Tag: Fastlane

WWE Fastlane 2021: Every Match Ranked

I must admit it was a show that surpassed my expectations. However, those expectations were quite low. I still think most of this could’ve been achieved on weekly TV (and, to be honest, probably would’ve given it a boost in quality), but it was a fine way to kick us into full gear towards Wrestlemania. The show as a whole really hit the whole spectrum in terms of quality, so we’ve got a lot to break down as I rank the matches.

8 – Braun Strowman def. Elias

I don’t care. I just don’t.

The story between Shane & Braun has been terrible for a multitude of reasons. For one thing, I have no idea what Shane wants out of this. Is he just being a dick for the sake of it? That’s certainly what it feels like. Secondly, it’s cut the balls off of Strowman. Once upon a time, he would tear apart Heaven and Earth to get his hands on someone who humiliated him like Shane did. Now he’s just been bitching and whining about it, asking for an apology and not actively seeking out Shane in the slightest. Finally, they’re doing stupid shit like pouring slime on each other, which is dumb.

This match wasn’t worth talking about, and I’m not looking forward to whatever form this feud takes at Wrestlemania.

7 – Big E(c) def. Apollo Crews
(Intercontinental Championship)

This is the match I was most disappointed by because I was really excited about seeing this one.

The bulk of the match was good. I liked Big E bringing the intensity early on and Apollo matching him as things progressed. I’m just so annoyed by the awful finish. I was hyped for this match. Apollo’s feels fresher than ever, the video package really sold me on the intensity of the feud, and then it just…ended like this. It wasn’t very well executed either. It seemed like a botch at first. WWE really need to clue in their commentators as to when stuff like this is happening so they can explain it to us. Having them confusedly ponder over what the hell just happened is a massive hindrance to the story.

The potential upside here is that they get a much grander match at Wrestlemania. I’m not entirely confident about that, I think it will probably turn into some sort of multi-man, but I’m hoping these guys get another go. I’m absolutely willing to see more of this feud and another one on one match as long as WWE is willing to do it properly.

6 – Riddle(c) def. Mustafa Ali
(United States Championship)
(Kickoff Show)

I don’t have much to say about this. It was a good but short match with some fun action, but no real consequences and a predictable outcome.

Seems like Retribution is on its last legs, and I’m certainly not mourning. I like everyone in that group, but they’ve been booked like absolute trash since the moment they debuted. They could’ve been something really special, but instead, they’ve been made to look like ineffective losers every time they’ve been on TV. It’s a real shame, but it’s time to abandon ship and let these guys loose. Break up the group, leave them off TV for a month or two, then bring them back as their old selves. Dominik Dijakovic and Mia Yim will be welcomed onto their respective divisions with open arms by the fanbase, so let them go there.

Riddle, meanwhile, is excellent as always, but I’m not enjoying his stupid backstage segments. I’m sure Vince thinks they’re hilarious, but I think they’re dumb and very unfunny. It’s the lowest common denominator style of ‘stoner’ humour that hasn’t been funny since Cheech & Chong did it.

Match was alright though.

5 – Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler(c) def. Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair
(Women’s Tag Team Championships)

Again, it was a perfectly fine match, I just wasn’t overly interested. I still don’t understand why this feud had to last a second month. It’s not achieved anything.

Jax & Baszler teased some tension at the start of the match but then completely forgot about it after the first incident. Banks & Belair looked to be a pretty solid team early on but then fell apart towards the end over basically nothing. Now, all that’s happened is that both the challenger and champion for one of your biggest Wrestlemania matches have lost twice on PPV to women who WWE don’t think are good enough for singles titles, so now no-one has any momentum.

That said, functionally, I enjoyed the match. Things weren’t fantastically paced, but it held my interest the entire way through, and it never felt like there was too much of a lull in the action. I’d just really like to get on with this Banks/Belair feud already because I think it’s going to be brilliant.

4 – Alexa Bliss def. Randy Orton

So this a bit weird, kinda cool and did what it set out to do well.

This is one of those stories that has been simmering for so long, I’d forgotten that it could actually get really interesting when it wanted to. The black goop thing was a good starting point, and I like how it escalated from there. The fireball was a bit goofy, but they framed the shot well. I really liked the light fixture falling; that’s the kind of thing we don’t see very often, and it made for a surprising and tense moment.

