WWE.com Roman Reigns will face Braun Strowman in a Last Man Standing match tonight.
Tonight on Monday Night Raw, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns will face off in a Last Man Standing match. So what exactly is this match type, and how does it work?
A Last Man Standing match is one where the only way to win is by knockout, meaning your opponent must be downed and must be unable to respond to a 10-count. If a wrestler is downed by their opponent, they must be back on their feet by the count of 10, otherwise they will lose. Pinfalls are irrelevant to this match type. There are also no count-outs, and so these matches sometimes end up going out of the ring.
The first Last Man Standing match took place at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre: In Your House on February 14th, 1999, with Mankind defending his WWF Championship against The Rock. The match ended with a double chair shot, and afterwards, neither Mankind nor The Rock could stand up by the count of 10. The match therefore ended in a no-contest.
In total, 37 Last Man Standing matches have taken place in the WWE, with the most recent one being at the end of June, when Asuka defeated Nikki Cross and retained the NXT Women’s Championship. The most recent Last Man Standing match to take place on Raw happened in January, when Braun Strowman faced Sami Zayn. The action was taken out of the ring for much of the match, and Strowman dominated for pretty much the whole time even though Zayn put up a good fight. Strowman actually interrupted the referee’s ten count a few times just so he could beat up Zayn some more, but he finally allowed the referee to reach ten so the match could end and Zayn could be taken away in a stretcher.
Now, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman will face off in a Last Man Standing match tonight on Raw, which will allow one of them to gain an upper hand ahead of their fatal four-way at SummerSlam. Reigns and Strowman have faced one another in hardcore match types before, including their Ambulance Match at Great Balls of Fire.