Random Thoughts on WWE Fastlane 2017

The third WWE pay per view of the year is in the bag and I’m here to share my random thoughts on the show. If you haven’t seen Fastlane look away now.

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Samoa Joe def. Sami Zayn via submission

WWE Raw Tag Team Titles: Gallows & Anderson © def. Enzo & Big Cass via pinfall to retain the Raw Tag Team titles

Sasha Banks def. Nia Jax via pinfall

Cesaro def. Jinder Mahal via pinfall

Big Show def. Rusev via pinfall

WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Neville © def. Jack Gallagher via pinfall to retain the Cruiserweight title

Roman Reigns def. Braun Strowman via pinfall

WWE RAW Women’s Championship: Bayley © def. Charlotte via pinfall to retain the Raw Women’s title

WWE Universal Championship: Goldberg def. Kevin Owens © via pinfall to become the NEW WWE Universal Champion

 

*Random Thoughts*

 

22 seconds was all it took for Bill Goldberg to dethrone Kevin Owens as Universal Champion. At the age of 50, Goldberg is the second oldest major World champion in WWE history. The oldest is Vince McMahon, who won when he was 54. New Era, everyone!

 

I expected Goldberg & Owens to be brief, say 5 minutes or so, but not 22 seconds. What I didn’t expect was the involvement of Chris Jericho because it would have hurt Goldberg to win the title with a distraction, although, it does make sense from a storyline perspective. No surprise that Goldberg won. That was the reported plan from a few months ago to set up the Lesnar match, so that’s what happened. No surprise to end this show.

 

A friend mentioned that this entire show felt like a glorified Raw taping, and I agree. There was a lot of filler added, namely a New Day promo and the addition of Cesaro/ Jinder and Big Show/ Rusev. Both matches were very poor. That was probably the worst Cesaro match I can recall and it’s not his fault. Whiles the latter just reminded me that Rusev is the most poorly booked superstar on Raw. Such a shame.

 

I’m sure the Reigns haters will shit all over his match but I liked it. It was a good, solid power match. I just think it sucks that Strowman was booked so strongly for the last eight months and he just got beat clean. That’s not a good thing for him, but I doubt he’s going to lose that often. In fact, the finish did protect him because he made a mistake and Reigns capitalised on it. I’m not surprised by the outcome because Reigns is likely facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania and if that’s the plan then they needed to give Reigns a win here.

 

Another winning streak which came to an end was Charlotte’s PPV streak. This match wasn’t as good as the match with the title change last month. I still thought it was the wrong decision to have Bayley win the title on Raw. Should have saved it for WrestleMania. I found the ending to be controversial with the face champion requiring help from her friend to get the win. Sasha’s appearance was pretty random because Charlotte didn’t cheat and Dana Brooke wasn’t present at ringside to give Charlotte an advantage. I thought it would go the opposite way with Banks accidentally costing Bayley the title. Nope. I’m glad that the title didn’t change hands because they have done way too many title changes.

 

Sasha Banks v Nia Jax was a vast improvement from their Royal Rumble encounter. Jax was dominant throughout, she had about 90% of the offence. I think she’s a lot better than what people give her credit for, especially when working against smaller opponents like Banks, Bayley, and Asuka, as they can really sell her power moves. I like the way the finish was done with Banks using the bridging pin for the win. It comes off as a great counter move and a crafty win. Would I have booked Jax to lose? Nope. I would have kept her strong.

 

Dominant, clean victory for Samoa Joe in the opening contest. As much as I want Sami to get a push, it’s just not in the cards right now. He’s there to put people over in PPV matches like this one. The way Joe has been booked and presented has been perfect so far. No losses. Just beatings. Keep him strong. Don’t fuck it up, Vince.

 

The tag title match was a basic Raw tag match. Cass was in the ring for maybe two minutes, was cleaning house and like an idiot tagged in his partner that always gets beat up. You learn from your mistakes they say. Same formula for every Enzo & Cass match. I’m glad there wasn’t a title change because if they do it they should save it until WrestleMania when it would mean more for Enzo & Cass to win their first titles.

 

Cruiserweight title match was a lot of fun. Match of the night, IMO. Jack Gallagher is quickly becoming a guilty pleasure of mine. His offense impressed me, with the headbutts plus the back suplex off the top rope. It’s a huge move you don’t see very often. I expected Neville to win. He’s a long-term champion that has done an amazing job in the last few months. Good use of the Red Arrow to win. Save it for PPV matches, not for every Neville match.

 

Overall Show Rating (out of 10): 4.5

Terrible show. I expect more from a WWE pay per view, not a glorified episode of Raw. The filler hurt the show and you could tell because the crowd didn’t care.

This is going to be one of those shows that will end up being forgotten about in a few months’ time. A very predictable show. Just hope things pick up in time for WrestleMania.

 

PPV Rankings

Royal Rumble – 8.5

Elimination Chamber – 8

Fastlane – 4.5