WWE Fastlane seemed more like it was in the bicycle lane when all was said and done last night. There are so many challenges to trying to book a show sandwiched between the Rumble and Wrestlemania. It still is not an excuse for what we saw last night. It really was a show lacking any kind of real buzz to it. The way the card was booked was a mistake from the start in my opinion. We started with the new job squad as I have dubbed them Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback going against Kane, Big Show and Seth Rollins. This match meant little in grand scheme of things. It was based all about what happened at the end of the match with the return of Randy Orton. The match went to long and had the heels going over winning the match.
Orton’s return was fairly muted as it really was so expected to happen. Fans had been aware Orton had been back for a while working house shows but being kept off television. Orton is never really great as a baby face and the timing of his leaving to do a movie was unfortunate because fans at that time were ready to embrace Orton as a face. Now the moment has somewhat passed and we still have 35 more days to Wrestlemania. This feud was hot when Seth laid out Orton but they have waited to long and the buzz for it needs to be recreated.
The Goldust against Stardust match bombed on pretty much every level. The problem was obvious and crowd in the pre-show gave you the answer in how they reacted to Mizdow. Fans are hot to see the payoff for the Mizdow and Miz feud. The brothers Rhodes feud has been teased for a number of years and people have just lost interest. It was just the idea of having two programs with a similar storyline of a tag-team break-up that was an issue. Stardust and Goldust match was not received well and the finish the ref botched the three-count making the ending very anti-climatic on top of everything.
If you’re looking for a nugget for the hardcore internet fan base, they were given Tyson Kidd and Csearo won the tag belts against the Usos. It was a good match and was at list a minor surprise in the finish. Maybe it gets Kidd and Csearo on the pre-show in re-match with the Usos on the Mania Pre-Show.
The Bellas flat out suck and are killing the Divas division one program at a time. They can’t act and while people praise there improvement in the ring it is far less than people make it out to be. Nikki Bella was not able to sell pulling of the tights that I am not certain but likely is part of your first week in being a wrestling villain class. I suppose this sets table for yet another Wrestlemania re-match with Paige and Nikki if they choose to go there. As bad as build with Bellas was to this match, I am not sure I could survive another 5 weeks of it.
Dean Ambrose talked about as we wrote awhile back about the idea of him restoring the luster of the I-C title in the pre-show. He has his match resulting in getting a cheap disqualification and ends up stealing the title at the end of the match. Yet another re-match set up for Wrestlemania. The log for Wrestlemania 31 should have a rewind button of fast forward button instead of play. On paper, this is shaping up as the Wrestlemania of re-matches.
Another re-match which most everyone expected coming in will be John Cena taking on Rusev who cheated by low blowing Cena and having him pass out in his version of the Camel Clutch. It all builds to the big Wrestlemania Re-Match with Rusev. Like with Bray Wyatt it seems Cena will get the win at Wrestlemania where it means the most.
Speaking of Bray Wyatt, he made his intentions crystal clear on his Wrestlemania direction as he came out faking an entire Undertaker entrance. Crowd wasn’t happy to see Bray in the casket. A match with an aging Taker really is a no win situation. Fans don’t want to see Taker lose a second year in a row. While Wyatt really can’t afford to lose another big time as he did last year with Cena. The other unknown is what Taker has left in his tank. What is forgotten by the result of Lesnar winning is how horrible the match was between the two prior to the historic result.
The main event was exactly what I thought it would be. Daniel Bryan gave Roman Reigns a great match but Roman wins the match clean and keeps his main event spot with Lesnar for Wrestlemania. People might hate it but after caving to fan pressure last year, they really can’t afford to do it again this year. While fans might dictate what becomes of Roman Reigns in terms of being a heel or a face they can’t dictate his match as well. They have to draw a line in sand at some point that puts fans in their proper place. It is chaos if fans are allowed to control to much of the booking and direction of the show.
In the end if this is what Fastlane will be for the future I don’t see it having a long history and just is the latest failed new WWE special event name. It was a show that lived up to it’s free price tag as it offered nothing much worth paying to see it. Another example of where NXT did more to sell me on the WWE Network than the main roster product in a month of free programming.
Oh and in case your brain dead Sting is fighting Triple H. Over something that happened over 15 years ago that we are now suppose to care about? WCW vs WWE the Invasion 15 years to late how thrilling. In the end this is Wrestlemania that may offer more groans than cheers.
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