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Overnight, Pro Wrestling Sheet ran a story on how Dana Warrior, wife of the late Ultimate Warrior, joined the WWE writing team to offer more of a female perspective. Our Dave Meltzer reports that the role is that of a consultant and not a member of the writing team, although that may change in the future. She was at WWE TV last week and is scheduled for this week.
Some other notes from Dave:
– Bruce Prichard’s role with WWE and in the pecking order has been a bit overstated and that he’s also a consultant and not on the writing team. Prichard and Conrad Thompson will continue their Something To Wrestle podcast.
– The featured Raw match for WWE Fastlane is being advertised by Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena as Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley in a two-on-three handicap match.
Meltzer says an angle will be shot Monday to get Dean Ambrose into the mix, reuniting The Shield. The match will then eiher be Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose vs. Lashley, McIntyre, and Corbin or Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose and Braun Strowman vs. Lashley, McIntyre, Corbin, and Elias.
After returning to Raw on Monday and announcing that his leukemia is in remission, Roman Reigns is being advertised for a match at Fastlane.
The Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio is advertising Reigns & Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre & Bobby Lashley in a two-on-three handicap match for Fastlane. The pay-per-view is taking place at the Quicken Loans Arena on March 10.
WWE has yet to officially announce the match. It being advertised doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the match will happen, or that it will happen in that two-on-three form.
Reigns also made a second appearance on this week’s Raw after announcing that he’s in remission. He and Rollins saved Dean Ambrose from Corbin, McIntyre, Lashley, and Elias, and Reigns hit Superman punches on Lashley and McIntyre and gave McIntyre a spear.
The segment ended with the three Shield members looking at each other, with Reigns and Rollins on the stage and Ambrose in the ring.
Reigns is scheduled to be a regular on WWE television going forward.
Asuka and Mandy Rose didn’t appear on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown, but their title match has still been made official for Fastlane.
Asuka defending her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Rose at Fastlane was announced during a post-SmackDown video that was uploaded by WWE. Rose and Sonya Deville were interviewed by Kayla Braxton, with Rose saying that she’ll become champion at the pay-per-view.
Rose was set up as the next challenger for the SmackDown Women’s Championship when she pinned Asuka in a non-title match last week. Rose faked an eye injury, threw Asuka into the ropes, and rolled her up to get the win.
The Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio will host Fastlane on March 10. Here’s the updated card:
Kevin Owens returned to the ring tonight and was announced as Daniel Bryan’s new challenger for Fastlane.
A contract signing for Bryan and Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship match at the pay-per-view had been advertised as the focal point of this week’s SmackDown. The segment started off the show, but it led to Vince McMahon coming out, introducing Owens, and announcing that Owens will be replacing Kingston in the title match at Fastlane.
The storyline was Vince saying Owens is more deserving of the title shot. Vince said he has to give the audience the “highest caliber competition” and “biggest box office” he can.
Owens came out and signed the contract for the title match. Big E and Xavier Woods were furious, and the fans chanted for Kingston as New Day went backstage.
There was then a segment where Owens asked Stephanie and Shane McMahon if he could team with Kingston against Bryan & Rowan. Owens said he thinks Kingston is just as deserving of challenging Bryan as he is.
Owens & Kingston faced Bryan & Rowan in this week’s main event. Owens pinned Bryan after hitting a stunner, with Kingston taking out Rowan with a dive before Owens got the win.
Big E and Woods both sent out tweets to further the angle. Big E wrote: “I don’t even know why we’re surprised anymore.”
Woods tweeted: “So what else does @TrueKofi have to do? He’s a multi-time champion. He’s given 11 amazing years to this company. He’s pinned the @wwe champion. Kofi is more than good enough. Kofi is more than worthy. What else do you want from him? WHAT ELSE?”
Tonight was Owens’ first match since undergoing double knee surgery in October 2018. He was on Raw before having surgery, but WWE had been hyping that he could be on Raw or SmackDown when he returned.
Fastlane is taking place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on March 10.
WWE has announced Sasha Banks & Bayley’s first televised Women’s Tag Team title defense.
