WWE Fastlane 2019 Review

The final PPV before Wrestlemania, WWE Fastlane, took place on Sunday 10th March at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

The match on the Kick Off Show is Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev taking on Big E and Xavier Woods from The New Day. Rusev distracts Woods, giving Nakamura a chance to kick him in the head and get the advantage. After a few minutes, Woods hits a missile dropkick to Rusev and he is able to tag in Big E. Despite some interference from Lana, The New Day get the win after hitting Up Up Down Down on Rusev. I thought this was a pretty fun match.
Winners: The New Day (1 for 1)

Fastlane starts with Hollywood Miz and Shane McMahon challenging The Usos for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships. Miz and Shane get the upper hand in the early going before The Usos hit Shane with a brutal clothesline. Shane manages to hit a DDT, giving him the chance to tag in Miz. Miz eventually manages to hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Jimmy Uso but it only gets 2. In the end, Miz attempts a frog splash but Jey puts his knees up and pins Miz to get the win. Afterwards, The Miz beats the fuck out of...wait, no. Shane beats the fuck out of The Miz. Sorry, I was so expecting Miz to betray Shane, it threw me off that it was the other way round. This was quite a good match. I'm quite surprised that Shane turned heel, especially as The Miz has rarely been a babyface. Even though I'm not a big fan of Shane, I'm looking forward to their match at Wrestlemania.
Winners: The Usos (2 for 2)

The next match is Mandy Rose challenging Asuka for the Smackdown Women's Championship. Sonya Deville distracts Asuka long enough for Mandy to hit a knee to the head and get the advantage. Mandy goes for a lifting butterfly facebuster but Asuka gets out of it and hits a knee. Asuka reverses an Irish whip and Mandy stumbles on the ring apron that Sonya had moved onto the ring. Asuka then hits a kick to the head to get the win. The ending seemed to come out of nowhere but it was a generally decent match.
Winner: Asuka (3 for 3)

Next is Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens challenging "The New" Daniel Bryan for the...wait, sorry. It turns out that Vince McMahon is fucking with Kofi and it's actually a handicap match with Kofi taking on The Bar with Xavier Woods and Big E barred from ringside. Understandably, Cesaro and Sheamus beat the absolute fuck out of Kofi. Big E and Xavier do try to help but they're stopped by Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev. In the end, The Bar hit the Double White Noise to get the win.

I seriously don't get the point of this match. The motivations for Vince doing this to Kofi has not been explained. I know he was doing the same in the unnecessarily convoluted storyline with Becky Lynch. However, he was at least justified in that because she attacked Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. With Kofi, Vince seems to be the biggest dick on the planet to him and it doesn't make any sense to me.
Winners: The Bar (N/A)

We now get our first RAW match of the evening as the teams of Ricochet and Aleister Black and Bobby Roode and Chad Gable challenge The Revival in a triple threat match for the RAW Tag Team Championships. The Revival early on to manage to isolate Ricochet and keep me down with the help of Roode and Gable. Eventually, Black is tagged in and he goes for the Black Mask on Roode but Scott Dawson stops it. In the end, The Revival hit Gable with a Shatter Machine to get the win. Afterwards, we get a brief brawl ending with Ricochet hitting a 630 Splash on Dash Wilder. This was a pretty good match.
Winners: The Revival (N/A)

We now get a Fatal 4-Way Match for the United States Championship as Samoa Joe deals with the challenges of Andrade, Rey Mysterio and R-Truth. Highlights of the match include: Mysterio hitting R-Truth and Andrade with a double hurracarrana; Mysterio reversing a powerslam into a DDT; Zelina Vega hitting a super kick on R-Truth prompting Carmella to get involved; and R-Truth doing John Cena's moves. In the end, Mysterio tries to hit Drop the Dime on Joe. However, Joe avoids it and makes Mysterio pass out to the Coquina Clutch to get the wun. This was a good, fun match to watch.
Winner: Samoa Joe (N/A)

It's time for Sasha Banks and Bayley's first defence as Women's Tag Team Champions as they face the challenge of Nia Jax and Tamina. Nia throws Sasha into Bayley to get the advantage. After a few minutes, Sasha gets tagged in. In the end, Bayley manages to roll up Nia to get the win. Nia and Tamina don't take the loss well and beat the fuck out of Sasha and Bayley. Tamina, for some reason, decides to take on Beth Phoenix, who was on guest commentary. Even though Natalya comes out to help, Nia and Tamina beat the fuck out of them before they're stopped by the referees. Except for a really obvious botch, I enjoyed the match. However, this is the third match on the show that's had a post match brawl. I don't think that's really necessary.
Winners: Sasha Banks and Bayley (4 for 4)