It climaxed, as we all knew it would, with the return of The Fiend. Again, this was really well done. The canvas breaking slowly with the light pouring through, then the burst of flame followed by the hand rising up. Proper horror movie stuff and a lot of fun to watch. I’m glad he’s not just The Fiend as we knew him either. He’s now burned and deformed, let’s keep that as much as possible going forward.

Ultimately, it was all just set-up for Wrestlemania, but it made for a cool segment.

3 – Seth Rollins def. Shinsuke Nakamura

There’s honestly nothing complicated about this one. WWE took two very experienced wrestlers who wrestle similar flashy & technical styles, gave them 12 minutes and let them have a match. There was no way a match like that could be bad, and it delivered. Was it a match of the year contender? No, but not everything needs to be.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Seth, and since he returned, he’s mostly just been talking rather than wrestling. This was the opportunity we needed to remind ourselves of what he can do in the ring and why he’s something worth being excited about. I’ve criticised his character for not evolving recently, but he doesn’t necessarily need to when he’s putting on matches like this. Similarly, Nakamura knows what he’s doing and responded well to what Rollins threw his way.

It wasn’t the most spectacular match ever, but I don’t have any significant criticisms, and I enjoyed what I watched.

2 – Drew McIntyre def. Sheamus
(No Holds Barred)

My main worry going into this match was that it was going to feel very similar to their excellent match on Raw a few weeks ago. Thankfully, they didn’t fall into that trap and made something that felt very different. As we’ve seen between these two, a slower and heavier pace works wonders for them. Against other men, I find this style boring from Sheamus, but when he’s in there against someone like Drew who can match him, he seems to up his game; his various matches with Cesaro over the years are further proof of that.

I liked the stuff in and around the ring are the best. Those sections served as good bookends to the match, and I think were when things were at their most intense. It seemed like neither man could get an edge on the other during those segments, which is what I want. These two absolutely should feel evenly matched, just by looking at them. The higher spots out in the crowd aren’t my cup of tea, but I can appreciate the spectacle. Sheamus going through some of the screens was a surprising moment, and I feel like they took the piss out of AEW a bit with those sparks.

The result was the right one. I saw some people arguing that Sheamus should’ve won since Drew’s got the Mania match anyway, but I’m not on board with that logic. Yes, it would’ve been a nice boost for Sheamus, but Lashley is being presented as a world-beater right now and having Drew go into Mania on a loss would’ve been a terrible decision. The way things are looking now, I’m excited for Lashley vs Drew at Mania, which is what WWE want.

1 – Roman Reigns(c) def. Daniel Bryan
(Universal Championship)

I was very pessimistic about the direction of this feud. I thought this match would be all we got. However, they have 100% proved me wrong. The tension between Bryan & Edge in the build was great to watch, but I thought it was all a tease; however, with the booking in this match (and confirmation from Meltzer), it looks like a triple threat is on the cards for Wrestlemania. I am overjoyed that that’s the case, and I officially withdraw all of the complaining I’ve been doing recently about the timing of this feud.

I loved the way this match was structured. The extended period at the beginning, where they locked up over and over was wonderful. Bryan was undoubtedly going into this match as an underdog, but that opening section showed that Bryan is no underdog. He is evenly matched with Reigns, and Reigns knows it. They played it really well with Reigns having a clear power advantage, but Bryan could tie him up in knots at a moments notice. I loved how, even in the sections where Reigns was dominant, Bryan could lock in some kind of hold on Reigns.

The finish was a bit convoluted, but given that we’re building to a Wrestlemania world title match, why not be a bit extra? It’s set up both Bryan & Edge to be shades of grey in terms of their alignment over the coming weeks, which should make for engrossing storytelling. On top of that, I’m now not so confident that Reigns will retain his title. If it was just Reigns vs Edge, I’d be sure Reigns would retain, but with a triple threat, I now think all three men have a pretty equal chance of coming out as champion.

It was a brilliant way to set the stage for Wrestlemania and an enjoyable match to boot.

And there you have it! Those are my thoughts on Fastlane! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Please, let me know what you thought of the show, either in the comments below or on Twitter @SStyleSmark. Finally, make sure to come back here this time on Saturday, where I’ll be ranking all of the rivals from the Pokemon games!

WWE Fastlane 2021: Predictions & Analysis

Who’s ready for absolutely nothing of any note to happen?

Seriously though, what is the point in this PPV? It’s three weeks until Wrestlemania, this week’s Raw almost exclusively built to Mania instead of this show, and only one of these matches will hold anything of real consequence come the end of the night. As much as I say there shouldn’t be PPVs between Royal Rumble & Wrestlemania, I can at least see the point in having one, but two just kills the pace of all their storytelling and forces them to be pushed in two directions at once.

