Fastlane 2018 Review

WWE Fastlane 2018

Columbus, OH
Nationwide Arena
3/11/18

To say that I am not looking forward to this show is an understatement as I have not enjoyed Smackdown for the last few months (with the exception of the tag division, which is the only reason I care to watch the blue brand) and for the second PPV in a row I won't be watching this show live as I will instead be watching the revival of American Idol. I'm so over the whole Shane McMahon getting his rocks off by making Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn's lives hell and in turn making the champion of his brand in more jeopardy of losing his title by putting him in a six-way match. From the way, it's looking and from rumors I've read, there is a chance we may not even get a payoff to the whole Shane McMahon vs Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, & Daniel Bryan story at WrestleMania (as the rumor is Owens vs Zayn and Shane vs Dolph). We also have the terrible John Cena story of him not getting a WrestleMania flowing over from Raw and into this match as he sees this match as his last chance to make the card. I really hope they don't put him in the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania as that match needs to stay a singles match because everyone wants to see AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania and don't want to see John Cena in it. The fact that we are once again getting a multi-man match comes off as very lazy which seems to be the theme of Smackdown for the last few months. 

As bad as the WWE title picture has been, the women's division is even worse as Charlotte is going up against a heel group that nobody believes will take the title off of her as the group has been built up horribly. I actually like all three girls in the Riott Squad on their own, but together they bring nothing to the show. Smackdown really needs some new blood in their women's division and hopefully that comes in a big way with the addition of Asuka in the coming weeks as she is hopefully challenging Charlotte at WrestleMania. Also on the show the other women were thrown on the card at the last minute as we have Charlotte's running buddies and former women's champions Becky Lynch & Naomi taking on another former women's champion in Natalya and her partner Ms. Money in the Bank Carmella.

For some reason they are putting Rusev whom is the most over guy on the roster in a match that he can't win against Shinsuke Nakamura. Also on the card is a sure to be sleeper (and when I say sleeper I actually mean people might fall asleep) as Bobby Roode will defend his United States Championship against Randy Orton and if that isn't enough anesthesia for the fans just wait until Jinder Mahal is added to the match at WrestleMania to make it a three way.

The highlight for me on this card will be the tag team championship match between New Day and the Usos as this is sure to be the match of the night as it always is when these two teams meet. I really loved the promo a couple of weeks ago where we got to see a serious side of Big E and if I wasn't sold on this match already that promo got me hyped up for it even more. I expect there is a chance the Bludgeon Brothers could interfere as it looks like we could be getting a three way or four way at WrestleMania (also involving either Breezango or the team of Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable).

Kick Off Match

Tye Dillinger & Breezango def Mojo Rawley, Chad Gable, & Shelton Benjamin via Pinfall

This was a fun match to get the crowd hyped up. We see Gable challenging both members of Breezango to out wrestle him and Fandango pulls out some headgear to mock Gable's collegiate background and then when it was Breeze's turn he decided to ride Gable like a horse. 

Breeze gets worked over for a while by his opponents which includes Breeze taking a nice face bump off of a monkey flip. Breeze finally makes the hot tag to Dillinger and after avoiding Gable and Benjamin's finisher he is able to hit a Perfect 10 on Mojo to get the win. Rating: **

Match #1
Shinsuke Nakamura def Rusev w/ Aiden English via Pinfall

This was a good match, but I found that I was enjoying Rusev more than Nakamura during this match. There was a point in the match where Nakamura goes for a Kinshasa and Rusev hits an awesome looking Machka kick out of nowhere. Both men were super over in this match which makes it even more ludacris as to why they had this match happen where one of these men had to take a loss. The finish comes when Nakamura hits one Kinshasa to the back of Rusev's head and then another right after to the front. As I said this was a good match, but nothing too spectacular. Rating: **3/4

Match #2

Randy Orton def Bobby Roode (c) (WWE United States Championship) via Pinfall

This match definitely over delivered for me as I wasn't expecting much from these two, but they put on a really good match. The match really picked up toward the back half with all the counters of both men's finishing moves. I have to wonder what Vince and Kevin Dunn were thinking in the back when Byron was calling the shots and demanded a replay of the superplex by Orton on Roode. Orton and Roode had a nice little strike exchange toward the end of the match before Roode delivers a sweet spinebuster and then going for a blockbuster off the middle rope, only to be caught with the RKO and Orton picks up the win. Orton has officially won every male title there currently is to win except for the Universal Championship. Rating: ***

After the match, Jinder comes out and attacks Orton, but Roode hits him with a Glorious DDT and then hits another one on Orton, so it looks like we are getting at least a triple threat match at WrestleMania if not more as I could easily see more people being added to this match.

