WWE Fastlane To Wrestlemania Re-Matches

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.

Condo On The Moon Podcast #47

We are back for another week of podcasting fun. We talk Roman Reigns big night on Raw leading to his match with Daniel Bryan on his Road to Wrestlemania. We also preview the NXT Takeover: Rival card coming up this Wednesday. Headlined by Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens for the NXT Title.


If you are unable to listen here on the site head over to Podomatic and listen or download from there. Thanks for joining us and next week we start to look ahead to the ROH PPV in Las Vegas. That and reaction to the NXT show from Wednesday and whatever else the week provides.

5 Talking Points Coming Out Of Raw In Denver

It was back to normal for the gang in the WWE as they hit Denver, Colorado for last night’s Monday Night Raw. It was a very interesting show followed by a Stone Cold Podcast with Triple H. This show had a couple of great matches and a lot of interesting moments giving us lots of talking points coming out of last night’s Raw. Some horrible stuff was mixed in but as Triple H admitted to Stone Cold, writing 3 hours of television is not an easy thing to do. So let us dive in with what most people would be talking about around the water cooler. If they ever get past, why Seattle didn’t just run the damn ball on Sunday?

1. Rehabilitation of Roman Reigns Continues: It was a mixed bagged night for the man the WWE want to crown the next king of the company in Roman Reigns. He finished strong I suppose that is the main thing. In the opening segment, he is forced into conceding his Wrestlemania title shot to have a match with the winner between Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan for that right. This ended up being the big announcement that Triple H had promised on the Live Smackdown on Thursday. This to me made Reigns look foolish and dumb not how I want to feel about my babyface making a run at the championship. WWE was going for more of this guy is not afraid to fight but it didn’t work for me.

The night seemed to continue to go down hill for Reigns as he yet again had to face the Big Show and worse yet he got screwed by Rollins and lost the match. Why you have your top guy or the guy you want to be the top guy losing to Big Show in 2015 is a mystery to me regardless of the circumstances. Later in the night, Daniel Bryan came to talk with Reigns and hoped he would not let his anger for Seth Rollins get in the way of Bryan's match with him later that night. He also informed Reigns that is was not going to be Rollins he would face at fast lane as Bryan stated he was going to win and move on to face him. A less than amused Reigns was rather dismissive of Bryan and told him to get out of his locker room. All making him look very much like a heel. Having his own locker room even gave the impression of being a heel.

At the end of the night everything would come full circle as Reigns come out and Spear the Big Show take out one half of J&J security and when Noble was caught trying to nail Bryan with Rollins briefcase Reigns would Superman Punch Rollins and Bryan would hit the running knee for the 1-2-3. Reigns in effect helped Daniel Bryan win and thus the two will square off at Fast Lane. A good night for Reigns but the real question will be what happens when he beats Bryan and retains his shot? That is what is going to happen, for any of you holding out hope for Daniel Bryan. I can say with full certainty he is not going to win this match. His job is to get a great match out of Roman Reigns and get him ready to battle the Beast Brock Lesnar. If fans accept, Reigns after that WWE will have pulled one over on them. I don’t sense fans not being smart enough to see through this whole charade.

2. Bray Wyatt Calling Out Taker?: It has been widely speculated that Bray Wyatt has been being build strong with the hopes for a match with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 31.  Bray after another big win in which he pretty much no sold on Dolph Ziggler to hit his own finisher. He later would cut a promo that seemed to be geared at the Undertaker. It could be in reference to others if Taker isn’t the guy but the tease is clearly implied at Taker. Bray is asking a man who was once feared and now is a shadow of himself to come find him. If this ends up being true, it will be two huge names for Bray Wyatt in back to back Wrestlemanias. He lost to John Cena last year it would seem likely he would lose to Taker if he does in fact show himself this year. Still it is yet another big match potentially for Bray on the largest stage of them all. 