On the upside, there are a few matches I like the look of, but I’m not super confident that we’re going to get anything special here. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Seth Rollins vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Well, this match is kind of pointless, but I’m still into it.

The stuff between Rollins & Cesaro has been…weird. On the surface, it seems like they’re lining up for a singles match at Mania, but knowing how WWE books these things, it wouldn’t surprise me if they force them into an ‘unlikely alliance’ tag team. I like Rollins’ messiah gimmick, but it feels directionless right now. He’s falling into that old Bray Wyatt territory of just saying the same thing week after week. What he says is good, it’s just always the same.

That said, though, this is Seth freaking Rollins vs Shinsuke god-damn Nakamura, so it’s not like it’s going to be bad. I’d imagine this one won’t get tonnes of time, but I’m sure they’ll make it work. I’m hoping we get some form of story progression from Cesaro, but I don’t suppose it has to be anything major.

Seth Rollins makes the most sense to win. This is his first PPV singles match since his return, and he’s the central point of this whole feud. Nakamura is great, but he’s only a part of this as a side character since he and Cesaro were aligned for so long. There’s a chance Cesaro somehow screws Seth out of the win, but I’m going with the straightforward answer on this one.

Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax vs Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair
(Women’s Tag Team Championships)

We…we already did this, right? I’m not going crazy, we just had this exact match last month.

Apparently, the Smackdown writers couldn’t come up with more than a couple weeks of build for the Sasha/Bianca feud, so they just decided to continue this pointless tag team feud instead. I just don’t get the decision making here; who benefits? Baszler & Jax beat a team they’ve already beaten, meanwhile it’ll cause both Banks & Belair to go into one of the most anticipated matches of this year’s Wrestlemania on a huge loss. If Banks & Belair actually win the belts, that’s even worse because it needlessly complicates their feud.

If I hadn’t made it clear already, Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax will retain. I just pray to all that is sane that we spend the next few weeks actually building to the important match between Banks & Belair.

Randy Orton vs Alexa Bliss

I don’t really know what’s going on here. On Raw, they seemed to be very careful to never say it would be a match, just that Alexa was ‘challenging’ Randy. Yet WWE.com have it listed as a match on the show, so who knows?

Either way, I think the angle here is clear. This is where The Fiend finally returns, and we can sort out the Firefly Funhouse match for Wrestlemania (please?). I don’t really have much more to say about it. I doubt we’ll see much actually violence between Orton & Bliss. He might RKO & DDT her, but there’s no way we’ll get a full match.

Riddle(c) vs Mustafa Ali
(United States Championship)

Riddle’s just going up against all the factions, huh? First The Hurt Business, now Retribution.

So the Retribution thing has been going on for about 8 months now, but astoundingly, this is the FIRST TIME they’ve had a match on PPV and thus the first time I’ve had a chance to properly talk about it. Although, honestly, I think that fact alone tells you everything you need to know about how badly this had been screwed up. I’m glad Ali’s getting something now, but I think we all know this is just a feud to tide Riddle over for something at Wrestlemania.

In a bubble, I’d be really looking forward to this match. Both guys are incredibly talented wrestlers and are great at adapting their styles to their opponents. However, this is a seven-match show, and since the pandemic, WWE has cut shows shorter than usual, so I don’t think this will get much time. Based on how they’ve treated Retribution so far, I wouldn’t put it past them to bump this down to the pre-show.

I’m going with Riddle to retain here. He’s not been champ for very long, so it doesn’t make sense of him to drop the title now. I’d love to see it around Ali’s waist, but WWE has shown no desire to invest in him ever, let alone recently, so I’m just not going to get my hopes up anymore.

Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus
(No Holds Barred)

We did this, though, like two weeks ago on Raw, they wrestled for 25 minutes, and it was really good.

That aspect aside, I am looking forward to this match. As I said, their one of Raw was really good and seeing it again isn’t the worst thing ever. I was just hoping this would be something a little extra, at least put Drew’s title shot at Mania on the line. They just announced Drew vs Lashley for Mania on Raw this week, so he doesn’t have to fight for it at all. I mean, we all knew that’s where it was going anyway, but come on, WWE, suspend our disbelief at least a little bit.

