Saturday 28 March 2015

WWE Fastlane 2014 Review

The inaugural WWE Fastlane took place on Sunday 22nd February at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. Will the final Pay Per View before Wrestlemania set up things or keep the current status quo? Let's take a look.

The first match was a six man tag match between Big Show, Corporate Kane and Seth Rollins from The Authority and the team of Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback. The Authority get to work on Rowan after he crashes knee first into the ringpost. Rowan does manage to tag in Ryback and they do get back into it. However, it was all in vain as Big Show hits the KO punch on Ziggler behind the ref;s back when he was trying to hit a fameasser on Rollins. Kane then pins Ziggler to get the win. Afterwards, the Authority continue their beatdown on their opponents when Randy Orton makes his return. He RKOs Jamie Noble, Johnny Mercury and Kane. Rollins and Show flee. It was an ok match but it seemed to be used more for Randy Orton's return.
Winners: Big Show, Corporate Kane and Seth Rollins

The next match is something I would have preferred to have seen at Wrestlemania: Goldust taking on his brother Stardust. They both teased doing Tombstones then Goldust goes for the Director's Cut but Stardust avoids it and rolls out of the ring. The end comes when Stardust teases doing his finisher and Goldust suddenly rolls him up to get the pin. It was a decent match and I was quite surprised at the ending but Goldust said to his father Dusty Rhodes that he didn't want to hurt his brother, so it kinda makes sense. It looks like they will continue this feud. Slight problem tho: they're not facing each other at fucking Wrestlemania!!
Winner: Goldust

Next we get the Tag Team Championship match as the team of Tyson Kidd and Cesaro challenge The Usos. There was a cool spot when Cesaro does a giant swing on Jimmy followed by a half Boston crab. Kidd manages to apply the sharpshooter on Jimmy but Jey breaks it up. Jey and Cesaro brawl and end up outside the ring. Kidd then hits a fisherman suplex/neckbreaker on Jimmy to get the win and win the Championships. I quite enjoyed this match and I'm getting into Kidd and Cesaro being a team. I still think that Cesaro should be pushed towards the top but it's nice to see Kidd get some TV time as I feel he is underrated.
Winners: Tyson Kidd and Cesaro

We now get a segment between Triple H and Sting. I'm not going to get into they said but it ended up with Triple H facing Sting at Wrestlemania. This is a match that I'm really looking forward to seeing. Triple H is my favourite wrestler and Sting will be wrestling a WWE match, something I don't think anyone thought they would ever see.

We now get the Divas Championship match as Paige challenges Nikki Bella. Nikki gets the advantge early on and, after sustaining a comeback by Paige, hits a running powerbomb for 2. Paige goes for the PTO but fails and Nikki sends her head first into the bottom turnbuckle. Nikki then rolls her up for the win. A short match, which is standard for Divas matches, but I wasn't a fan of the ending.
Winner: Nikki Bella

In the Intercontinental Championship match, Dean Ambrose  challenges Bad News Barrett. There was a nice spot where Ambrose goes for Dirty Deeds but Barrett gets out of it, goes "fuck this" and tries to leave. However, Ambrose hits him with a sweet suicide dive. Ambrose then constantly stomps Barrett in the corner, despite the referee telling him to stop. The referee then calls for the bell and Ambrose is disqualified. Afterwards, Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds then took the title and left. It was getting to be a good match then ruined it with the ending. At least they will face each other at Wrestlemania (well, kind of)
Winner: Bad News Barrett

After a great segment with Bray Wyatt calling out The Undertaker for Wrestlemania, we get John Cena challenging Rusev for the United States Championship. It seems weird Cena being in a US Title match but anyway. Some nice spots include a tornado DDT by Cena then the STF and Rusev got out of it and hit an Alabama slam. They spend the match trying to make each other submit, which seemed a bit unusual. The end comes when Lana decides to do something she has never done before: interfere in a Rusev match. She slides in with the title belt and when the referee is dealing with it, Rusev hits a low blow then applies the accolade. Cena fades and passes out, giving Rusev the win. Afterwards, Rusev and Lana stand over a fallen Cena with the Russian flag hanging above them. It was a good match and I was expecting to see Rusev win thanks to dubious circumstances. However, Rusev does get a clean(ish) win over Cena, which is refreshing to see.
Winner: Rusev

The main event is between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. The winner will face Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania. We get an interesting match as Bryan is out wrestling Reigns but Reigns is out powering him. Reigns goes for the Superman punch but Bryan hits him in the gut, winding him. This gives Bryan the advantage as he hits two suicide dives but when he goes for a third, Reigns grabs him and does a belly to belly suplex onto the floor. There was a good spot when Reigns goes for a spear but Bryan hits an inside cradle for 2 then hits the running knee for 2. Bryan does the LeBell Yes No Lock twice but Reigns powers out of it.   Bryan goes for another running knee but he gets hit with a spear and Reigns gets the victory. Afterwards, Bryan shakes Reigns' hand and says that he had better kick Lesnar's ass.

This was a good match and definitely the match of the night. However, I wanted Bryan to win. I feel that Reigns is nowhere near ready to be in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania. I feel that you can get a better story with Bryan and have it be a classic David vs Goliath situation. You can maybe get the Authority involved as well although they are more focused on Sting at the minute.
Winner: Roman Reigns

Fastlane wasn't that great. It seemed to be a transitional event and, except for the Tag Team Championship, nothing really changed. I hoped that Wrestlemania would rectify that but based on the card, I'm not so sure.


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