We are trucking along the Road to WrestleMania, with our last PPV stop, Fastlane. Daniel Bryan will take on Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler take on the team of Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews will take on Big E for the Intercontinental Championship.
With much more on the card, we are in for a packed show. Randy Orton will face his tormentor of late Alexa Bliss in an intergender match, plus the United States Championship will be defended, and we are in for two exciting bouts with Shinsuke Nakamura vs Seth Rollins, and Drew Mcintyre vs Sheamus in a No Holds Barred match.
Fastlane Kick-off Show
Riddle defeated Mustafa Ali via Pinfall (Bro-Derek from the second rope) to retain the United States Championship
For the second time, Ali was unable to capture his first championship in WWE. The match itself was a thing of beauty. Riddle and Ali have excellent chemistry in the ring. The match had a bunch of excellent transition sequences and was just fun to watch.
After the match Ali once again blamed the members of Retribution at ringside for his loss. Slapjack and Reckoning were tired of being Ali’s punching bag and walked out on the leader.
With just T-Bar and Mace left, Ali tried to get them to fall in line. That is where Ali failed. T-Bar and Mace took Ali out with their double choke slam move.
Fastlane Main Card
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defeated Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair via Pinfall
We began Fastlane with a match that could have had huge Wrestlemania implications. Belair and Banks never truly seemed on the same page. Of course, Reginald being in the corner of the Women’s Tag Team Champions didn’t help. It did seem like Banks and Belair found a small window of teamwork, but it didn’t hold. Banks hooked the Bank Statement in on Baszler, but Jax was able to throw Belair into them breaking the hold. This led to Banks being furious with her tag team partner.
After the match, Banks and Belair argued about how the match played out. Banks wound up slapping Belair and calling her a rookie before leaving her standing in the ring.
Backstage we saw Shane McMahon leaving the trainer’s room on a crutch. He ran into Elias and Jaxson Ryker. Elias was trying to sell Shane O on letting him perform his music at Wrestlemania. Shane wasn’t really in the mood to listen to him, but Elias wasn’t taking no for an answer. He then told Elias he may have an idea for Elias to get what he wants, then the cameras fade out.
Big E defeated Apollo Crews via Pinfall (Rollup)
E began the match on another level. The men traded punches with each other, but E took the upper hand with his spear through the ropes to the outside. After telling Crews he asked for this, E was able to hit his splash on the ring apron. While the beginning of the match was all E, Crews was able to hit him with a drop kick to begin taking over the match.
Crews was able to hit E with suplexes and spine busters, but it wasn’t enough to put the champion away. Then Crews went for a standing moonsault, but E was able to block it. This is when there was some confusion, because it seemed like both men had the other pinned. Somehow Big E had the advantage and was able to retain the championship.
After the match Crews was furious. He attacked E with multiple Olympic Slams!
After the match we got an Oldspice ad, or what appeared to be an ad. Joesph Average was giving WWE Superstars samples of Old Spice. Drew Gulak was given a sample and then Akira Tozawa showed up with his ninja referee. Tozawa wanted to know where R-Truth was. Truth happened to be behind the Old Spice stand.
After a bit of a mishap, Truth took down the samples and Joesph Average wound up falling on him. The ref counted three! A New 24/7 Champion! Once Truth realized what happened, he was quick to roll up Average and gain his baby back.
Braun Strowman defeated Elias via Pinfall (Running Powerslam)
While this match was supposed to feature Shane McMahon instead of Elias, Shane O “injured” his knee in a training session. Due to this injury, Shane chose Elias as his replacement, not that Elias was told ahead of time. Elias had a slight moment of hope, but it didn’t last at all.
Seth Rollins defeated Shinsuke Nakamura via Pinfall (Curb Stomp)
Nakamura and Rollins put on a classic. While Rollins began the match off in control, after Nakamura got out of a side headlock Rollins seemed to run off. Nakamura was able to throw Rollins off with some kicks, but Rollins was able to throw him the outside. Then Rollins really took control of the match.
Rollins went to try and pull off Cesaro’s swing on Nakamura, but Nakamura didn’t let that happen. He reversed the swing into an armbar and then from there big knees and Good Vibrations helped change the landscape of the match.
In the end though, Rollins was able to utilize an elbow to the back of Nakamura’s head to spell the beginning of the end.
After the match we got a hype video saying that Rhea Ripley will be on Monday Night RAW tomorrow!
Drew McIntyre defeated Sheamus via Pinfall
McIntyre and Sheamus truly were no holds barred in this one. McIntyre, in an all out Braveheart look, took control with suplexes that sent Sheamus to the floor. From there the brawl really began! The steel steps were used and then kendo sticks came into play.
The men took the action all over the Thunderdome. At one point McIntyre pushed Sheamus into the screens of the Thunderdome causing a huge spark! McIntyre then put Sheamus onto one of the cargo boxes and wheeled him back to the ring. This wouldn’t be the end for Sheamus, as he was able to hit White Noise and land on the announcer’s table. In the end after a Future Shock DDT and Claymore, Sheamus wasn’t able to continue.
Alexa Bliss defeated Randy Orton via Pinfall (Sister Abigail by The Fiend)
The Fiend is back. While Bliss took Orton on a trip down memory lane of everything he put The Fiend through. Fire halted Orton from truly starting the match. A set of lights fell from the ceiling almost taking Orton out. Bliss brought back the fireball, which served as almost a distraction. The Fiend’s hand came up out of the ring and looked incredibly decayed. Once Orton knew The Fiend was there he was spooked!
Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan via Pinfall
Unfortunately, Bryan’s legitimate chance at a road to Wrestlemania did not go according to his plan for tonights Fastlane. Bryan really did play with the mind of Reigns in this one. He got Reigns in submission holds and got decent kicks to Reigns’ legs, that seemed to throw Reigns off his game.
The match these two put together was fun to watch. Bryan got to show off his mat grappling and technical wrestling. Reigns got to show off more of his dominance.
Reigns towards the end of the match move out of the way of Bryan’s running knee, which left the referee right in Bryan’s path. With the ref down, this gave Jey Uso the perfect opportunity to intervene. Edge as the special enforcer was able to take the place of the referee and when the count didn’t go Reigns’ way….Uso was there to turn it around.
Uso brought a steel chair into the mix, which when Bryan got the chair in his hands spelled bad news for his championship hopes. Bryan hit Edge with the chair accidentally, setting of the Rated R Superstar. When Bryan had Reigns in the Yes Lock, for what seemed like the tenth time in the match, Edge hit him with the chair. Then Edge hit Reigns with the chair.
With the special guest enforcer out of the picture, a new referee appeared and Reigns took advantage of Edge’s handiwork.
We ended the PPV with Reigns standing tall ready to walk the Fastlane into Wrestlemania as the Universal Champion.
Did your predictions for WWE Fastlane come true? Josh threw his hat in the ring with Thirteen 10 Apparels predictions which you can read on our site.
Did you enjoy Fastlane? or was it not up to scratch? join the conversation on Twitter and don’t forget to #WWEFastlane