It’s time to review the final PPV before Wrestlemania, Fastlane. Let’s get started.
The Fashion Police & Tye Dillinger vs. Chad Gable, Shelton Benjamin & Mojo Rawley
The pre-show match for Fastlane is a collision of rivalries. Dillinger teams with The Fashion Police to face Gable, Benjamin and Rawley. Tye Dillinger got a win for his team, doing a knee move of some sort. This match was very short, but honestly it was the first match I have seen from Dillinger where I though “wow he was good in the ring”.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev
Alright so to the live show. Well, I can’t judge the intro to the show because the Network is awful and crapped out on me, but I tuned in before the first match. This time when Aiden English introduced Rusev, he had a custom Rusev Day microphone. We got a lot of pinfalls in this match. Maybe a little too much. But despite that, this match was pretty good. Rusev did a nice roll-up transition into The Accolade which Nakamura escaped. Nakamura escaped an Accolade and did a Kinshasa to the back of his neck. He followed it up with a regular Kinshasa.
This match was well paced. It had slow wrestling at the start, but progressed and progressed until it finally culminated. This was a great start to the show as well. The crowd was very invested in the fight.
Randy Orton vs. Bobby Roode (US Title Match)
Our third match on the card tonight is our first that has gold on the line. Roode defends his US Title against Randy Orton, in the culmination of the US Title #1 Contender Tournament. This match, just like the one before was pretty good. Orton hit a Superplex late in the match. Roode did a flying nothing off the top rope that Orton reversed into an RKO. That ended the match. This completely unglued the crowd.
Jinder Mahal came out after the match to confront Orton. Mahal attacked Orton acter the match, but Bobby saved him. After that, he gave Orton a Glorious DDT. Roode, who just lost his title, walks away with his music playing.
Naomi and Becky Lynch vs. Carmella and Natalya
A women’s tag match is the next fight on the card. I wasn’t aware that there was any beef between these four, but I guess they are doing a match so they must. Carmella had really good strikes in this match. They all looked very brutal. Becky hit a Leg Drop late in the match but Natalya won the match. Natalya tried to give Carmella the briefcase to hit Becky while the ref wasn’t looking. She failed to do this, but this distracted Becky, giving Carmella time to hit a move for the win. Decent match, not bad. Carmella seems like she improved.
New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston w/ Big E) vs. The Usos (Smackdown Tag Team Title Match)
This match was the New Day versus The Usos for the tag titles. The Usos did a double dive to the outside onto all three members. After this spot, The Bludgeon Brothers made an uninvited appearance. They attack everyone, ending the match. The beatdown was pretty good. At first I was pretty annoyed, but it was better than what I expected.
Ruby Riott vs. Charlotte Flair (Smackdown Women’s Championship Match)
Ruby Riott and Charlotte Flair fight for the Women’s title. During the match the rest of the Riott Squad tried to attack Charlotte, but Naomi and Becky Lynch came down from the ramp to make sure they didn’t. After Riott Squad got thrown out after repeatedly punching Charlotte. Charlotte put Ruby Riott into the Figure 8 to retain.
This match was really, really good. It really buried Riott though. Even though her henchwomen attacked Charlotte, she lost. Makes her look super weak. Honestly, who didn’t predict that she would win. Still, enjoyable.
After the match, Asuka came out to the ring. The crowd gave Asuka a huge reaction. Asuka pointed to the Wrestlemania sign, showing that she wanted to challenge Charlotte for her title. She can, since she won the Rumble.
John Cena vs. Baron Corbin vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles (WWE Championship Match)
It’s finally our main event of the night, a match which should truly be mayhem. Cena, Corbin, Owens, Zayn, Ziggler and Styles all in one big fight. Cena did an AA to Styles through an announcers table, after failing to do it to Owens. Later on, Zayn laid down for Owens to pin him in this match. Owens called bluff. Zayn tried to roll him up, then they both started brawling like crazy. Some shit happened with Owens, Zayn and Shane McMahon, but my WWE Network cut out so that sucks.
Owens hit a pop-up Powerbomb, then AJ Styles hit a Phenominal Forearm out of nowhere onto Owens to win.
This match was pretty good. My network decided to just cut my feed halfway through the match, so it’s hard to judge, but what I saw I enjoyed.
In general, this was a good PPV. There was a bad or boring match here or there, but in general it was a pretty good show.
JackWannan.com 