Fastlane has become an annual Catch-22 for the WWE. You
don't want to show your hand too early on certain plot twists or give away too
much of what fans will see at WrestleMania.
On the other side of that balance, WWE wants fans tuning into the last
pay-per-view before WrestleMania and buying into all of the ongoing stories.
What that has tended to lead to in previous years is a match
card that doesn't come together until the last minute and some radical
last-minute shifts that might or might not dramatically change the road to
WrestleMania. This year's edition is no different, and so we enter Sunday's
show presuming a few likely changes to the equation while still wondering how
most of the WrestleMania 35 card will shake out.
BECKY LYNCH VS. CHARLOTTE
FLAIR (IF LYNCH WINS, SHE'S ADDED TO THE RAW WOMEN'S
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 35)
Any story that has the Royal Rumble winner in a match to win
back their chance at a WrestleMania title shot less than a month out from that
show is going to leave some people scratching their heads. But here we are.
The last month has featured everything from Vince McMahon
popping up and disrupting Lynch's path to WrestleMania before disappearing
without notice, arrests, several crutch attacks and, finally, Ronda
Rousey dropping any façade and becoming the no-nonsense fighter
she represented while at her UFC peak.
In the past, we've gotten some tremendous matches from the
combination of Lynch and Flair, most notably at Evolution,
and there's no reason to believe it'll be any different at Fastlane. The
consistent playing up of Lynch's knee injury might take away some of the
fast-moving energy present in previous matches, but the history and the high
level of physicality that's sure to be in store should make up for it -- at
least in a narrative sense.
Any ending other than Lynch earning her way back into
WrestleMania would be a genuinely shocking outcome. It's easy to understand
certain decisions designed to stretch out a story over a long period, but the
time for dancing around the issue at hand is over. Lynch wins, whether or not
Rousey shows up on Sunday or Monday, and its full steam ahead to a triple
threat Raw women's championship match at WrestleMania 35.
PREDICTION: Becky Lynch squeaks by with a
victory to fulfill her destiny (again).
WWE
CHAMPIONSHIP: DANIEL BRYAN (C)
VS. KEVIN OWENS
It was hard to know what to make of a suddenly friendlier,
gentler Kevin Owens when he made his return to WWE a few weeks ago. On one
hand, Owens was the tool of destruction by which Vince McMahon shoved Kofi Kingston to
the side for the hundredth time in his 11-year WWE career. But even given a
limited amount of time to build what should be a strong in-ring match, Owens
embraced his unlikely everyman status with vigor to kick off SmackDown on
Tuesday.
After vignettes in prior weeks showing Owens to be a
terrible bowler and a father who enjoys taking his son to the movies, Owens
aligned with the crowd not by cheaply appealing to a locality -- he did it as a
tool to bolster his insults toward Bryan. The circumstances behind this sudden
return are a bit hard to follow, and no one knows whether to trust Owens'
change of heart yet, but in terms of a last-minute replacement, Owens represents
a solid choice.
Bryan is squarely in his element when he can wax poetic and
bloviate on a topic opposite another strong talker, and everything about their
exchange spoke to each of their abilities. There's history between Bryan and
Owens, dating to Bryan's
return to the ring around this time last year, but rather than
further muddying the water in terms of the good guy/bad guy dynamic, this match
is being treated as something new.
Whether Kingston factors into this particular match, if the
path to WrestleMania doesn't ultimately end up with Kingston challenging Bryan
for the championship, something has gone seriously astray. That doesn't bode
well for Owens' chances Sunday night, and who knows where he could go from
here, but the main thing that will be on the minds of fans throughout this
match is the prospect of #KofiMania.
PREDICTION: Daniel Bryan lies, cheats and/or
steals his way to a victory
SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIPS: THE USOS (C)
VS. THE MIZ & SHANE MCMAHON
This match represents the third part to a triumvirate of
matches that's almost certain to lead in a specific direction heading into
WrestleMania. After winning the SmackDown tag team championships, celebrating
with The Miz's dad and promptly losing those titles in their first official
defense, Shane McMahon and The Miz get another shot at the gold on Sunday. In
Cleveland. In front of The Miz's dad, who will be ringside.
The entirety of the story of "the best tag team in the
world" has been Miz and Shane's desire for acknowledgement and pride from
their fathers. Given the reaction Miz had after losing the belts, another loss
and the embarrassment of failing in front of his dad is likely to send Miz off
the deep end. The Usos have a deep pool of talent to draw from heading into
WrestleMania, but the reigning SmackDown tag team champions will ultimately
take a back seat after taking care of business and retaining their titles.
If this were 10 years ago, I'd look forward to a tag team
match of Miz and his dad against Vince and Shane, but I'll settle for Miz and
Shane McMahon one-on-one at WrestleMania.
PREDICTION: The Usos retain, Miz goes ballistic,
Miz's dad is embarrassed of his son. It ends poorly.