3. Mizdow vs. Miz starting to come to a head? Miz last night fired Mizdow as his stunt double and re-hired him as his personal assistant. Miz has been growing more and more frustrated with Mizdow stealing the attention that he feels he deserves. Give WWE credit on this one they took a character that most of their audience felt had X-Pac type of heat and have used that to make a star out of Damien Sandow. They also have been patient building this mid-card angle slowly with more care than almost any other mid-card angle you can name in the last 6 months. It has been a good job and should land the two a singles match at Wrestlemania. Sadly in might be on the pre-show but will see it has been a great feud and Mizdow is insanely over with the people. I hate to admit this but it is not just of his own doing but the great work of the Miz in his role. I will never like the Miz and if he left WWE T.V, tomorrow I would never miss him. He has done a remarkable job in this angle and really, in the end the person who will get the most out of this isn’t himself. So good for him for acting like heel and getting someone over that is rare today in wrestling. Someone has to do it, as it is clear the people on commentary on Raw can’t get anyone or anything over. I would complain about the horrible job they do but we can do that every week. Booker traded out for Lawler has fixed nothing and things are status quo.

4. Randy Orton Return Teased: Seth Rollins and Triple H made mention of Randy Orton who since making his movie has been in MIA from the WWE. Triple H referenced him in stating that Seth needed to step up and make the most of his opportunities unlike how Randy Orton never did. Referring to his failed title run at this time last year at this time Rollins also reminded us all how he was the one that took Orton out of action by curb stomping him on the announce table. This is likely going to be Seth’s Mania program with Randy Orton and I have it as my earlier favorite for match of the night at Wrestlemania. I do this with full realization we could have a Daniel Bryan against Dolph Ziggler match. I still give the nod to Seth and Randy. They have a better story and more reason to be invested in their match. Bryan vs. Ziggler would be a great match but I am not sure what  exactly I am suppose to be rooting for in that match other than that. Faces against face matches are tough under any circumstances but without a belt or reason for them to fight it become even tougher.

5. Triple H talks with Stone Cold: It was an interesting chat between the two. I would not consider it even half as compelling as the McMahon and Austin interview. Triple H gave what I expected, which were very politically correct answers and even on topics that were designed to get a reaction and Austin got none. Triple H stated the choices Chyna has made since leaving the WWE are why she would never get into the WWE Hall of Fame when asked if she was worthy. Triple H did put her over and say based on her resume of work she deserved to be inducted. In terms of C.M Punk, it was pretty much nothing topic. Triple H referred to Punk being distant and odd at times. When he heard rumors of Punk’s discontent, he would go to him only to be told by Punk that everything was fine. When asked If Punk were to ever-return, Triple H said, he would not be opposed to it and claims to have no beef with him at all. In talking about the current product and the fallout of the Royal Rumble and his work at NXT Triple H made it fairly clear where to direct your blame. It wasn’t at it him, it was at Vince McMahon. He didn’t say it in such a direct fashion but when you contrast his talk about current main roster issues and NXT it was fairly obvious that as he stated the buck still stops with Vince McMahon. It was a friendly chat that never seemed to get the least bit hostile which if you had listened to first time Triple H was on with Austin should not have shocked you. Both freely admit to being friends and the interview always stayed in that tone. This was an interesting interview but not the compelling must see T.V that Vince’s sit-down with Stone Cold was. Speculation on who is next to sit in Austin’s chair? My guess would be Stephanie McMahon. Not sure, how that one would go as Stephanie tends to be the most guarded of the three family members active in the company.

Therefore, the road to Wrestlemania marches on as we hit a little off-ramp heading towards Fast Lane. While it promises to add some stakes to Wrestlemania, it will merely confirm the directions we were already heading. Keeping in mind the network is free for new subscribers and here in Canada free all month as well they needed to make this special event before Mania mean something beyond just being a throw-a-way show and they have attempted to do that. I am much more excited to see Triple H’s latest vision in NXT with their special coming up on February 11 being headlined by Kevin Owens challenging Sami Zayn for the NXT Championship. In any case, the WWE seems to have steered the ship out of troubled waters for now as they hope for clear sailing the rest of the way to Wrestlemania. Something tells me the water will get really choppy when Daniel Bryan losses to Roman Reigns. This might have been a very bad idea or a brilliant idea time will tell. My guess is this like the Rumble will end badly if the goal is to get Roman Reigns over as a babyface heading to Mania.