Ultimately, I’m fairly disappointed in how this feud with Sheamus has played out. I was looking forward to seeing these two really go at each other, but Drew got caught up in all the other stuff happening in Raw’s main event, so it became a bit muddier. It’s far from the worst it could’ve gone through, we’ve at least got some good matches out of it. Drew McIntyre is going to win, he’s going into a Wrestlemania match for the WWE title, after all. I guess Lashley may cause him to lose, but I’m not predicting that because it’s crap.

Big E(c) vs Apollo Crews
(Intercontinental Championship)

Apollo Crews’ transformation as a character has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year so far. He’s the clearest example of how any wrestler on WWE’s roster can flourish if given the chance, no matter how long they’ve spent as a boring lower midcarder. The idea that he’s embracing his heritage and becoming his true self is a brilliant touch and all the explanation needed as to why he’s changed up his attitude. On top of that, it’s brought some good things out of Big E too. His feud with Zayn played well to his more comedic side, but this feud has shown he has some real intensity in there, too, which is just as good.

I’m looking forward to seeing this match. Crews put on a bunch of great matches in 2020, so I’ve no doubts about what he can do in the ring. Meanwhile, Big E is Big E, and he’s always been great. I’ll be interested to see what angle they take with it, whether it plays as more of a hossfest or they focus on the exceptional agility of both men. Either way, I think we’re in for a winner.

Speaking of winners, I’m going with Big E to retain. I would love to see Crews get a title run with character, but this is just Big E’s time. He’s on the rise, and he’s not had that long of a run with the title yet, so I think it’d be a bad idea for him to lose it now. I trust the team on Smackdown to keep Crews going strong despite losing the title, though, so I’m not too worried.

Roman Reigns(c) vs Daniel Bryan
(Universal Championship)

I’m so annoyed that this is when WWE decided to do this feud. This is one of, if not the biggest match Smackdown has in its back pocket, and they just blew it on the world’s most meaningless PPV. I’m not saying it should’ve been the Wrestlemania match, Reigns vs Edge is definitely a bigger draw, but Reigns vs Bryan is absolutely a Mania-worthy match that they’ve now just pissed away on a show where there is absolutely no chance Reigns is dropping that title.

That aspect aside, this will be a brilliant match. If you need me to explain why Daniel Bryan is good, then you must be new here. Meanwhile, Reigns has been on the best run of his lifetime, and his in-ring work has absolutely lived up to it. Their styles will mesh so well, Bryan is – for my money – the best at wrestling guys bigger than him (see his 2018 match with Brock Lesnar for proof), and Reigns has this indomitable aura right now that Bryan will thrive on. It’s been a while since Bryan got to properly play the underdog, and I’m looking forward to seeing this one play out.

Roman Reigns is 100% winning, though, which is the only real shame. If they’d have waited and done this match later in the spring or in the summer, I would honestly believe Bryan could win, but not here. Reigns vs Edge is absolutely the match WWE want for Wrestlemania – and with good reason – but it means there isn’t a whelk’s chance in a supernova that Bryan wins.

And there you have it! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Please, let me know what you think is going to happen on Sunday. Either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure to come back here this time on Monday for my review of the show!

WWE Fastlane 2019: Every Match Ranked

I don’t really know what to make of Fastlane.

There was a lot of good wrestling throughout the night, and even a lot of good story beats too, but it had a really big flaw. That flaw is this: With the exception of Becky vs Charlotte, you could’ve taken this entire show, put it at any point on the year, and it would’ve had the same overall impact. Almost every match on the show was fun, but none of it matters in the long run, which is a pretty bad thing for the last PPV before Wrestlemania.

10 – The Bar def. Kofi Kingston
(2 on 1 Handicap Match)

This is was a hard one to place for me, because the match was total crap, but the story surrounding it was extremely interesting.

WWE have done a really good job here on capitalizing on Kofi’s new-found momentum. Giving everyone that false hope of putting him in the WWE title match only for a bait and switch (even if it did seem rather obvious) was a good beat to hit, and gives him the motivation and fire Kofi needs to burst out and properly start to fight back.

As for the match itself, it’s pretty nothing. As expected The Bar just dumped on Kofi for way too long, to the point where it just felt like they were filling time. It also didn’t make sense that The New Day waited as long as they did to come out, even if they did get jumped on the way.

Ultimately though, the match itself isn’t important, because it created all of the motivations necessary for the story to move forward in the next month.

9 – Asuka(c) def. Mandy Rose
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

Pretty much the epitome of a nothing match.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with this match, it wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but there was also nothing special about it. Mandy and Asuka fought for a good 10 minutes, then some small shenanigans happened so Mandy lost. Perfectly fine, but I can’t say anyone will remember it in a couple of weeks time.