THE SHIELD VS. BARON CORBIN, BOBBY LASHLEY & DREW MCINTYRE
No matter how hard you have to suspend your disbelief to have
this story make any real sense, there's undeniably something special about what
could be the final reunion of The Shield for the foreseeable future. It would
take a dramatic development for Corbin, Lashley and McIntyre to spoil this
feel-good story, but at the same time, such a result could theoretically go a
long way toward defining unclear paths to WrestleMania for Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose.
In reality, Reigns isn't going to lose in his first match
back.
Reigns has already diffused the possibility of getting
involved with Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar and
the Universal championship at WrestleMania, and it would make sense to build
Reigns up against a purely villainous opponent with whom he has a history.
Reigns vs. Corbin might not jump off the page as a WrestleMania match, but
there's no reason to give fans the chance to feel anything but 100 percent
behind Reigns and 100 percent against his opponent this soon after his return.
As for Ambrose, who is set to depart from WWE after WrestleMania, your guess is
as good as mine.
PREDICTION: The Shield takes care of business
SMACKDOWN WOMEN'S
CHAMPIONSHIP: ASUKA (C)
VS. MANDY ROSE
Fans got a serious scare Monday night as social media posts
from SmackDown's live event in White Plains, New York showed a women's
championship match between Asuka and Mandy Rose cut short due to an apparent
injury. Thankfully, it appears Asuka is OK after the scare, and she was well
enough to blindside Rose and Sonya Deville on
Tuesday on SmackDown.
The path to a SmackDown women's championship match at
WrestleMania couldn't be less clear, but if Rose walks out of Fastlane with a
title in her possession, it would mark a truly disappointing run for Asuka.
After winning the title in a triple threat TLC match in which Rousey
essentially gifted her the victory, Asuka had what should have been a
career-altering victory over Lynch at Royal Rumble. Then she disappeared from
TV for weeks and lost a fluky match against Rose.
Few can say for sure which way Asuka's road to WrestleMania
will go, but she should do it with gold still strapped around her waist.
PREDICTION: Asuka ... probably.
WOMEN'S TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIPS: BAYLEY & SASHA BANKS (C)
VS. NIA JAX & TAMINA
Bayley and Sasha Banks have declared their intentions to
defend the WWE women's tag team championships on Raw, SmackDown and NXT, but
their first official defense will come at Fastlane against two other Raw
superstars. Nia Jax essentially took herself out of the Elimination Chamber
match, so this represents an opportunity to fix something for her
team.
While the pursuit of two strong villains makes a lot of
sense heading into WrestleMania, a loss at Fastlane cheapens the effect of a
Bayley and Banks win at Elimination Chamber (as well as their proclamation that
they'd defend the titles everywhere). Never underestimate the potential of a
few hard to follow outcomes at Fastlane, but the team that should walk
out with titles in hand is clear.
PREDICTION: Bayley and Sasha Banks retain.
RAW TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIPS: THE REVIVAL (C)
VS. BOBBY ROODE & CHAD GABLE VS.
ALEISTER BLACK & RICOCHET
Ricochet and Aleister Black have won every match they've
been involved since moving to Raw (and SmackDown), save for a DQ loss this past
Monday when Roode and Gable got involved in the former's tag team title shot
against The Revival. So sets up this match, in which all six participants wore
gold of some type during their time in NXT. The Revival feels as if they have
to win a match at some point during their time as Raw tag team champions, and
this seems like the right opportunity for them to slow their somewhat confusing
spiral of late.
What's more, unlike Raw in recent weeks, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson seem
likely to get entrances on this show (or perhaps I've spoken to soon).
Hopefully these three teams channel that NXT style of energy, chaos and passion
in tag team wrestling that Raw and SmackDown have sorely missed in such matches
over the last year-plus.
PREDICTION: The Revival gets the pin on Gable or
Roode.
ANDRADE VS. REY MYSTERIO (KICKOFF
SHOW)
The match with one of the deepest, longest-running
narratives of any conflict on the Fastlane card drew the short stick of a
kickoff show match this time around. Andrade and Rey Mysterio have gone
one-on-one three times on SmackDown, with each match better than the one that
preceded it. They also extended their rivalry in multi-way United States
championship matches over the last two weeks, though each failed to win the
title both times around.
With Mysterio leading the series 2-1, Andrade walking out of
Fastlane with some positive momentum seems to make sense.
PREDICTION: Andrade and Rey Mysterio will make
you regret it if you don't show up to Quicken Loans Arena or tune into the WWE
Network in time to watch this match.
BIG E AND XAVIER WOODS VS. RUSEV AND SHINSUKE
NAKAMURA (KICKOFF SHOW)
There has been literally zero conflict between these two
teams entering Sunday's match on the Kickoff show. This will be Big E's second
and Xavier Woods' first televised match since the Royal Rumble.
PREDICTION: The result will have zero impact on
any storyline moving forward.
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