Match #3

Carmella & Natalya def Naomi & Becky Lynch via Pinfall

This was a match that you could see on any edition of Smackdown as there was absolutely nothing special about it. The match was a bit sloppy at times and if not for Carmella the match wouldn't have had any sizzle to it at all, she was the MVP of the match just for her character work. Rating: *1/2

Match #4

The Usos (c) vs The New Day w/ Big E - No Contest (Smackdown Tag Team Championship)

This match before the interference from the Bludgeon Brothers was ok, but not the best outing from these two teams whatsoever. With all due respect to both Kofi and Xavier, a New Day match doesn't feel the same without Big E in the match as he is, in my opinion, the star of the team. The story of the match seemed to be both teams hitting their opponents signature moves. I had a feeling something was going to happen as it felt like the match was being rushed, which I guess they wanted to hurry and get everyone's shit in before the main story of the Bludgeon Brothers attack started.
Rating: ***1/4

Harper and Rowan destroy both the Usos and New Day and leave a pile of bodies around ringside as they leave. This was a great way to make the Bludgeon Brothers look dominant going into WrestleMania, which I now assume will be a triple threat match and this has a chance of being one of the best matches at WrestleMania. They stay on the carnage left by the Bludgeon Brothers for a while and then go to a commercial and when they come back all the men are getting helped to the back, Xavier has to be stretchered out after being powerbombed on the steps.

Match #5

Charlotte (c) def Ruby Riott (Smackdown Women's Championship) via Submission

The video package for this match made the build seem way better than it actually was. I really enjoyed this match and thought both women put on a great performance, this was for sure Ruby's breakout performance on the main roster. I could've done without seeing the rest of the Riott Squad as well as Naomi & Becky, especially since it didn't really lead to anything, although it was smart of Riott Squad to lure Becky and Naomi into the ring and cause them to get thrown out. Nice finish with Charlotte countering the Deadly Night Shade by Ruby and turning it into an inverted Alabama Slam which allowed her to lock in the Figure Eight and get the win. Definitely, a better match than I expected. Rating: ***1/2

After the match, Asuka makes her way to the ring and without a word being said she challenges Charlotte for the Smackdown Women's Championship at WrestleMania. So it looks like we officially have Charlotte vs Asuka for Smackdown and most likely Alexa vs Nia Jax for Raw.

Match #6
AJ Styles (c) def John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, & Baron Corbin (WWE Championship)

Oh no, Shane McMahon is out for this match which means that Owens and Zayn are screwed. This was a good match for what it was, which was a WWE style free for all brawl. Everyone got their shit in and of course, we had the mandatory breaking of the commentary table. I did like that Corbin and Ziggler made use of the plexiglass boards used for the hockey games as that is something you don't see in every match.

We then get the Owens, Zayn, & Shane McMahon portion of the match where it looks like Zayn is going to lay down for Owens but instead tries to roll him up. This would lead to Owens accidentally hitting a superkick on Shane, Shane being a dick pulls the referee out of the ring when Owens tries to pin Ziggler and then pulls Zayn out of the ring when he tries to pin Owens. I'm still not sure where this is going at first it looked like we could get Owens vs Zayn, but then after Shane got involved I'm not sure, perhaps they do Owens vs Zayn with Shane as the referee but where would that leave Bryan who has also been involved in all of this.

The finish comes when Owens hits the Pop-Up Powerbomb on Cena and then turns around into the Phenomenal Forearm from AJ which ends up giving AJ the win. With that win, AJ Styles will face Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania and poor Cena still doesn't have his WrestleMania match oh what will come of poor John Cena and will he be able to find his match for WrestleMania, tune into Raw to find out. Rating: ***1/2

Overall I found this show to be a real disappointment as none of the matches reached above ***1/2, but then again this show did a lot to solidify some of the WrestleMania matches and gave a good preview as to what direction Smackdown will be going in for the final weeks leading up to WrestleMania. Show Rating: C-

Fastlane 2018 Match Rating

7.  Carmella & Natalya vs Naomi & Becky Lynch 

6. Tye Dillinger & Breezango vs Mojo Rawley, Chad Gable, & Shelton Benjamin 

5. Shinsuke Nakamura vs Rusev 

4. US Championship 

3. Smackdown Tag Team Championship 

2. WWE Championship

1. Smackdown Women's Championship 

That's it for Fastlane and I'll be back in four weeks for my three show review for WrestleMania weekend which includes the 2018 Hall of Fame, NXT Takeover: New Orleans, & WrestleMania 34.