The shenanigans with Sonya were kind of weird, but not enough to get any kind of real hatred out of me for it. It happened, it probably won’t go anywhere in the long run, and that’ll be that.

I really don’t know where the Smackdown Women’s title scene is going for Wrestlemania, but it needs to be more important than this.

8 – The New Day def. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev

Well, this was fun.

This is a step up from the Asuka vs Mandy match because this also held no consequence, and it didn’t really have anything notable about it, but the pace on this match was much quicker and it generally became much more fun to watch.

I generally think that Tag team matches on the pre-show are usually the best because there are plenty of easy and fun things you can do in a tag team match that provides pretty much exactly what a pre-show match needs to do, I’d like to see them more often, instead of the Cruiserweight Championships.

I did also set the seeds for later on in the night with the Kofi stuff, so that helps it out too.

7 – Sasha Banks & Bayley(c) def. Nia Jax & Tamina
(Women’s Tag Team Championships)

Tag team matches everywhere, all of them fun.

This match was pretty much exactly what everyone expected it to be, and it was quite good for it, however, it’s one of the many cases on this show where what happened after the match ended up being more important than what happened during it.

There was a lot of stuff to like about this match, with Bayley and Sasha being able to find that perfect balance between being small underdogs, but still competent champions who can easily hang with the likes of Nia & Tamina. With the finish being a little bit flukey, but also shows off the intelligence of the champions.

I’ll admit I’m a little confused by what the post-match beatdown on Beth Pheonix and Natalya means, perhaps a triple threat at Mania? Will Beth become a full-time wrestler again? It’s hard to tell right now, but the Women’s Tag title scene is looking very healthy going into Wrestlemania.

6 – Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair (Via DQ)
(If Becky wins, she’s in at Wrestlemania)

Told you so.

I find it really weird that this match is as low as it is because I really enjoyed it. Lynch & Charlotte could have a good match blindfolded at this point, so that was never in question, but it seemed that extra little bit of fire was in both women’s performance on Sunday.

This entire story has had a whole lot of ups and downs since the Royal Rumble, so this needed to be a pretty big point to keep things on track before April 7th. Personally, I think it achieved that, with a match that was really fun to watch, and a story beat that took away from the match a little bit, but added to the overall story.

Ronda causing Becky to win was a pretty obvious ploy, but it was obvious for the right reasons, so it’s fine. All of the character motivations make sense and it gives Charlotte the fire she needs to actually hate Rousey, since that has entirely been clear thus far, so smiles all round.

5 – The Usos(c) def. Shane Mcmahon & The Miz
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

*Shocked Pikachu Face*

Once again, the post-match outshone the match, although not quite as heavily here, mostly thanks to the fact that the match was great.

The Usos are arguably the best tag team on the main roster right now and Shane & Miz have become a surprisingly entertaining team to watch. Being in Cleveland meant the crowd were extremely into this one and that energy fed back into the match fantastically.

As with most tag team matches, once we got past the opening exchanges and stuff got chaotic is when things really got fun, with people flying all about the place and some crazy spots. My favourite of these spots had to be when Shane and one of the Usos decided they were going to leap at each other, before colliding in mid-air, the coordination to not only make that spot look good but to make it safe made it all the more impressive.

Ultimately though, The Miz would fail a dive and that would cost Miz & Shane the match, before the inevitable happened and Shane battered The Miz from pillar to post, in some punches that look uncharacteristically brutal. While this is going to lead to a hopefully pretty good Wrestlemania match, I’m more interested to see what kind of a heel Shane will be, obviously he’ll use his Mcmahonisms to book Miz into unfair matches, but I do wonder what angle he’ll take in his promos.

Either way, this was definitely the right step.

4 – The Revival(c) def. Aleister Black & Ricochet, Bobby Roode & Chad Gable
(Raw Tag Team Championships)

That photo right there is cool as fuck.

When you look at the show as a whole, there’s a lot of this style of wrestling throughout the whole thing and honestly, I thought I would’ve got tired of it, but these guys are able to differentiate themselves from each other enough to make every match feel different enough that I still enjoy it.

Not that this match had to try very hard to differentiate itself from the rest, with Ricochet, Aleister Black and Chad Gable you were bound to create a situation where the action never stopped for a moment. Black and Gable, in particular, had limited interaction but the two of them seemed to have incredible chemistry between the two of them in that time.