Next is Kevin Owens challenging "The New" Daniel Bryan for the...wait, hang on. Mustafa Ali has been added to the match, making it a triple threat match for the WWE Championship. Highlights of the match include: Owens hitting cannonballs to Ali and Bryan; Bryan hitting Ali with a running dropkick, sending him to the outside; Ali hitting Bryan with a X-Factor; Owens hitting a Stunner on Ali; and Owens and Ali teaming up to take out Rowan when he interferes. Ali tries a springboard crossbody.  However, Bryan hits him midair with a running knee to get the win. Afterwards, we had more post match shenanigans with Rowan hitting Ali with a choke slam. This was a really good match and a joy to watch.
Winner: Daniel Bryan (5 for 5)

The penultimate match is between Charlotte Flair and "The Man" Becky Lynch. Charlotte mocks Becky while attacking Becky's injured knee. Becky sends Charlotte flying from the top turnbuckle to the floor then puts her in the Dis Arm Her. Charlotte gets out of it and puts Becky in the Figure 8. However, Ronda Rousey runs in and attacks Becky...? Wait, what? This means that Becky is facing Ronda and Charlotte for the RAW Women's Championship at Wrestlemania. The match was ok but the ending was bizarre to me. I get that Ronda has always wanted to face Becky but by her actions, she made things harder for herself at Wrestlemania, It's not a normal thing for a heel to do.
Winner: Becky Lynch (6 for 6)

After a segment involving Elias, Lacey Evans, Randy Orton and AJ Styles; we get our main event. The Shield teaming up for the final time to take on Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley. After a few minutes, McIntyre kicks Seth Rollins in the ribs to give his team the advantage. Later on, they wear down Dean Ambrose. Ambrose hits a springboard clothesline on McIntyre and he gets to tag in Roman Reigns. When Rollins, Ambrose, McIntyre and Lashley start fighting amongst the crowd, Corbin and Reigns continue the match in the ring. Corbin hits End of Days on Reigns but the Shield manage to break up the pin. The match goes to the outside and The Shield triple power bomb McIntyre through the Spanish announce table. They then beat the fuck out of Corbin and hit a triple powerbomb on him to get the win. This was a really good match and I'm saddened that this will be the last time they will wrestle again. They have collectively done so much with them all becoming WWE Champion at one point. Hopefully, Dean Ambrose will come back in the near future and we will see The Shield wrestle again.
Winners: The Shield (7 for 7)

I thought that Fastlane was a mixed bag. Most of the wrestling was good but the event was far too long. Along with the matches, four of them had post match beatings; we had 3 musical segments with Elias and the usual catwalk bullshit with Lacey Evans (fucking wrestle already!!) I worry about Wrestlemania this year. With the pre-show, it was 7 hours last year. Along with the Takeover the night before, that comes to ten fucking hours! I like wrestling but the main reason for me not publishing my reviews weeks after the events is that it feels like such an effort. I'm quite looking forward to watching it, I'm just not looking forward to reviewing it. Hopefully, WWE will start to reduce the running times of their shows in the near future.

Lo-Down Wrestling Awards 2018

A little later than usual but it's time for the Lo-Down Wrestling Awards. 2018 was a pretty decent year with some really good wrestling. So, let's look at the winners with a couple of honorable mentions.

Feud of the Year
Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso "Fuckface" Ciampa (January - August)
A feud that started in 2017 has blossomed into one of the most engaging feuds in years. They had some tremendous matches with the feud going in a direction that no one was expecting.

PPV of the Year
WWE Evolution
It's insane that WWE didn't promote their first all women's PPV more than their latest Saudi Arabia propaganda event. Despite that, Evolution was hands down the best event of the year with some really good matches.

Most Surprising Moment of the Year
Daniel Bryan Announcing His Return to Wrestling
In one of the most surprising events in wrestling history, Daniel Bryan, who retired in 2016, announced his return on the 20th March. Bryan went on to have amazing matches and ended the year as WWE Champion.
Honorable Mention
Tomasso "Fuckface" Ciampa Winning the NXT Championship, NXT 24th July
I don't think that many people saw Ciampa as NXT Champion. Despite that, the match between him and Aleister Black ended in shocking fashion with Johnny Gargano inadvertently helping Ciampa become NXT Champion.

