Here’s a preview and prediction for every match on the card at the 2019
edition of the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view event.
The Road to WrestleMania 35 includes one more pit stop at
the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio this Sunday for the 2019 edition of
WWE Fastlane.
Fastlane certainly isn’t the most high-profile pay-per-view
on the WWE calendar but with some of the matches booked on the card; this has a
chance to be a decent show as we get ready for the biggest event of the year.
Even more importantly, there are some matches here that could give us a better
idea of what the card in New York might look like next month.
We know we won’t see The Shield at WrestleMania as Seth
Rollins obviously already has a match set but we do get at least one more
chance to see them in action at Fastlane. We’re also set to see Becky Lynch get
her shot at joining the Raw Women’s Championship Match in New
York if she can once again defeat Charlotte Flair. More on those in a bit.
There is no cruiserweight division match at Fastlane with
the tournament happening on 205 Live to see who will face
Buddy Murphy at WrestleMania, so we’re set for Rey Mysterio and Andrade as the
Kickoff show entertainment. Along with the two matches mentioned above, the
main card will also feature five championship matches, including the SmackDown Women’s
Championship Match so we’ll go ahead and start there and then jump right into
the others.
So without further ado, here are our preview and predictions
for the 2019 edition of WWE Fastlane.
SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
ASUKA (C) VS.
MANDY ROSE
Since winning the SmackDown Women’s
Championship, Asuka has been a bit of an afterthought in the women’s division,
which is unfortunate. But with the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship being
introduced at Elimination Chamber and all of the hoopla surrounding Ronda
Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, it was bound to happen. But that
doesn’t mean that Asuka and Mandy Rose can’t go out there and put on a good
show to show the rest of the world that the Blue Brand’s women’s division still
has plenty to offer. This could be surprisingly good. Rose has come a long way
over the past few months and has really improved her in-ring work. Being in the
ring with a true veteran like Asuka is only going to help her.
PREDICTION: I don’t think its Mandy’s time just
yet (apologies to Corey Graves) but it’s good to see her at least get a title
shot. It’s likely a one-off for now as a new challenger should emerge in the
next few weeks ahead of WrestleMania after Asuka picks up this win on Sunday.
SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
THE USOS (C) VS.
THE MIZ & SHANE MCMAHON
After losing their titles at Elimination Chamber last month,
Shane McMahon abused his authority and gave himself and The Miz the automatic
rematch — you know, the thing that isn’t supposed to happen anymore — for
Fastlane. The added drama here is that this match takes place in The Miz’s
hometown of Cleveland and his dad will be sitting at ringside. Certainly
nothing could go wrong there. The match at Elimination Chamber was fun and the
promo and singles match this past Tuesday were both entertaining as well, so
this should be solid enough.
PREDICTION: Everything is pointing to Shane vs.
The Miz at WrestleMania so The Usos should take this one. I don’t know if the
McMiz split actually happens here but it’s coming soon.
RAW TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIP TRIPLE THREAT MATCH
THE REVIVAL (C)
VS. BOBBY ROODE & CHAD GABLE VS. ALEISTER BLACK & RICOCHET
Here’s a fun question for the WWE Universe. Do you remember
the last time the Raw Tag Team Championship was on the line at a
pay-per-view? Give up? The answer is nearly six months ago at Hell in a Cell
when Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler beat Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. No,
seriously. That’s why it has been so nice to see the tag division getting a
little more time on Monday nights in recent weeks. Sure, The Revival haven’t
really won a match since winning the titles and the booking has been a little
strange but at least we’re seeing some entertaining matches and given the
participants, this one should be good as well.
PREDICTION: It’s hard to see Aleister Black and
Ricochet winning the titles, but they’re still going to be the highlight here.
My guess is that including Bobby Roode and Chad Gable and making this a triple
threat is so the NXT guys can lose without taking the pinfall. The Revival
deserve an actual victory so let’s go with the champs retaining.
WOMEN’S TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
SASHA BANKS &
BAYLEY (C) VS. NIA JAX & TAMINA
After outlasting five other teams in the Elimination Chamber
to win the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship, the Boss N’ Hug Connection
(just an awful team name) gets a big test in Nia Jax and Tamina, who really
aren’t looking overly dominant these days. I’m not expecting a great match
here, but it’s nice that the women’s division finally has tag team gold of its
own.
PREDICTION: I think Sasha Banks finally
successfully defends a championship here as she and Bayley walk away with the
victory to set up a bigger match at WrestleMania, even if their opponents there
might not even be on the actual, full-time roster. Check back in for the
official review of Fastlane to see who I’m thinking rolls back into the mix for
a title shot in New York.
THE SHIELD VS.