There were some incredible spots in the meantime, specifically Ricochet launching himself over the post onto everyone, as Gable tags himself in as he flies past is one of the most low-key impressive spots I think I’ve ever seen. The Revival winning feels like it was the right choice, but with the post-match beatdown it really seems like WWE really don’t want The Revival to actually be champions, and instead, just don’t want them to go to AEW. I don’t have a problem with Black & Ricochet standing tall, I feel like The Revival really should be allowed to look like they’re good at more than just hitting a Shatter Machine out of nowhere.

3 – Samoa Joe(c) def. Andrade, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio
(United States Championship)

Well, this was a nice surprise.

I complained in my predictions about the US title being left off of the show yet again, and Andrade & Rey being pushed to the pre-show, well it seems my wishes came true. Granted it was pretty much only because they realised the show would be running short, but it’s still the US title getting a match on the main show, and a rather good one at that.

Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio were the absolute MVPs of this match, with Joe destroying everyone in the early stages with one hell of a suicide dive onto everyone and then dismantling all of his opponents one by one. Once Joe was dispatched of however, Rey Mysterio got to work and reminded everyone that in 30 years of wrestling, he hasn’t aged a day, with plenty of moves to please the eye.

Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting Joe to retain here with how much the US title has been thrown around in the past few months, but perhaps this great match is the first step in getting the title back on track.

2 – The Shield def. Baron Corbin, Drew Mcintyre & Bobby Lashley

You can make all the hot-takes you like, I still love The Shield.

People seem to be of two minds of this match since it was all just The Shield’s greatest hits, some people think this was a great thing, and other people think it was pointless. While I understand the point of view of the people who say it’s pointless, I can’t help but love it.

Yes, it has pretty much no impact on any major storylines heading into Wrestlemania, and yes it didn’t do Lashley or Drew any favours to rolled over so heavily, but this match was just so much fun that I really don’t care. With Roman Reigns’ just coming back from his leukaemia, and Ambrose potentially being gone for good in April, there’s just no point in complaining about this one, I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the ride.

As for the specifics of the match, if you’ve seen Shield vs Wyatts and Shield vs Evolution, then you’ve seen everything that happens in this match, but like I said, it’s been such a long time since The Shield have had a big match like this and nothing will stop me from enjoying it.

1 – Daniel Bryan(c) def. Kevin Owens, Mustafa Ali
(WWE Championship)

Ok hands up, who saw this one coming? If you put your hand up you’re a liar.

When the bait and switch with Kofi happened I didn’t think the WWE title match would actually still be a triple threat, but I guess it makes sense since Ali was unable to get his opportunity in the Elimination Chamber last month. Ali certainly made the most of this opportunity too, we’ve always known that guy can do amazing things, but holy crap he damn near destroyed himself for our entertainment last night.

With one of the best sells for an Apron Powerbomb I’ve seen in a long time, being kicked in the face from the top rope and flying all the way to the barricade, and a goddamned Moonsault into a Knee Plus to end the match, Ali deserves all of the gold, all of the time.

The crowd were a bit fixed on Kofi not being in the match, and while there were “We want Kofi” chants the whole time, Ali certainly shut a lot of them up as the match progressed. I still can’t really tell if they’re actually going to go with Kofi at Wrestlemania, but if they’re not, I’d be very happy with Mustafa Ali instead.

So that’s it! Thank you very much for reading my review of Fastlane 2019, let me know what you thought of the show either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo, and make sure you stick around this month for all the juicy content going into Wrestlemania season!

WWE Fastlane 2019 Analysis & Predictions

Alright, let’s get this out of the way I guess.

I said last time that I don’t really think there should be any Pay-Per-Views between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania, but I understand that WWE need to make its money and please its shareholders and Elimination Chamber does have a unique appeal to it so I can live with it. Fastlane however, is very different.

When there were still split PPVs I could understand why there’d be two (one for each brand), but now all the PPVs are interbrand, why have two of them? None of the stories have progressed very much at all to warrant another big match, so we instead have a bunch of throwaway and makeshift feuds that everyone knows the result of. Even worse, something like this can often worsen the lengthy feuds that are either just getting started, or right in the middle, since you now have to force some big “moment” at the PPV, even when the story so far might not need it.

I can complain until the cows come home, but it’s not going to change the fact that Fastlane is happening this Sunday, and there’s a whole bunch of matches that need predicting, so let’s get to it.

