WWE Fastlane Was More Electric Than I Imagined

Well, the final WWE Pay-Per-View before WrestleMania has now come and gone. I went into Fastlane with pretty low expectations, but I can say I was pleasantly surprised. Seeds were planted, titles were defended, and storylines reached a climax. We saw heel turns, Vince playing with the crowd’s emotions, and one of the best moments of the year to close the show. With only 28 days until the biggest show in sports entertainment, things are definitely heating up.

Let’s start with the low points of the night. There wasn’t a lot of them but a few really caught my eye. On the kickoff show, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura had a tag team match against The New Day. It seems like Rusev and Nakamura are going to continue being a tag team for the time being. The only thing they’re missing is a signature win, which should have come last night. It didn’t have to be a clean win, but a win over a solidified tag team would’ve been huge in legitimatizing this odd pairing. Another down (which also will fall under the good category) was The Bar, beating Kofi Kingston in a handicap match. The biggest downfall to the night was the finish to the Becky and Charlotte match.

Ronda Rousey interfered and punched Becky, causing her to win. Becky is now added to the match and to be honest, this confuses me. For once I don’t have a ton to say about this match. We’ll find out more on Raw in the coming weeks but the match is set for WrestleMania, it’ll be a triple threat.

Now there was both good and bad with Fastlane, but there was also some that I was indifferent on. There were no title changes, so a lot of action got lost in the shuffle. The Revival, along with the Uso’s retained their titles. After the match with the Uso’s, Shane McMahon turned on The Miz, attacking him in his hometown, and in front of his dad. Clearly setting up a match for Mania, it’s refreshing to see The Miz in a “good guy” role. Sasha and Bayley retained their tag titles, and Samoa Joe successfully defended his United States title in a pretty good match.

It was quite a long Pay-Per-View but Fastlane was far from boring. Mr. McMahon told Kofi he would be included in the WWE Championship match, and when Kofi got to the ring, the plans changed. The WWE Championship match ended up consisting of Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, and Mustafa Ali. This was a fantastic match as Daniel Bryan retained. It seems as though Kofi is still going to get his match at Mania, but it wasn’t in the cards for Fastlane.

The final match was also my favorite. The Shield reuniting for the final time to face Corbin, Lashley and McIntyre. This was an old fashioned Shield match. It was chaotic, hard hitting, and damn fun to watch. Hearing Roman get cheered while actually performing was beyond refreshing and the whole match felt nostalgic. The Shield won and the final image of the night was the 3 best friends hugging, knowing that their time together is limited. I can’t wait for WrestleMania and this got me even more excited!

-Joe Pegoraro (@pegs1017)