Official Fastlane Thread: 3/10/2019

What a great show. Couple things weren’t great, Mandy tried but she just isn’t in Asuka’s league yet. Maybe in a few years. The Charlotte Becky thing wasn’t needed, didn’t do anything worthwhile, but honestly everything else on the show was good/advanced storyline. One of the better b shows in a long time.

Yeah I really liked the US Title and WWE Title matches. I think both had forgone endings but both found a way to get me invested despite that inevitability. Ali took some pretty crazy bumps. I loved all of the apron work. I think that usually looks clunky but I thought they did a great job with it.

Despite the Shield match being of the house show variety I thought it was great to see the emotion of the whole deal. I think it's ok that they had a match specifically for those three guys. I always think back to the interviews of the curtain call and how those guys just wanted a moment together, and I think that's all last night was for the Shield.

I'm pretty frustrated by the Becky story. They're overdoing it with the knee injury stuff. I have zero problem with Ronda running in, great way to protect the finish, but then have her beat the hell out of both of them after the DQ. Her throwing the punch and then just doing nothing was kind of an awkward option. I would have liked to see her beat up Becky and Charlotte, but then still have Becky smiling/laughing because she ultimately still gets to go to Mania. So another Becky Balboa moment. This can be a soft reset. The match is set and hopefully they focus on building tension, and not twists and turns over the next 4 weeks.

This was honestly a pretty good PPV, considering how awful a lot of PPVS have been for the past couple of years. A long-term problem I've had with PPVs is that there don't tend to be any surprises anymore. Surprises are what make PPVs memorable, in my opinion. The formula for the past couple of years at least has been "match happens, predictable result occurs, the end". That's quite a dull formula when it happens every single time without alteration. However on this PPV, we saw the surprise inclusion of Mustafa Ali, the surprise altercation between Beth Phoenix and Nia/Tamina, the jiggling around of Kofi Kingston (like it or not, it certainly wasn't something I expected). We also saw a heel turn for Shane McMahon, and the kickstarting of a rivalry between Orton and AJ (I know Orton made a snide comment about AJ last week, but that was just the foundation).

I quite enjoyed Mandy Rose VS Asuka. Okay, we all knew Mandy stood no chance, because she's just not ready for a championship run yet. But it felt refreshing to see her get her first singles opportunity. It appears that they're splitting up Mandy & Sonya (though obviously they strongly teased it back in November and it never happened). I think they need to split to reach their potential.

I kind of hoped Johnny Gargano would make the save for Kofi, given that he's from Cleveland, has a history of being a strong babyface hero, and the New Day were banned from ringside, and Gargano is supposed to be on the main roster now. I can only assume he's sticking around in NXT, now that Ciampa is out.

I really liked the ending of the Triple Threat RAW Tag Team title match.

Boss 'n' Hug Connection VS Nia Jax & Tamina was a pretty solid match. I'm glad that Boss 'n' Hug Connection were portrayed as getting more offense in. To be honest (and I don't think I'm saying anything revolutionary here), Nia and Tamina are just not a good team at all. Nia is a strong heel who can attract major heel heat, but Tamina has never elicited a reaction from anyone for anything. She just makes Nia look weak for needing her around, when Nia should be portrayed as a lone, dominant monster. I'll be honest here. I was really hoping Sky Pirates would debut to make the save for the Boss 'n' Hug Connection. After WWE uploaded that video of the Boss 'n' Hug Connection making the save for them at an NXT Live Event, I thought it would make sense for them to return the favour. It would be a strong way to debut, and they seem ready for the main roster. But Beth trying to make the save was a solid substitute, I guess. I wouldn't mind seeing Beth make a short-term comeback. It worked for Trish & Lita, and it worked for the Bellas, it can work for Beth. Plus, her teaming with Natalya is probably the only way I'll ever be even slightly invested in anything so strongly connected to Natalya.

I really enjoyed the match with Becky and Charlotte. I thought the video package beforehand was really well edited and the music fit perfectly. They told a perfect story with lots of little details, like Charlotte mocking Becky's hobble, and Becky repeatedly swatting at thin air. I'm thrilled that they made the sensible choice and get Becky in the match at WrestleMania. Like many others though, I'm going to state that it's ridiculous how convoluted and nonsensical they've made this storyline. Becky should never have had to earn her way back into the match to begin with. At least they didn't go with the insane possibility of keeping it to Charlotte VS Ronda.

The Shield reunion was made out to be a much bigger deal than I thought it was. But it feels like this is truly the last time. Otherwise it would be dumb to have invested so much energy into this. I wonder what this Dean leaving storyline is going to lead to.

another "surprise" was the Elias RKO and AJ showing up with his phenomenal forearm to Randy.

We all know Randy Orton doesn't own a pair of pants and walks around in his wrestling trunks; but I thought it was a little weird that AJ is in full-gear for a 5-second spot when he could have been just as effective and probably more realistic in street clothes.

I really enjoyed the show.

Why? He contributes.

Charlotte's been there, done that. Ending the undefeated streak was enough. She's way above facing a paper champion, like Asuka. Charlotte needs to be on RAW, anyway.


I don't know what the hell your problem is... But, for what it's worth, I hardly consider anything you have to say, relevant. For the record, that Bayley thread was a joke, and last I checked, this was the 'Fastlane' thread - not the "kiss Becky Lynch's arse", thread.