Banks & Bayley will defend their titles against Nia Jax & Tamina at Fastlane. That was announced during tonight’s Raw, which also featured Bayley defeating Jax in a singles match.
Jax and Tamina interrupted Banks and Bayley in an angle on last week’s Raw, but Banks and Bayley fought them off before they could get into the ring.
Banks & Bayley became WWE’s first Women’s Tag Team Champions of this era at Elimination Chamber on February 17. They made their first title defense against The Riott Squad at Raw’s house show in Jonesboro, Arkansas this past Friday night.
WWE has announced that the Women’s Tag Team titles will be defended on Raw, SmackDown, and in NXT.
Fastlane is taking place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on March 10. Kofi Kingston challenging for Daniel Bryan’s WWE Championship is set for the pay-per-view, along with Shane McMahon & The Miz getting their rematch for The Usos’ SmackDown Tag Team titles.
Kofi Kingston’s momentum is taking him to another shot at the WWE Championship.
WWE announced at the end of tonight’s SmackDown that Kingston will officially challenge for Daniel Bryan’s WWE title at Fastlane. Kingston pinned Bryan for the second straight week, with him hitting Trouble in Paradise on Bryan to win a six-man tag main event.
Kingston teamed with AJ Styles & Jeff Hardy to defeat Bryan, Samoa Joe & Randy Orton in the match. Shane McMahon then came out to announce Bryan vs. Kingston for Fastlane.
Kingston eliminated Bryan in a gauntlet match on last week’s SmackDown. They were the final two in Sunday’s Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, and Bryan retained by hitting Kingston with a running knee after Kingston missed a splash off of one of the pods.
Dave Meltzer reported earlier on Tuesday that WWE had changed their plans and Kingston was now the front-runner to face Bryan at Fastlane. Meltzer wrote that WWE made their decision “based on the fan response to Kingston’s performance in the gauntlet on Tuesday, and even more the Elimination Chamber on Sunday.”
Mustafa Ali was originally supposed to be in the gauntlet and Elimination Chamber matches instead of Kingston, but Ali had to be replaced due to injury.
Fastlane is taking place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on March 10. The Usos will defend their SmackDown Tag Team titles against Shane McMahon & The Miz at the pay-per-view.
A SmackDown Tag Team Championship rematch is set for Fastlane.
During the opening segment of tonight’s SmackDown, it was announced that Shane McMahon & The Miz will challenge for The Usos’ Tag Team titles at Fastlane. Shane & Miz dropped the titles to The Usos at Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
Tonight’s SmackDown opened with an angle where Miz interrupted Shane and apologized to him for losing the match at Elimination Chamber. Miz admitted that he used Shane because he knew they both felt the same way about wanting their dads to be proud of them. Miz said that when Shane brought out Miz’s father and his father said he was proud of him and loves him, it was the greatest moment of Miz’s career.
Miz said he knows there aren’t any more automatic rematches but wanted Shane to make another title match between them and The Usos.
The Usos then entered. They said if Shane forgives Miz, they’ll give Shane & Miz another opportunity to call themselves the best tag team in the world. They insulted Miz and said Shane should find another worthy partner. Shane made the rematch official for Fastlane.
A backstage segment later in the show set up that Miz’s dad will be ringside for their match at Fastlane, which is taking place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Miz’s hometown of Cleveland, Ohio on March 10.
In a change of plans that took place on Monday, it looks like Kofi Kingston is the front-runner to be announced as WWE Champion Daniel Bryan’s opponent for Fastlane at tonight’s SmackDown in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As of Monday morning, WWE already had plans in place for both Fastlane, which takes place on March 10 in Cleveland, and WrestleMania four weeks later, which did not involve Kingston.
However, based on the fan response to Kingston’s performance in the gauntlet on Tuesday, and even more the Elimination Chamber on Sunday, where he was a stand-in for the injured Mustafa Ali, the decision was changed to go to Bryan vs. Kingston.
It is not clear how or if this change of plans will affect the original WWE title plans for WrestleMania. Bryan was scheduled to face someone making a return as opposed to one of the current SmackDown brand regulars at the year’s biggest show.