Douchebag of the Year
WWE
Whilst WWE have done some good things, their decision to host the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia in the midst of a major diplomatic incident is the reason they've won this. They chose money over the murder of a journalist and I find that deplorable.

Moment of the Year 
Smackdown Women Invading RAW, RAW 12th November
I'm not a big fan of tit-for-tat brand invasions but this one worked as it wasn't expected. From Becky Lynch having Ronda Rousey in the Dis Arm-Her in the locker room to the Becky standing tall with a bloodied face in the crowd. Unfortunately, Nia Jax breaking Becky's face meant that we didn't have the Becky vs Ronda match at Survivor Series but we're now getting it (kind of) at Wrestlemania.
Honorable Mention
Johnny Gargano's Heel Turn, NXT 24th October
Over the last year, we saw Gargano slowly go to the dark side. It culminated in possibly the best ending of NXT I've ever seen. We had Nikki Cross announcing Black's arrival, Black killing the useless security guards and Gargano superkicking Black out of nowhere.

Worst Match of the Year
Hollywood Miz  Shane McMahon vs Dolph Ziggler, WWE Crown Jewel
I thought the WWE World Cup was ok then the final just went off the rails. It turned out to be a complete joke, and it blew my mind that Shane McMahon thinks it's ok to replace an injured Miz and then go on to win.

Tag Team of the Year
The Usos
This has been a difficult one to pick as no team has really stood out. However, The Usos have been pretty consistent over the year. They started the year as Smackdown Tag Team Champions and have always been involved in the title picture.

Most Improved Wrestler
Buddy Murphy
Before February, the main thing Buddy Murphy was known for was being the boyfriend of Alexa Bliss and I was surprised that he turned up in the Cuiserweight Division. However, he has gone on to have some great matches culminating in winning the Cruiserweight Championship in his home town of Melbourne, Australia. Murphy is the best thing in 205 Live right now and long may that continue.

Match of the Year
"The Man" Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair, WWE Evolution
This was a tremendous match that should have been the main event. It was thoroughly entertaining with some amazing spots.

Female Wrestler of the Year
"The Man" Becky Lynch
Even though her heel turn didn't quite work out, Becky Lynch has gone on to one of the highlights of WWE and is going from strength to strength.

Male Wrestler of the Year
Seth Rollins
No one really stood out in the male division. However, Seth Rollins has been consistent in his matches and is one of the best performers in the company right now.

WWE Fastlane 2019 Preview

WWE Fastlane, the last event before Wrestlemania, will be taking place this evening at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. There are 9 matches on the card so will changes take place? Let's take a look.

The New Day vs Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev
I think The New Day will win this.
Predicted Winners: The New Day

Rey Mysterio vs Andrade
This should be a good match and I'm going for Andrade to win.
Predicted Winner: Andrade

The Shield vs Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre
I'm quite looking forward to this as we see the return of Roman Reigns after his battle with leukemia. I'm going for The Shield to win.
Predicted Winners: The Shield

Bayley and Sasha Banks vs Nia Jax and Tamina
Women's Tag Team Championship
This should be a good contest and I believe that Bayley and Sasha will retain.
Predicted Winners: Bayley and Sasha Banks

The Revival vs Aleister Black and Ricochet vs Chad Gable and Bobby Roode
Triple Threat Match for the RAW Tag Team Championship
I really want The Revival but I can see Black and Ricochet winning.
Predicted Winners: Aleister Black and Ricochet

Asuka vs Mandy Rose
Smackdown Women's Championship
There is no fucking way that Mandy's winning this. Asuka to retain.
Predicted Winner: Asuka

The Usos vs Hollywood Miz and Shane McMahon
Smackdown Tag Team Championship
I think that The Usos will win and Miz will attack Shane afterwards.
Predicted Winners: The Usos

Charlotte Flair vs "The Man" Becky Lynch
In the latest twist in a unnecessarily complicated storyline, if Becky wins, she is added to the RAW Women's Championship match at Wrestlemania. If she loses, she's fired. I think that Becky will win although I can see Ronda Rousey making an appearance at some point.
Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

"The New" Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston Kevin Owens
WWE Championship
A few weeks ago, Vince McMahon replaced Kofi Kingston with Kevin Owens just because...? Anyway, this should be an entertaining contest and, barring a surprise, I think that Bryan will win.
Predicted Winner: Daniel Bryan

I won't get to see the event for a couple of days so I hope you all enjoy the show.