WWE Fastlane Review 03/10/2019

Hello Misfits! It’s the Wrestling Classic here with my review for WWE Fastlane. We are officially in the fast lane to Wrestlemania and this is the final stop. This is a stacked card setting the scene for this years Wrestlemania. There are championships being defended and stories being told. The Shield reunite one last time. Becky Lynch tries to fight her way back into the main event of Wrestlemania. Sasha Banks and Bayley defend the women’s tag team titles for the first time. Daniel Bryan faces off against Kevin Owens for the WWE Championship. Both mens tag championships are being defended. Lets see how tonights show helps build the anticipation for Wrestlemania.

Image via WWE.com

This show is coming to us from the Quickens Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

I missed the kick off show live but lots happened. There was a tease that Kofi Kingston might be added in the WWE Championship match. The Rey Mysterio vs Andrade match got scrapped and there will now be a fatal four way for the United States Championship also invoking R-Truth and the new US Champion Samoa Joe of course.

– The show opened up with great hype video for the event.

– The commentating is split between the Raw and Smackdown teams. Michael Cole, Renee Young and Corey Graves will call the Raw matches while Tom Phillips, Byron Saxtpn and Corey Graves will call the Smackdown matches.

Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Usos (C) def. Shane McMahon & The Miz
in 14:10 by pin fall
This was another great match between four talented guys. It was a smart move for them to have this open up the show. The fans were into it and really behind their hometown boy, The Miz. This match might have been a bit better than their match from Elimiantion Chamber if you ask me. Miz was wearing a Cleveland is amazing shirt under his jersey.   There were brief moments during the match where you could see The Miz and Shane getting frustrated with each other but it just played off as them just getting frustrated with getting close to winning but not. There was one awesome spot where Shane McMahon caught Jey Uso in mid-air with a drop kick as he was going for a splash on The Miz. The finish came when Miz took advice from his dad to go high risk with a frog splash to try to pick up the win but that ultimately led to Jey getting his knees up and then rolling up The Miz for the win. This was great match to kick off the show. – After the match, Shane McMahon attacks The Miz after The Miz went to go hug his dad. He even grabs Mr.Miz by the face and tells him to look at his beaten up son. Shane puts Miz into a triangle choke until he passes out. Its the first time we’re seeing heel Shane since he returned in 2016. I mean we saw hints of it during the Owens/Zayn feud but this was full bad guy mode by attacking The Miz and taunting his father. I think we have another made Mania match. – The trio of Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin did a cell phone promo similar to original Shield promos. They talked trash about The Shield saying they have dominated Raw while The Shield were not together. McIntyre said that this is going to be an embarrassing defeat by the new dominant force in WWE and Corbin ended it with “believe that,” which is Roman Reigns’ catchphrase. – Elias sings about the Miz getting beat up and how Cleveland sucks.Elias sang about how he can’t wait to be gone, so he can go to LA to hang with his brother LeBron. LOL this was solid stuff and nobody interrupted Elias at this point which was shocking.

Smackdown Women’s Championship
Asuka (C) def. Mandy Rose w/ Sonya Deville
in 08:40 by pin fall
This was a solid match between the two with some sloppy moments. Rose is still fairly new so its understandable but this is a big opportunity for her to shine. I still do think she’ll be a women’s champion by the end of the year. Deville played a big role by helping Rose get the advantage a few times, but then Deville screwed up to cost Mandy the win. This works for many reasons. It protects Mandy from losing clean here and also creates a potential angle between Rose and Deville. Asuka retains and heads into Wrestlemania as the champion. This wasn’t bad whatsoever but it also wasn’t the greatest. I enjoyed it though. I’m still curious to see who Asuka faces at Wrestlemania. – Backstage, Kingston is still waiting for the McMahons to tell him what his role will be tonight. Woods and Big E. barge into Mr. McMahon office and make an impassioned plea to make the title match a triple threat match. Mr. McMahon bars Woods and Big E. from ringside and tells Kingston to get out there because the match starts right now.

– Kingston gets in the ring and is told that the WWE title match will actually be happening later tonight. Kingston is going to face the Bar in a handicap match.

2-0n-1 Handicap Match
The Bar def. Kofi Kingston
in 05:15 by pin fall
Kofi Kingston came out to a great reception from the crowd. Kofi Kingston was hyped as if he was going to be in the WWE Championship match. Then before Greg Hamilton could announce who was coming out next he was told to announce the Bar for a tw0-on-one handicap match. Considering that The New Day are barred by ringside, this all played into the entire Vince McMahon doesn’t want to see Kofi Kingston fighting for the WWE Championship angle. The Bar dominated Kofi and every time Kofi tried to gain the upper-hand they cut him down. Kofi Kingston didn’t stand a chance and the fans reacted accordingly. The New Day tried to run out to help Kofi even though they were barred from ringside only to be attacked by Rusev and Nakamura. The Bar picked up the victory after a double white noise. The New Day was left laying. This was a swerve and its interesting to continue booking Kofi like the ultimate underdog. – Bayley and Sasha Banks were interviewed by Charly Caruso. It was a generic babyface promo about how they are ready to face the competition. They worked way to hard to win these championships and they want to be the greatest tag team champions of all time. There aint no stronger connection than the Boss N’ Hug Connection and you can bank on that. I miss heel Sasha. Bayley did good. – Elias sings about Kingston getting beat up as bad as that moron The Miz. Elias poops on the Cleveland Cavaliers and tells the crowd that the Pittsburgh Steelers are the best. Elias was once again not interrupted surprisingly. -Backstage, when asked if he has an explanation for what he just did Shane grunts and walks away.

