Preview by Joseph Currier
WWE’s final pay-per-view before WrestleMania takes place tonight as the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio hosts Fastlane.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show as well as Friday’s ROH PPV show, so please leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected] for each show.
The show’s main event will decide who enters WrestleMania as WWE Champion, with AJ Styles defending his title against John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, and Dolph Ziggler in a six-pack challenge tonight. The winner will have Shinsuke Nakamura waiting for them in New Orleans.
Nakamura will also be in action at Fastlane as he faces Rusev, Charlotte Flair defends her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Ruby Riott, The Usos put their Tag Team titles on the line as they renew their rivalry with The New Day, Randy Orton challenges for Bobby Roode’s United States title, and Naomi & Becky Lynch take on Natalya & Carmella.
The show is also the last brand-exclusive PPV scheduled before WWE’s move to all dual-brand shows. Following the hour-long pre-show, our coverage of the main card begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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by Dave Meltzer
TYE DILLINGER & TYLER BREEZE & FANDANGO VS. MOJO RAWLEY & SHELTON BENJAMIN & CHAD GABLE
Usual type of preshow match, shorter, but a lot more reaction than usual. Some of the action wasn’t crisp looking. The finish was kind of a surprise since Dillinger pinned Rawley after a superkick and a knee to the face.
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. RUSEV
This was really good. One thing positive for tonight is the crowd is very hot. They did dueling chants loud. A big spot was Nakamura setting up the Kinshasa but Rusev nailed him with a hard kick. Rusev went for the Accolade but Nakamura escaped it and hit a Kinshasa to the back of the head and a second Kinshasa for the pin. Aiden English did a rap before the match that got over big as well. Really he’s a lot more talented than Elias in doing that.
BOBBY ROODE VS. RANDY ORTON FOR THE U.S. TITLE
Orton won the title in a very good match when Roode came off the top rope into an RKO for the clean pin. No Jinder Mahal involvement but they showed him watching so hs’e still in the program. It was a slow deliberate match, worked solid. The crowd was into it. It as like a normal good Orotn match but with a hotter crowd than usual. The biggest spot was Orton’s top rope superplex and a lot of teasing of the glorious DDT and RKO throughout the match. .
Mahal attacked Orton afgter the match. Roode then saved Orton and hit Mahal with the Glorious DDT. Roode laid out Orton with the DDT and his music played when it was over even though he ws the one who lost the match.
Kevin Owens confronted Sami Zayn. Owens said he lied and he kicked him in the face on Tuesday. Zayn said that was about Tuesday, tonight he’ll lay down for him as it’s the big one.
NAOMI & BECKY LYNCH VS. NATALYA & CARMELLA
Natalya & Carmella won when Camella pinned Lynch after a superkick. Natalya jumped on the apron with Carmella’s Money in the Bank briefcase to distract Lynch for the finish. Solid wrestling throughout and even though the crowd wasn’t nearly as hot as for other matches, they were still into it a lot more than would be normal for such a match in this position.
USOS VS. NEW DAY FOR TAG TEAM TITLES
They were having a good match built around each doing the other teams’ moves. It was Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods as the New Day. Kingston did the splash off the top, Woods did a million superkicks and the Usos did the Midnight hour. Then about 9:00 in, the Bludgeon Brothers came out and destroyed everyone. They destroyed all five including a double team power bomb on Woods on the ring steps. Harper powerslammed one Uso on the floor, then Rowan slammed the other on him and then Harper on both and finally Rowan splashed on both. Rowan tried to kill one of them with a sledge hammer but he moved. They did a double-team suplex on the floor on Woods., The angle was well done but the match was nowhere near what it could have been.
Woods went out on a stretcher.
A.J. Styles did an interivew. Nakamura came out and said he hopes Styles wins. Styles got mad at him and said that he was going to beat Nakamura at WrestleMania.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR VS. RUBY RIOTT FOR WOMEN’S TITLE
Charlotte retained the title with a spear and figure eight for the submission. This had the least crowd heat given its position on the show. There was some innovative stuff but some stuff didn’t look so good. Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan came out and Naomi and Becky Lynch followd. Late in the match ref Mike Chioda first threw out Naomi & Lynch, but then he caught Morgan & Logan interfering and threw them out.
Asuka came out to challenge. The crowd was hot for this. Big “Yes chant when Asuka pointed to the Mania sign. Charlotte smiled at this.
A.J. STYLES VS. SAMI ZAYN VS. KEVIN OWENS VS. BARON CORBIN VS. JOHN CENA VS. DOLPH ZIGGLER FOR THE WWE TITLE
Styles retained the title as expected by pinning Owens with the phenomenal foreearm after Owens had given Cena the pop up power bomb. Excellent match. There were a lot of big moves and stories. Zayn laid down for Owens and then double crossed him going for a small package. Owens went to superkick Zayn, who moved and he nailed Shane McMaoin. Shane ended up with swelliing on the side of his left eye. Owens hit the pop up power bomb on Ziggler but Shane McMahon pulled the referee out of the ring and wouldn’t let Owens win. Zayn hit Owens with the Helluva kick and Shane again pulled the ref out of the ring. Daniel Bryan wasn’t there. They said he had a family commitment. Earlier Cena put Styles through a table with the Attitude Adjustment. They pushed the idea that Cena won’t be going to Mania.