Rey Mysterio vs Andrade
(Kickoff Show)

When will they stop putting these cruiserweights on the pre-show? (I know Andrade’s 209lbs, but I thought it was funny).

On the ever-increasing list of things that baffle me with regards to this PPV, we have arguably the hottest feud from this year so far, being pushed to the pre-show. Not only that, but you could’ve put the US title on either of them two weeks in a row, but instead you decide to go with Samoa Joe, which is fine, except Samoa Joe isn’t even on the damn show at all.

I get that you’ve got to have a pre-show match, but this is a fairly empty PPV so far, and these two could put on a match of the year if you let them go instead of artificially putting shackles on them by only giving them about 10 minutes when no-one’s watching. It’s like they’re not even trying to make new stars.

They’ve buried this enough as it is, so not having Andrade win here would be such a huge mistake, and potentially destroy one of your existing potential stars at a key point of the year.

The Shield vs Baron Corbin, Drew Mcintyre & Bobby Lashley

So we’re not even going to wait and build up to this one, are we?

I’m of two minds when it comes to The Shield reuniting this soon after Roman’s return. On the one hand, it seems like it could’ve been built to a lot more, with the eventual reunion being a huge moment at Wrestlemania when Seth defeats Brock. However, we’ve been through this whole “will they, won’t they” thing three times now, and since we know it’s always going to end up with The Shield reuniting, why make us sit through it again?

It does make me wonder though, if they’ve thrown them together again this fast, could they also be breaking them up just as quickly? It doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to say that Dean once again turns on The Shield here in order to have Roman vs Dean at Wrestlemania, as it was quite weird that Roman didn’t really seem to care about Dean taking the piss of his leukaemia.

While it’s possible we get a turn here, I’m going to go with The Shield since it just seems like a fairly safe bet to say that the top heels of Raw are being thrown to the hounds for a quick win to make The Shield look good.

Asuka(c) vs Mandy Rose
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

So, now Asuka has left the shadow of the Becky/Charlotte storyline, you’ve got a big chance for Asuka to break out on her own and show her stuff going into Wrestlemania. Smackdown is filled with a whole bunch of great female athletes so you can pick from almost any of them. We’ve got Naomi, Sonya Deville, The IIconics, hell if you want a throwaway feud, Zelina Vaga would be a great opponent for Asuka. So with all the choice in the world WWE picks…Mandy Rose.

Now, I have nothing specifically against Mandy Rose. She’s yet to put on a performance that truly wowed me, but she’s certainly not a bad wrestler by any stretch of the imagination. She just really doesn’t feel like she’s the right fit for the spot, she’s had an on and off story with Naomi for a couple months where I guess she won? It was pretty vague, but she doesn’t really feel like she’s been built up at all, I get that she used cheap tactics to get the opportunity, but I feel like you could’ve spread this out a little longer and perhaps involved Sonya Deville on at least some level.

Ultimately, it all goes back to having two PPVs at this time of year so close together, there’s no time for anything to build because just 2 weeks ago Mandy was busy for the build to the Chamber match.

There are a whole host of shenanigans that could take place here, with Lacey Evans, Sonya Deville and Naomi all having some reason to get involved, but whatever happens, I’m confident that Asuka will walk away with the title.

Sasha Banks & Bayley(c) vs Nia Jax & Tamina
(Women’s Tag Team Championships)

Maybe, they should have stuck with the “Roadblock” name instead, because that’s what this match feels like.

The announcement that these Women’s Tag Team titles will be defended on all three of Raw, Smackdown and NXT is absolutely wonderful news. Many are currently claiming that the NXT women’s division is quite shallow, with Baszler, Sane and Sharai are the only top-level talents, but this is the way to showcase how great the rest of the division is, by having them go head to head with Banks & Bayley and put on an amazing match with them.

However, for us to get to that land of wonder, we have a rather large roadblock in the form of Nia Jax & Tamina. They shouldn’t win the titles here, and almost everything points to the fact that they won’t, especially with a probable face off against Trish & Lita is on the horizon for Wrestlemania, but this is WWE so they might.

Either way, this match should be ok. Nia and Tamina really are among my least favourite wrestlers right now, but Bayley and Sasha are great at bringing the best out of their opponents, especially bigger opponents like these. As for a pick, I’m going with what needs to happen and say Sasha Banks & Bayley are going to retain here.

The Usos(c) vs Shane Mcmahon & The Miz
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Remember when Shane Mcmahon first came back in 2016 and we were all really excited? Those were fun times, now I really just want him to go away for a while.

