Hiya!

Correct me if I’m wrong but the reason why Fastlane was called Fastlane is because it’s part of the Road to Wrestlemania? It’s one of the pay-per-view events in-between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania so it’s technically the last big show before the Showcase of the Immortals. So, why is Fastlane being put out in October of all times? I guess they couldn’t use Halloween Havoc as NXT co-opted the name? Anyway, let’s go check out what the WWE did at Fastlane.

The first match of the night saw Cody Rhodes and “Main Event” Jey Uso take on the team of Finn Balor and Damien Priest from The Judgement Day for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship. Right off the bat, I’ll say my biggest gripe here is, based on the teams themselves, you can kind of tell the WWE is starting to ignore their Tag Team division again as they’re just cobbling together usual singles competitors and forming them into teams. I can stomach The Judgement Day as they are a faction but Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso just seems forced. Jey Uso and Sami Zayn? Sure. Jey Uso with Cody Rhodes? Nah!

The match itself didn’t really feel like it had main event flair. That’s not to say there wasn’t some good moments here and there. Cody catching Balon in mid-air and into a reverse torture rack buster was smooth as butter. The stalled superplex by Cody to Balor also was awesome to look at. Jey Uso’s stuff was fine but it’s nothing we haven’t seen from him before so I can’t really say they were highlight worthy, sadly.

The finish came after the rest of The Judgement Day, Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio, made their way to ringside. Ripley manages to distract Uso just long enough for Balor and Priest to recover and get the upper hand and hit Main Event with a Coup De Gras but The American Nightmare breaks up the pin. Ripley blasts Uso with the Money in the Bank briefcase during the ensuing chaos but Jey surprisingly manages to kick out. Priest sets up Cody to get smashed through the announcer’s table but the American Nightmare ducks under JD McDonagh’s blow, hitting Priest in the leg instead. Cody capitalizes and hits Priest with Cross Rhodes to take him out. Cody and Uso double team Balor with a modified version of the 1D and the faces get the pinfall win after a Cross Rhodes. We now have NEW Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions!

I would say this was a standard match but things get really crazy by the end. Besides that, this could’ve been a match on RAW or Smackdown. They did make it feel bigger thanks to all the shenanigans during the closing moments but I do think things would’ve been more exciting if the rest of The Judgement Day kept on interfering sporadically from the start. This was a good way to start but not a great way.

The next match of the night was a 6-man tag match with Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits taking on Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar and a mystery partner. The reason why Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar are teaming with someone unannounced is because Lashley and the Street Profits took out the other male members of the LWO. This mystery partner didn’t come in before the bell rang so you just know it’s going to be a surprise. I do like this new attitude from the Street Profits as they make the heel switch work. Speaking of which, the heels essentially dominated the match, using their early numbers advantage to beat down on Mysterio and Escobar. At least Zelina Vega wasn’t just window dressing as she did hit a meteora to Montez Ford… which should’ve been an instant DQ but the referee didn’t see it so it’s fine.

The finish came when the LWO’s mystery partner rushed out and it was none other than Carlito, who was looking super fit for a “classic” wrestler. Carlito gets tagged in by Mysterio who proceeds to clean house. Ford tries to steal one with a rollup and an enziguri but Carlito ducks under and hits his Backstabber finisher to get the pinfall victory for the LWO.

Despite this, once again, being a match which wouldn’t be out of place on your typical RAW or Smackdown, the antics of the Street Profits, especially Montez Ford did make it feel a little bit more special than the first match of Fastlane. Having Carlito come out as the surprise partner was also, I’m sorry but I gotta say it, cool. While it wasn’t exactly excellent, at least it was more entertaining and the appearance of Carlito did make it feel more like a pay-per-view match because of the surprise.

The next match had IYO SKY defending her Smackdown Women’s Championship against Asuka and Charlotte Flair in a Triple Threat match. I really love the start of the match with Asuka using the no disqualification of the Triple Threat match immediately by spraying Charlotte in the face with green mist. This was a cool way to take The Queen out early so IYO SKY and Asuka can have some proper 1-on-1 time. What I don’t like is how Charlotte seems too overpowered, even suplexing both IYO SKY and Asuka at the same time. This did make it so it made sense for the two Japanese wrestlers to start double teaming the only American in the match. They also did the stupid double submission on Charlotte, which looks cool but really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The finish came after the double submission spot. Asuka hits IYO SKY with a codebreaker with the assist from Charlotte. The Queen the hits the Empress of Tomorrow with a spear for a 2-count. Bayley then rushes to ringside to help the Genius of the Sky back in the ring but Charlotte hits her with a big boot. Asuka “hits” a botched codebreaker from the top rope to get a 2-count of her own. Charlotte manages to lock in her Figure Eight submission finisher but Bayley distracts the referee so he doesn’t see Asuka tapping. This allows IYO SKY to connect with a moonsault to Charlotte to get the pinfall win and retain her Smackdown Women’s Championship.