Raw Tag Team Championship
The Revival (C) def. Chad Gable & Bobby Roode vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet
in 10:50 by pin fall
This was another really good match where they made it seem like any team could win at any moment. The most pressure was on The Revival as they could lose the tag team titles without being pinned. This match broke down into an all out brawl real fast. They really put the spotlight on Ricochet and Aleister Black in this match. The finish came when Gable tagged himself in when Ricochet went for a dive over the post onto Bobby Roode. Gable ended up being caught with the shatter machine by the revival to lose the match, allowing the Revival to retain the championships. I am super happy about this outcome and if you read my predictions or listened to the Squared Circle DNA Fastlane pre-show, you understand why. They did allow Ricochet and Black to look good and stand tall in the end as they took out everyone. I love seeing a good Black Mass and 630 Splash but I did not want to see those two individuals be tag team champions.

United States Championship
Samoa Joe (C) def. R Truth w/ Carmella, Andrade w/ Zelina Vega & Rey Mysterio
in 10:50 by pin fall
This had to be the match of the night. These four guys tore the house down and I wouldn’t expect any less between four workhorses like these guys. The United States Championship definitely feels like an important championship again. This match is a rematch to the match we had on Smackdown Live but better for sure. There were moments where it looked like either guy could win. This was physical and fast paced which lead to match that never really had a dull moment. It started in second gear and never left it. Zelina Vega got involved again tryna hurricurana Truth but missing. Vega still hit him with a superkick and this led to another brawl between Carmella and Zelina on the outside. Andrade and Mysterio gave us some awesome high risk moments. R-Truth paid homage to his hero John Cena by hitting the five knuckle shuffle. In the end, Samoa Joe rebounded from a 619 by locking in the coquina clutch for the victory. This was a GREAT match.

Raw Women’s Tag Team Championship
Boss N’ Hug Connection (C) def. Nia Jax & Tamina
in 07:05 via pin fall
Beth Phoenix was a special guest commentator for this match. The tag belts look so good on the Boss N’ Hug Connection. This was another solid tag match in which Sasha Banks and Bayley had to overcome the odds and work from underneath here as Nia Jax and Tamina played dominant badasses. The tag champs tried to control the match early on with quick tags but quickly were overpowered. There were some mishaps here and there but they didn’t hurt the match at all. The finish came when Bayley turned a powerbomb from Nia Jax into a hurriurana catching her off guard with a pin for the victory. This was a decent match but nothing you’re going to remember 5 months down the road. Of course, I’m a huge Sasha Banks fan and she did over deliver with her bumps tonight. I’m glad that they successfully defended the championship in their first title defence. I was really hoping Salsa would pick up the win to end that curse of never successfully defending a championship on the main roster. This was fun and went by really quick.

– After the match, Tamina and Jax destroy Banks and Bayley. Beth Phoenix gets up from the commentary desk and gets in Tamina’s face. Phoenix decks Tamina. Jax attacks Phoenix from behind. Jax leg drops Phoenix. Tamina goes up top for a splash but Natalya makes the save. Jax and Tamina takes out Natalya. I wonder if this is leading to some sort of fatal four way tag match at Wrestlemania featuring all the ladies involved in this post match segment. Its great to see the “Divas of Doom” back together.

WWE Championship
Daniel Bryan (C) w/ Erick Rowen def. Mustafa Ali & Kevin Owens
in 10:50 via pin fall
This match was announced as a triple threat and everyone was thrown off including the announcers. The belief that when Vince McMahon said it earlier in the backstage segment it was just to trick Kofi Kingston but he actually changed the WWE Championship match into a triple threat. Instead of Kofi Kingston though, the third man was Mustafa Ali. The fans were loud with “we want Kofi!” chants throughout the entire first half of the match. This really put Ali in an unenviable position as a good guy who took the spot from a current fan favourite in midst of KofiMania. It’s ironic because this all started because Kofi Kingston was Mustafa Ali’s replacement in the Elimination Chamber. Ali didn’t get much of a reaction due to the entire situation unfortunately but he still tried to steal the show. This was a really good match and all three guys went hard. Ali took some incredible bumps such as the drop kick off the top turnbuckle all the way to the outside flying into the barricade. Every guy in this match had the upper hand at one point. The fans didn’t really seem behind any of the guys as they kept cheering for Kofi but Owens did get a short “KO” chant. Ali hit a brutal looking inverted hurricurana on Owens and followed it with standing spanish fly on Bryan. Mustafa was on fire but just wasn’t getting the reaction he deserved because the crowd was so bitter over Kofi. Owens is still using the stunner and got a near fall by hitting it on Ali. Ali hit a 450 splash on Bryan on the apron which finally earned him some cheers from the crowd. Rowen did get involved but Owens took care of him with a diving cannon ball. KO did unleash some pop-up powerbomb’s which I am glad he is still using. The finish came when Ali went for a high risk move but got caught with a flying knee in mid-air. This a a great WWE Championship match and definitely worth a second watch if you were not invested into the first time because Kofi wasn’t in it. Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan has to be set for Mania. I’d even be cool with Owens vs Ali as its own separate match. This match gives Owen’s a reason to be pissed at Ali.

Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair
in 10:50 via DQ
This is the match that if Becky Lynch wins, she’ll be added to the Women’s Championship match between Charlotte and Ronda Rousey making it a triple threat match. Becky Lynch makes her way out on a crutch still which allowed Charlotte to mock her for a bit. Becky is wearing some hear inspired by her “Kill Bill” inspired look she’s been rocking as of late. Charlotte would keep provoking Becky to hit her harder while focusing on Becky’s injured knee. These two have great chemistry with each other so they were able to tell a different story from their other matches while having it be less physically competitive and more storytelling. There was a lot of Charlotte punishing Becky by locking on submissions and targeting the knee. Becky Lynch found every possible open spot to catch an overconfident Charlotte off guard to gain the upper hand. In the end, Lynch got the dis-arm her on Charlotte but Charlotte was able to fight out and lock in the figure eight. Ronda Rousey came out and punched Becky Lynch, thus allowing Becky Lynch to win by DQ. This means that Becky Lynch is added into the match at Wrestlemania because she technically won the match. I predicted this would happen and that Ronda would get involved to help Becky win but this finish fell kind of flat. Ronda came out there and hit Becky with this one punch but even if it was a stiff punch it didn’t play like a hard hitting move over television. Ronda coming in there and hitting an elbow after brief eye contact with Charlotte would have told a better story than that weak looking punch. Regardless, Ronda and Becky both got what they wanted and this match served its purpose. This isn’t the greatest or most memorable Charlotte/Lynch match but it was still enjoyable.

– Elias sings about not liking Lynch comparing her to Ohio negatively and how the Shield is basically the Cleveland Browns. Lacey Evans walks out for some reason. Randy Orton RKOs Elias outta nowhere. AJ Styles appears out of nowhere and hits the Phenomenal Forearm on Orton. Definitely setting up Orton vs Styles for Wrestlemania. Great stuff. 

Six-Man Tag
The Shield def. Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley & Drew McIntyre
in 24:50 by pin fall
Its like they came out there and played their greatest hits one last time. They were heavily dubbing this as the last time The Shield are going to get the band back together because Ambrose supposedly has not resigned to the WWE and expected to be gone after Wrestlemania when his current contract expires. I’m sure we’ll see a Shield reunion again one day but this a farewell for now. I mean we’ve seen The Shield reunite three years in a row now so I am totally okay for a break again. This is Roman Reigns first official match back since returning after six months of battling leukaemia. The commentators played up the fact that all three guys might be on different pages right now. Roman potentially being rusty, Ambrose possibly checked out and Rollins having Lesnar on his mind. I was hoping for some surprising finish here, with maybe someone in The Shield turning heel again, but instead we got a happy finish ending with them picking up the victory. They gave the heels a good amount of offence and moments where it seemed like they had the chance to win. They had Corbin cut off Roman a few times during high momentum moments for The Shield . Dean Ambrose seemed super motivated and more than he has seemed in the past few months. They brawled all over place including the crowd. There were callbacks to their old matches such as Seth Rollins doing that dive when they were brawling in the crowd which was reminiscent to their match with Evolution in 2014. McIntyre took the vintage Shield triple powerbomb through a table bump. Lashley was taken out with a curb stomp before that. This left The Shield to prey on Baron Corbin which unleashed a “this is awesome!” chant as the Hounds of Justice surrounded Corbin in the ring. They finished him off by hitting their finishers and one last triple powerbomb. Seth Rollins yelled out “one last mother fucking time” when he was getting amped for it. I know that it sucks that it takes swearing to draw you more but it really did fit the emotion of the moment even if WWE bleeped it out. This was fun and what we loved about Shield six man tag matches throughout the years. Yes, I think we’re over the reunions but you cannot deny that this was fun as hell. Three of the most dominant superstars of the past seven years and definitely in the conversation of greatest factions of all time.

Final Thoughts
I think its become a common thing I say on these review but the shows we go into with low expectations always end up being better than expected. This was a perfect example of that. This show was super fun from top to bottom. They told multiple stories and laid the ground work for a handful of Wrestlemania matches. There were turns, conspiracies, new stories being told, ongoing storylines progressing and a lot of solid wrestling. If you skipped Fastlane for any reason, I’d recommend you check it out. I enjoyed it a bit more than Elimination Chamber. If you’re a Shield fan, you’d definitely enjoy the main event.
Final Rating – 8/10

What were your final thoughts on Fastlane? What final grade would you give the event? Where would you rate it on a scale of ten? Do you agree with my review? Leave your comments, opinions and thoughts below in the comments section.