DREW MCINTYRE, BOBBY LASHLEY & BARON CORBIN
While this latest reunion from The Shield didn’t do as much
for me as the last one, it’s always still fun to see a band get back together,
especially since this might be the last time we see it. While there has been an
official announcement that Dean Ambrose will be leaving WWE once his contract
expires next month, the word now is that he may end up re-signing with the
company after all. But nobody really knows the truth. It has been great to see
Roman Reigns back and looking healthy and while this whole thing has been a bit
rushed (it had to be given the circumstances), it’s still been fun to watch.
Roman confronting Ambrose in the dark room in the back talking about how he
thought they were past hanging out in places like that was hysterical. I
thought at one point that Braun Strowman and Elias might somehow be added to
this match, given the fact that Strowman has really been the main target of
Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin and Ambrose just got whacked with
Elias’ guitar on Monday night. Maybe that still happens. Either way, seeing The
Shield one last time should be entertaining.
PREDICTION: There’s really no way that The
Shield loses here so this is pretty much the easiest pick of the night with
Corbin likely being the one to take the pinfall. Lashley still has his sights
set on Finn Balor and the Intercontinental Championship and Drew McIntyre can’t
be made to look too weak at this point so that’s probably the right call. This
is going to get out of hand at some point, likely with run-ins from Elias and
Strowman. With Rollins set for Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and Ambrose perhaps
on his way out the door, I really do think this is a one-off and then the rest
of the participants will get themselves in line for what they’re doing in New
York.
BECKY LYNCH VS.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR
One more time, everyone. It’s Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte
Flair and there are major WrestleMania main-event implications on the line in
this matchup. If Lynch wins, she’ll be added to the Raw Women’s
Championship Match at WrestleMania with Flair and Ronda Rousey. But if Flair
wins, she gets her one-on-one rematch with Rousey, who just went ahead and went
full heel this past Monday night, treating Lynch to a vicious beating to close
the show. I’m sure Rousey will be somewhere in the building, possibly at
ringside, to watch this one and she might go ahead and get involved. But she’s
not the big story here. The big story here, of course, is Lynch, who has become
the hottest thing in all of professional wrestling over the past few months,
and it has just been beautiful to watch. While the story is obviously a rerun
of Stone Cold Steve Austin from the Attitude Era or Daniel Bryan from five
years ago, it’s still been entertaining and Lynch has certainly made the most
of her opportunity in the spotlight. But let’s not forget how good Flair has
been, as well. Perhaps the overall best wrestler in the women’s division,
Flair’s promos have been improving week by week and she’s a big part of why
this is playing out so well. Perhaps none of this should have gone down the way
it did and Lynch could have done great things in just a one-on-one setting with
Rousey, but seeing as how that match at WrestleMania is likely going to be the
main event, Flair deserves to be there given everything she’s done for the
division. This should be yet another classic match between these two. The
“injuries” to Lynch should make for some great storytelling throughout.
PREDICTION: There’s certainly no way that Lynch
isn’t involved at the match at WrestleMania so she gets the win here. Rousey
could get involved here and wind up costing Flair the match.
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP
MATCH
DANIEL BRYAN (C)
VS. KEVIN OWENS
In an interesting (and welcome) turn of recent events, Kofi
Kingston became the new darling of the WWE Universe with an amazing performance
in a Gauntlet Match on SmackDown Live when he replaced an
injured Mustafa Ali and then again in the Elimination Chamber when he took WWE
Champion Daniel Bryan to the limit, having everyone believe for a minute that
he actually might win the title. Kingston was then given a one-on-one match
with Bryan for the title at Fastlane but had it yanked away by Vince McMahon,
who replaced Kingston with a returning Kevin Owens. While it seemed unpopular
in the moment, there are bigger things in play here and it should lead to a
much better situation for Kingston. As for Owens, he has looked good in his
return, scoring a win over the champ in a tag match and debuting the Stunner as
his new finisher. Pour one out for the pop-up powerbomb, though. Owens also
scored a disqualification victory over Rowan this past week on SmackDown
Live after Bryan got involved, which brought Ali down for the save.
The roles for Bryan and Owens are flipped for this year’s WrestleMania season
as Bryan made his glorious return almost a year ago to face Owens and Sami
Zayn, but the chemistry still seems to be there. I’m hoping for a good match
here.
PREDICTION: Bryan is going to be the WWE
Champion at WrestleMania. It’s just a matter of how they get there. I don’t see
Owens losing cleanly this early in his return so some sort of screwy finish is
likely here. Perhaps Rowan gets involved and then Kingston comes out to make
the save. That gives us an easy setup for Bryan vs. Kingston at WrestleMania.
Bryan could just whine about Kingston not going away like he’s supposed to, and
then Kingston will probably have to earn his way into a WWE Championship bout.
So, let’s go with Owens officially getting the win here but not winning the
title.
What are your thoughts and predictions heading into WWE
Fastlane? Which matches are you looking forward to? Please feel free to jump in
the conversation in the comments section below.
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