That's not what I heard him say Cole. Rollins is intense.
That's not what I heard him say Cole. Rollins is intense.
Didn't dream of that ending at all.
I guess they just ran out of their shenanigans quota for the PPV, but it was a hella fun show IMO.
Frank: Ludwig?!
Goon: Drebin!
Frank: Yeah, I'm Drebin!
Goon: I have a message for ya from Vincent Ludwig!
Goon: Take that, you lousy cop!
Frank: I'm sorry! I can't hear ya! Don't fire the gun while you're talking!
Fastlane 2019
Date: March 10, 2019
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, Renee Young, Corey Graves
I’m not sure what to think of with this show as there’s only so much that can be done with a show that clearly serves as nothing more than a last stop on the way to Wrestlemania. There are some matches tonight that could go somewhere but a lot of what we’ll be seeing is going to be a stepping stone towards next month. Let’s get to it.
Click on the link below for the full review.
One Night Only
The weakest part of the show was easily the Women's Tag Team Championship match. As entertaining and talented as Bayley and Sasha Banks are, they just can't carry two pieces of dead weight like Nia Jax and Tamina through an entertaining match. Nia and Tamina are just too limited and far too uninteresting.
For me, everything else on the show went from pretty solid to fantastic. The various men's tag team matches all ranged from 3 to 4 stars, I thought the six man tag match was the weakest but still a good match as it lasted too long and it was more about nostalgia than anything else. Still, the ending with the Shield was a cool moment and it might be one we may never see again until they wind up in the HOF someday. The kickoff show tag team match was a fun 3.25 star outing with a number of believable near falls that did enough to make me feel, for a few moments, that New Day wasn't going to win. Rusev & Nakamura, surprisingly, are a pretty good team. The SD Tag Team Championship match was another good 3.5 star outing with some fun spots, a super hot crowd and, again, I have to say that I like that Miz & Shane were portrayed as a real team rather than just two guys goofing around. Shane turning on Miz was a bit of a surprise, I'm still not a fan of the "my dad's not proud of me" angle that was at the heart of this whole thing but it could have been vastly worse. The Raw Tag Team Championship match was a very run 4 star sprint; it lasted less than 11 minutes but they packed a ton of action into 11 minutes and everyone had a chance to shine. Raw has some genuinely good teams on its roster and it's just too bad they've let the division flounder over the course of the last 6 months or so.
Asuka vs. Mandy Rose wasn't a barnburner by any stretch, but I gave it 2.25 stars. Mandy is a definite piece of eye candy, but she's genuinely and tremendously improved. The match was a bit sloppy at this point and Mandy doesn't have the chops to be a viable and believable opponent for someone like Asuka at this time. Asuka is someone I feel kinda bad for as she's become an afterthought right now so, personally, I'd like to see her walk out of WrestleMania as champion so that they can, hopefully, build the Women's Championship on the blue brand back to where it should be once WrestleMania is over and we finally see Ronda Rousey lose.
I didn't really rank the Bar vs. Kofi Kingston as it was basically a 5 minute squash and was about continuing the screwjob on Kofi, but I like the storyline. Kofi as the scrappy babyface that fans have very much rallied behind and is getting screwed over by the evil corporate tyrant, Vince McMahon himself in this case, and being kept out of the position fans want to see him in. It worked with Daniel Bryan and it's working with Kofi. Bryan's done a helluva job with his character and the fans dislike him so badly that they're practically salivating at the prospect of seeing him finally lose the title.
The United States Championship fatal fourway match was another really fun 4 star outing. All four of the men worked hard, Mysterio really does and has looked better during his run in WWE than we've seen out of him in a good many years and Joe retaining by choking him out was a nice touch. I see Truth going back to doing what he's doing, I'd love to see Mysterio head to the Cruiserweight Division as a means of bringing more attention to it and I still think it has a chance of happening if Buddy Murphy retains the CW title at WrestleMania, I could see Andrade heading to Raw during the Shakeup and becoming Intercontinental Champion between then at SummerSlam.
The WWE Championship was a lot of fun, a very strong 4.25 star outing that saw Mustafa Ali added into the match to keep with the triple threat aspect that'd been set up earlier, though Kofi was too beaten up to participate. If Bryan really does have a lot of creative stroke over his booking, then he does a helluva job with it as all of his opponents during his heel run have come off looking like stars. Ali and Owens are both top notch in the ring anyhow, but it doesn't hurt that Bryan has a reputation for being extremely unselfish and wants his opponents to look great as well. The crowd was initially hostile with a lot of various Kofi chants, but these three turned the match around and had the fans really into it, so that's a testament to how good they are. Everyone here had a chance to shine, to show what they can do and it paid off. I would've ranked it a bit higher but I never once believed that Bryan was in any danger; that's not a knock against either of his opponents, it's simply that Bryan not dropping the title until WrestleMania, at the earlierst, is as sure of a bet as the sun coming up. The final spot in the match looked especially great when they showed it in slow motion with Ali attempting a high cross body only for Bryan to land the running knee right in the jaw for the win. It was just a really great timed spot.
The stuff with Charlotte and Becky was more about an angle than a match and I didn't rank it. To be perfectly honest, I would have rather they just had them brawl before the bell rang and a match never even officially started.
Overall, Fastlane was a really fun show in my eyes with a lot of great wrestling action and storyline progression as we move towards WrestleMania. If there was anything that hurt the show, it was that every ending was predictable but that had more to do with this show being the last ppv before WrestleMania so you knew there weren't going to be any sort of mega shakeups. Fastlane 2019 gets a strong B+ from me, maybe an A- had there been a little more suspense.
"What Do I Know Of Cultured Ways, The Gilt, The Craft And The Lie?
I, Who Was Born In A Naked Land And Bred In The Open Sky.
The Subtle Tongue, The Sophist Guile, They Fail When The Broadswords Sing.
Rush In And Die Dogs - I Was A Man Before I Was King."
Conan Of Cimmeria
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