Results, Recap, Review of WWE FastLane 2017
Tonight was the final stop for Raw before Wrestlemania and this show had some major implications for the biggest show of the year. Before I begin with my thoughts here are the results of tonight’s show.
-Preshow: Rich Swann/Akira Tozawa defeated Noam Dar/The Brian Kendrick
-Samoa Joe defeated Sami Zayn
-The Club defeated Enzo/Big Cass to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
-Sasha Banks defeated Nia Jax.
-Cesaro defeated Jinder Mahal
-Big Show defeated Rusev
-Neville defeated Jack Gallagher to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
-Roman Reigns defeated Braun Strowman
-Bayley defeated Charlotte to retain the Raw Women’s Championship.
-Goldberg defeated Kevin Owens to retain the WWE Universal Championship
The opening match of the night was between Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn. It seems to be that Joe is being pushed very heavily which is a good thing. Joe has always been a very versatile performer. I think he’s going to be fast tracked to a major championship like Kevin Owens and AJ Styles were. I will be curious to see what they have in store for him in four weeks at Wrestlemania. The one thing I was disappointed in going into this pay-per-view is that Cesaro and Sheamus were not involved in the tag team title match. The Club took on Enzo and Big Cass in a match I said would happen at Wrestlemania. I guess I was a month early. I like The Club but I feel they would be much stronger if they Balor or Styles by their side. My prediction is that Enzo and Big Cass will have a nice Wrestlemania moment.
The Raw Women’s Division has been dominated by four women as of late, I feel like the division needs a couple more women to shake things up. Nia Jax and Sasha Banks is already getting old. It’s been the same crap for three months but at least Sasha won the match tonight. My disappointment was lifted when Cesaro got a match against Jinder Mahal. Cesaro was really fired up on the pre-show because of the lack of opportunities he and Sheamus are getting. Personally both guys should be pushed heavily as singles competitors if they are not going to use them as a tag team. I am not sure what they are doing with Jinder Mahal and Rusev but it’s weird. Mahal loses to Cesaro in a random match and Rusev loses to Big Show in another random match. I really think the writers are getting lazy with the mid-card which wouldn’t have happened years ago.
One person that being used correctly is Neville and it was proven tonight. He and Jack Gallagher tore the house down with their. The Cruiserweights need to be allowed to deliver more matches like this. It was very aggressive and hard hitting. I like the fact that Neville hit the Red Arrow to win the match. Another match that was very aggressive was Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Each week I am more impressed with Braun Strowman and how athletic he really is. I really hated seeing Strowman lose because he had so much momentum. I really hope they have something big for him at Wrestlemania because out of everyone on the Raw roster he’s the most believable monster that WWE has had in a long time. It was nice to see two consecutive matches on a pay per view be really good. I wish they could have eight matches in a row that were fantastic.
As I said earlier, I have no interest in the Raw Women’s Division at this point. It’s the same thing with the same competitors every week. I really hope when the NXT call ups happen the women go to Raw to get some more depth. I think Smackdown does a better job of shuffling the women and creating newer matches between the women. I will say that I was shocked by the ending of the match. I am really surprised Charlotte lost her pay-per-view streak before Wrestlemania. I guess for once they did something that no one saw coming which is good. I like surprises because they don’t happen very often on WWE television. One thing that was not surprising is Goldberg winning the WWE Universal Title. It’s really a shame Kevin Owens lost the fast. He is a great performer and his reign as champion should have ended in better fashion.
Now that we have four weeks left until Wrestlemania I hope they put together a huge under-card because the main event is going to be awful. I am really sick and tired of old out of shape part timers coming in and collecting a paycheck and stealing a spot from someone who works all year around. For me that’s what this show represented. I am going to give the show a 6 out of 10. It was a decent show but nothing epic happened. I am extremely disappointed but hopefully in four weeks Wrestlemania makes up for it.
