointing to the crowd response in Mexico City and the lines forming for him well in advance.
“Penta is a massive star. I mean, you saw the social media people staying up all night to go see him the next day,” JBL said. “That’s freaking rock star level, man. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that.”
He said Reigns deserves more credit as a worker than he tends to get.
“I think Roman Reigns is an incredible worker,” JBL said. “Roman Reigns, man, he deserves his flowers.”
JBL said no single element explains why the match worked as well as it did.
“Everything about it, from the tournament to decide who’s going to wrestle Roman Reigns to being in someone’s home country to Roman not wrestling hardly ever on regular television, I just think the whole thing worked in this perfect storm,” JBL said.
Each piece JBL names is verifiable. The September 14 Raw came from Arena CDMX, the show’s first visit to Mexico City in fifteen years, and was built for weeks as a bigger-than-usual episode. Penta earned the shot by winning an eight-man tournament of luchadors drawn from Raw, SmackDown and AAA, set up by AAA general manager Rey Mysterio and Raw general manager Adam Pearce. He beat Laredo Kid, La Parka and then his brother Rey Fenix in the final on August 31 to get there.
The match itself went long for a television main event and the crowd was behind Penta throughout. He damaged Reigns’ right arm early with the Sacrifice, hurdled a spear to hit the Mexican Destroyer, and landed a springboard version of it late. Reigns took a microphone mid-match to demand that Mexico acknowledge him, then finished with a spear to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
Penta lost, which is the part JBL is arguing around rather than against. His case is that the value of an attraction comes from how rarely it appears, and that the tournament, the venue and Reigns’ limited schedule combined to give a Monday night show a big-fight feel it would not otherwise have had.
Reigns has held the World Heavyweight Championship since winning it earlier this year, following his second Royal Rumble victory in January. He remains the most protected act on the roster, with long-term speculation pointing toward a program with Oba Femi, who won the 2026 King of the Ring and has pointedly refused to acknowledge him.