So far with this story, WWE have so far gone with the exact opposite of what I’ve predicted, but as I always say: If I keep bashing my head against this wall, it will eventually break, so let’s go again.

When this whole thing first started, I didn’t want Shane & Miz to win the titles, and then once they won them, I didn’t want them to lose the titles. So I don’t think I’m going to surprise anyone when I flip-flop once again and say now Shane & Miz have lost the titles, I really don’t think they should win them back.

When they won the titles, I thought we were going to get a long storyline where The Miz would use Shane to get to the WWE title at some point this year before inevitably dumping him when he outlived his usefulness, but now they’ve dropped the titles, it’s become obvious they’re going for the short term story, most likely ending at Wrestlemania.

I’m not really sure what The Usos are going to do come Wrestlemania, but I do know that they’re going to have the Smackdown Tag Team Championships around their waists.

The Revival(c) vs Aleister Black & Ricochet vs Bobby Roode & Chad Gable
(Raw Tag Team Championships)

So this is how Vince intends to “make new stars” is it?

So, Black & Ricochet have been going back forth between Raw and Smackdown for a couple of weeks beating The Revival and The Bar repeatedly, until suddenly Roode & Gable show up and put a spanner in things for some reason and now we have this match.

The thing is, Black & Ricochet have stood tall week in and week out since they showed up on the main roster, including last Monday, so wrestling logic dictates they have absolutely no chance of winning. This is the problem with bringing these four guys up at this time of year, they’re only going to get damaged by doing nothing of note (because let’s be real, the Raw Tag Team Titles are nothing of note) and then Vince has the gall to come out and wonder why he doesn’t have any superstars on his roster.

While it’s possible Ricochet & Black could pick up the win here, I don’t really think I want them to0 since the Raw Tag Titles seem like things that could hold them down instead of launching them to stardom, so I’m picking The Revival to retain.

Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair
(If Becky wins, she’s in at Wrestlemania)

Oh yeah, Charlotte’s involved in all of this.

I know the build to this match has been mostly brilliant so far, but I do find it quite weird how Charlotte’s been a bit of a non-factor since she was thrust into the match, mostly has a punching bag for Becky Lynch, but still.

This match is one of those ones that has an obvious result, – Becky Lynch is going to win – but it’s obvious because it’s what needs to happen. I know there’s pretty much no doubt in anyone’s minds that the triple threat is happening at Mania, but this is WWE, so I refuse to trust them. I think the best way to avoid this being such an obvious win, is to have Ronda get involved. Except have Ronda make Becky win.

Not accidentally, but on purpose screw over Charlotte so Becky gets her way in at Mania. The whole point of the story the past few weeks is that Ronda has been wanting to fight Becky at Wrestlemania, and Ronda is very much the type of character to fight ALL OF THEM to quote Asuka. Having Ronda cause Charlotte to lose here gets Becky in without compromising Charlotte’s integrity for the main event of Wrestlemania since she didn’t lose clean. There’s no downside to it.

Daniel Bryan(c) vs Kevin Owens
(WWE Championship)

So the build for this match has been pretty interesting, as it’s taken the opposite progression to almost everything else on the card.

With all the other feuds on this card, I started off pretty interested, but the build (or lack thereof) has made me not care about them at all, but with this match, I initially thought it was weird and didn’t make sense, but after this week’s Smackdown I’m pretty into it.

For one thing, Bryan vs Owens should be a brilliant match provided it isn’t hampered by WWE branded bullshit, but also I think they’ve done a pretty good job of building it given the limited time they’ve had. It was pretty weird that they inserted Owens into the match essentially by copying the women’s storyline over on Raw, but the promos that have been cut since then have been pretty fun to watch.

Owens feels like he’s got this renewed sense of vigour behind him, and while I doubt this face turn will last long, for this feud at least, it’s working. I’m not looking forward to this PPV as a whole much, but I chose to hold out hope that this match will have some good stuff behind it.

As for a winner, it’s slightly harder to pick than I thought, because of Kofi Kingston. While it wouldn’t be out of character for WWE to completely forget this Kofi story and hope everyone forgets about it, that doesn’t feel like what’s going to happen here. I’m not sure if he’ll get directly involved, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this segment ended with Kofi being involved in some way. For that to happen though, Daniel Bryan idealistically has to retain, so that’s what I’m going with here.

And those are my predictions for Fastlane 2019! Let me know what your thoughts are, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. As always watch this space over the next week as my review of the show will be coming up early next week!