Shayna Baszler (C) and Nia Jax (C) vs. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks – WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
A rather obvious result given the story that they were trying to tell between Sasha and Bianca. About your average women’s tag team match these days, with the action considerably slowing down when Nia got the offense. I did find it rather silly that Sasha was so quick to get angry at Bianca when she was right in front of Nia shoving Bianca. Rather cliche, but I suppose it works. Not really much to the match beyond the story between Sasha and Bianca melting down. Inoffensive action at best. **1/4
Big E (C) def. Apollo Crews – Intercontinental Championship
Well, that’s a bummer. WWE didn’t even bother showing a replay of the finish, so that’s all the indication in the world you need to know the finish was botched. I’m just assuming that Big E was supposed to shift his weight on the cradle, but wasn’t quite able to get it over and the referee just counted. The match was going in the right direction with Big E’s trash talk and Apollo’s intensity before the botched abrupt finish. I’m thinking that maybe Apollo’s post match attack was improvised so as to cut the awkwardness out, and if it was, good on him. I’m hoping WWE uses this to continue the storyline. Could give Apollo an excuse for a rematch. **
Braun Strowman def. Elias
Shane McMahon ducking out the match makes sense to fit what they’re trying to do, but outside of that, there’s just nothing of interest here. It’s kind of ironic that Braun Strowman’s new attire makes him look like a trash collector, because his character, this storyline, and this match, which basically amounted to extended filler, was trash. It also doesn’t help that I cannot get invested in Braun or Elias’ character at the moment. Just an extended squash. Braun remains stale and stagnant, and Elias remains incompetent. *
Seth Rollins def. Shinsuke Nakamura
Best match of the night so far by a mile, although the previous matches weren’t much competition. Rollins’ mannerisms carried this match, but the in-ring work by both men was incredibly solid. I think Seth and Shinsuke may have only faced each other once or twice before tonight. I’d really like to see them do more work with each other because they have some pretty steady chemistry with each other. Rollins even busted out some new moves, like that reverse kick after Shinsuke dodged the Curb Stomp attempt. A very well done and well-worked match that kept me interested from bell to bell. ***1/2
Drew McIntyre def. Sheamus – No Holds Barred
I could watch these two beat the crap out of each other for days. The physicality of the matches these two have reminded me of the ones Sheamus had with Cesaro in their best of 7 series four and a half years ago. Sheamus’ skin also makes it easy to see the scars that the kendo sticks give him. His body ends up looking like a bunch of railroad tracks. Bow Wow probably still thinks its fake, but I’d like to see him take a stiff kendo stick shot or two.
This match also had a lot of vintage 90’s feel from the Attitude Era, where they neglect all the rules and just start brawling all over the arena like an extended bar fight. It was physical, brutal and an absolute war. Sheamus is always at his best when he’s working with someone that can match his physicality, and Drew is just the right guy for the job. This was an absolutely incredible fight, with the right amount of selling and brutality. If there’s anything that you could say ruined it, it was the fact that the outcome was really never in doubt. So no matter what Sheamus did, there was no way Drew was going to lose. In spite of that, you still appreciate the effort. As the old saying goes, it’s about the journey, not the destination. In this case, the journey was well worth it. Couple in Drew’s Bravehart cosplay and this is your first early match of the year candidate, folks. ****1/2
Alexa Bliss def. Randy Orton
Not going to even rate this as a match because it wasn’t a match. It was a segment. But, um, it wasn’t made clear to me that this was a No DQ match. Otherwise, shouldn’t Alexa have been disqualified the moment The Fiend attacked Randy? I get it for story purposes, but it still irks me. The segment was really just a lot of Randy staring and spitting up black Kool-Aid and Alexa smiling, so there wasn’t much to this segment outside of The Fiend’s return. I must say the art work on him was pretty well done. But again, outside of that, really just a lot of antics and things that we more or less saw on RAW before.
Roman Reigns (C) def. Daniel Bryan – Universal Championship
Okay, a lot to unpack here. Let’s start first with the supposed Edge heel turn. WWE kind of booked themselves into a bit of a corner with Edge, because Edge always made for a better heel than a face, and it’s not remotely close either. While it’s going to be weird to have the fans boo Edge, WWE has no choice now that they have seemingly placed Daniel Bryan in the Universal Title picture. The match had a definitive finish, but I do believe they are now going to turn the Universal Championship match into a Triple Threat, now that they have built up the Edge/Bryan tension up. I mean, who would they have Bryan face, Jey Use?
As for the actual match itself, I loved it. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Bryan and Reigns haven’t faced each other often, but one of their previous encounters came at this same Fastlane PPV six years ago. That match was great as well. This one told a great story from start to end. It started with Bryan teasing Roman with his technical prowess, and him reversing everything Roman was going for. Roman gradually got frustrated and used his strength to counter back out of everything Bryan was doing. However, Bryan’s style eventually proved to be too much, and he eventually got Reigns to tap, a subplot that Roman was pushing since he touted the fact no man has ever made him tap out before.
It was quite clear after the ref bump that the overbooking was going to start, but it did push the WrestleMania storyline further. I also thought the finish was rather anticlimactic. Edge whacked both men with chairs and Roman is the first one to get up and desperately cover Bryan. I thought they could have done that better, but I guess that’s nitpicking. The actual match itself was extremely well-worked, and I’d argue another match of the year candidate, and a great way to build to the WrestleMania main event. ****1/2
Conclusion:
Fastlane started off slow, but we got some great performances all around from McIntyre/Sheamus to the main event. Seth/Shinsuke was also solid, and The Fiend returned, so it was also eventful as well. If you caught the pre-show, Riddle/Ali was also relatively solid, and with RETRIBUTION seemingly turning its back on Ali, that’s another storyline to look after. Fastlane didn’t look all that enticing when you looked at the match card at first. However, this show ended up being a solid watch. I’d have no problem recommending this show if you have about 2 or so hours to burn.