This was a whole lot more engaging than the previous couple of matches. However, I kind of wish this was just a 1-on-1 match between Asuka and IYO SKY. I get why they added Charlotte as they could do more spots. Sometimes, less is more, though. I just think if they let Asuka and IYO SKY get at it at a pay-per-view match, they could have a brilliant match. Still, I do think this was pretty good.

The second to the last match of the night had John Cena teaming up with LA Knight to take on Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa of the Bloodline. I do hate how LA Knight, who’s supposed to be this rebel is teaming up with the most corporate of the WWE Superstars, John Cena. Ehh, what are you gonna do? I do like how they promoted Solo Sikoa as someone who can match John Cena’s power. They smartly had John Cena eat the beatdown for LA Knight to get the hot tag eventually. Still, I think the beatdown was a little too long as I started to get pretty bored until the hot tag.

The finish came soon after the aforementioned hot tag. LA Knight went on a rampage for a while before being stopped by Jimmy’s superkick. Jimmy goes for a samoan splash but LA Knight rolls out of the way to hit a powerslam before hitting his YEAH elbow. Solo hits a samoan drop on Knight but Cena connects with a crossbody to the Bloodline’s enforcer. Jimmy then hits a splash on Cena and everyone is laid out. LA Knight peppers both Bloodline members with jabs but gets tossed out of the ring. Cena then goes for an Attitude Adjustment on Solo but eats a superkick from Jimmy. Jimmy climbs to the top for another splash but Knight lowbridges Solo before hitting a superplex to Jimmy. Cena hits a Five Knuckle Shuffle to Jimmy before Knight hits the Uso with his Blunt Force Trauma finisher for the pinfall victory.

This was pretty fun but it did drag on for quite a bit in the middle. Like I said, I was starting to lose interest since the beatdown on Cena went on a little too long. I get they were trying to save LA Knight for the closing moments but having him just on the ring apron for the majority of the match just felt like a waste. Still, the closing moments were fun and the very hot crowd did elevate it quite a bit.

The final match had Seth Rollins defending the biggest prize on RAW, the World Heavyweight Championship against Shinusuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match. You knew early on this wasn’t going to be a wrestling match with Seth Rollins taking out multiple implements. I do love Nakamura breaking out the nunchakus. It’s not the most visually impressive weapon when doing a beatdown but I did like how proficient he was actually wielding them. However, the problem of every Last Man Standing match did reel its ugly head here. That would be the plodding problem of trying to make the frequent 10-counts feel exciting. This does tend to slow things down. Still, I do appreciate the liberal use of various weapons and doing battle throughout the arena to make things feel more brutal than things really are. Some impressive spots, like Seth Rollins’ myriad of bumps to the concrete and from the top of a ramp looked cool. Really made good use of the Last Man Standing stipulation.

The finish came after Nakamura sprayed Rollins with red mist from the top of a ladder, sending him crashing down through the announcers table. Rollins still managed to beat the 10-count before crawling into the ring. Nakamura continued the assault, delivering a backbreaker onto a chair and a Kinshasha on Rollins, sending him flying through another table. Rollins crawled to the outside to break the count. Nakamura continues the beatdown outside but Rollins manages to reverse a fireman’s carry into a Pedigree on top of a platform. Rollins then connects with a couple of Curb Stomps to Nakamura but both competitors make it to their feet to break the count. The Visionary then hits a Falcon Arrow to some suspiciously placed boxed to the Artist. Rollins makes his to his feet but Nakamura doesn’t, meaning that Rollins managed to retain his World Heavyweight Championship.

As good as the spots and the stunts were, I just feel something was missing. Basically, my big issue with it was the actual Last Man Standing stipulation as things just tend to slow down while you wait for the other guy to get up or not. This is especially true before the action spilled to the outside as things never felt as grand as they should be for a pay-per-view match. It wasn’t exactly boring but I wouldn’t call it memorable as well.

Overall, Fastlane was kind of meh. Ironically, the entire show never really got out of 2nd gear as everything didn’t come off as action packed as it should. It was an okay show but some matches just dragged on for too long. Not bad but not something I would remember.

Byee!

What did you think of this year’s Fastlane show? Let me know in the comments section below!