During an earthquake, slab-column structures with high gravity-shear ratios often experience increased local shear stress and deformation in the connection area, leading to reduced unbalanced moment capacity and drift capacity of the connections. This study aims to create a new and more efficient method of enhancing the unbalanced moment capacity and deformation capacity of reinforced concrete slab-column structures through using steel sheets as punching reinforcement. Tests were conducted to evaluate the effects of the thickness, extension length, and layout of this new type of punching reinforcement on the unbalanced moment capacity and deformation capacity of the connections when subjected to vertical and horizontal cyclic loads. The results indicated that as the steel sheet thickness increased, the unbalanced moment capacity of SC-2 and SC-3 rose by 24 % and 48 % respectively, while the drift capacity improved by 20 % and 40 % compared to SC-1. Furthermore, the failure mode shifted from stress-induced punching to drift-induced punching. Compared to SC-1, a cruciform layout with an additional diagonal arrangement of sheets increased the unbalanced moment capacity and drift capacity by approximately 17 % and 20 %, respectively. The extension length of the sheets reduced from 600 to 420 had negligible effect on the unbalanced moment capacity and deformation capacity. Utilizing experimental data, this study compared the relationship between the drift capacity and gravity shear ratio of connections reinforced with different shear reinforcements. The underlying causes for the observed lower drift capacity of the specimens are analyzed, and design recommendations for optimizing the steel sheets are subsequently proffered. After thoroughly analyzing the experimental results, a simplified calculation methodology for assessing the shear strength of steel sheets was developed, taking inspiration from the shear strength calculation approach outlined in ACI 318–19. The efficacy of this simplified approach was subsequently validated by comparing the experimental results with those predicted by current design codes. Furthermore, by comparing the experimental results with the predicted values, the relationship between the punching failure mode of connections and their punching strength was discussed.