Rusev vs Cena Being Rushed Into The Fast Lane

It has been a series of odd booking choices of late for the WWE. Having John Cena taking on Rusev at Fast Lane, the new WWE event that has replaced the Elimination Chamber is the latest. Why the WWE if you will pardon the pun is rushing this match now remains to be seen. Rusev had long been pegged as Cena’s dance partner for Wrestlemania 31. What the WWE hopes to accomplish with this match is fairly unclear at this point.

John Cena is coming off losing a WWE title match in which he failed to regain the Championship from Brock Lesnar yet again. Logic suggests Cena is in need of a win but at this point do wins and loses even matter with him. Still WWE has never had Cena go into any kind of prolonged losing streak. He is after all the guy the moves the most merchandise and is considered the face of the company.

Rusev has been slowly and methodically built into a huge monster heel that has never been pinned or submitted in his time in WWE. Cena has in his career been billed as a super hero and champion of the American military at times based on that it seems unimaginable he would lose in this showdown.

This leads us back to why we have Rusev and Cena heading towards a match with very little time to build the match and no real outcome that makes any sense. If Cena wins, the idea of a re-match at Wrestlemania seems unlikely to unnecessary. If Rusev were to win, a re-match makes sense but much like the feud with Bray Wyatt last year for Cena, you have Rusev losing on the big stage killing his momentum. If the match ends in some sort of non-finish you have ripped off people in Memphis given them a match with no conclusion and wasted everyone’s time to some degree.

There has been a lot of talk of the WWE’s lack of long-term planning and this seems to be an example of it. I find it hard to believe the plan was to have this match. In fact, it was being advertised that Cena would team with Reigns to take on Rusev and Rollins at Fast Lane in the local market. So there is some prove a change in plans was made. Perhaps the reaction to Roman Reigns at the Rumble is the reason behind it. The idea of tagging him with John Cena would not be a good one under any circumstances but with the negative reaction, he was given in Philadelphia even with The Rock’s endorsement makes teaming with Cena a death sentence to Reigns as a baby face heading into Wrestlemania.

In any case, the WWE has decided to go with this program a month earlier and I have to imagine it will take away from a match at Mania by having the two be involved in a match the month prior. Unless they have some other opponent in mind for Cena at Wrestlemania and Rusev is out. Who that would be would be a complete mystery at this point. Only thing that makes any sense is a rematch with Bryan perhaps for the number one contender to face the WWE Heavyweight Champion. Still Rusev and Cena seemed like the money program that WWE was banking on.

Vince McMahon has always been a fan of very patriotic based angles despite them not always getting over as well as he might have hoped. A great example tied to Wrestlemania was the Slaughter against Hogan World Title match the headlined Wrestlemania 7. That Mania was originally scheduled to be at the L.A Coliseum a huge outdoor venue. It was moved to the L.A Sports Arena it was said out of fear or terrorism concerns but was in fact due to poor ticket sales for the event.

Ready on not Rusev and John Cena is being given the green light to kick off a month earlier at WWE Fast Lane. It will be interesting to see how this program influences Rusev and if it has a similar negative impact that it did for Bray Wyatt coming out of the Cena program last year.

WWE Network apparently has passed the million-subscriber mark and perhaps they are hoping to get a few extra subscribers to hop on board prior to Wrestlemania where subscriptions ate likely to get a temporary bump for the company’s biggest event of the year. Perhaps a vision will be made clear with the live Smackdown tonight that in effect will be Raw for this week with forced cancellation of the event due to the massive snowstorm in the U.S northeast.

Ready or not, it is Rusev vs. John Cena for the hopes and dreams of America. Something like that!