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.
Tonight, we get the final SmackDown brand-only PPV from Columbus, O-HI-O: WWE Fastlane. This is also the final PPV before WrestleMania in April and is built around four title matches, and the trials and tribulations of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn’s complicated friendship.
With this being the final PPV before WrestleMania for Smackdown Live, all the big key matches for the big show will be settled tonight. All the future title matches should be pretty clear, with maybe the exception of the women’s title, because of the pending announcement from Asuka. There’s a very good chance that this show will be as predictable and anti-climatic as Elimination Chamber’s matches were which just leaves us anxiously awaiting WrestleMania next month.
The WWE title will be defended in a six-pack challenge match when champion AJ Styles fights to retain his title, and a defense against Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania, against John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, and Dolph Ziggler. This is the second month in a row with six or more wrestlers in the main event but the outcome still feels as anti-climactic.
Is it possible for the WWE to do back-to-back predictable shows? Yes, it is. Is it possible that WWE can prove that doing PPVs in between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania is pointless? Yes, it is. But is there hope that the WWE might try to throw a different, less predictable set of results at us? Yes, there is.
“Ms. Money in the Bank” Carmella is joining up with Natalya to take on Lynch and Naomi, made as a result by Lynch submitting Carmella by submission recently. The story in this match is Carmella and when she’ll cash in her MiTB conract. Depending on the placement of the match, that might tip us off to a potential cash in later if the Charlotte-Ruby Riott match is after it. If this match is before that, I expect Lynch and Naomi to win and if it’s after, I expect Carmella and Natalya.
Since Nakamura’s title opportunity at WrestleMania is already booked, he’s been just hanging around on SD without a whole going on. The same can be said for Rusev, who despite being one of the most beloved talents on the roster, has had nothing going for him. With that being said, Rusev and Nakamura are on two separate paths going in opposite directions. Back at the end of February, Nakamura beat English in a match and after an interrupted Nakamura promo one week later, Rusev challenged Shinsuke for damaging English’s vocal cords. Shinsuke accepted and here we are.
The assumption is that Asuka is going to challenge Alexa Bliss for the Raw women’s title. However, that has not officially been announced and while Flair was looking forward to WrestleMania, Riott took exception. Riott doesn’t think that Flair is going to make it to Mania as champion and wants to dethrone her here. This is a great opportunity for Riott to perform in her biggest match to date on the main roster. The company is showing they have faith by putting her in this match and of course, they know what they already have with Charlotte. Although this is a great opportunity for Riott, there should be no doubt that Flair will find a way to retain. But that doesn’t mean she will leave as champion…
While The Usos have been the best team on the blue brand, the division has become not so important. Hopefully, the emergence of The Bludgeon Brothers will change that, but in the meantime, we revisit one of, if not the best, tag team feud of 2017. After the feud last year, both teams became friends with mutual respect for one another. But after ND beat Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin a few weeks back, they decided that they wanted to be tag champs heading into WrestleMania. The Usos, who have never been on the main card of WrestleMania, refuse to have that happen again and look to retain their tag titles. I expect The Usos to do just that and then face The Bludgeon Brothers at WrestleMania.
Roode won the United States title tournament by defeating Jinder Mahal in the finals. He now jets off to attempt to be “the greatest U.S. champion of all-time” and in order to do that, he needs to beat Orton who is “one of the greatest of all-time”. This match seemed to come to fruition after Mahal made fun of where Roode and Orton were ranked on SD’s Top Ten list even though Mahal didn’t rank at all on the list. Also, even though Mahal has been right in the middle of this feud and has stood tall over Roode and Orton respectively, he is not in the match. There is a safe assumption that all three men might be competing at Mania for the US title should Roode should get out of Columbus with the title still in-hand.
For the second straight month, the main event of a WWE show seems like an absolute lock for the winner. Where last month it was Roman Reigns at the Chamber, all WrestleMania signs point to Styles somehow surviving Fastlane with the WWE title. So much so, that the main story of this match isn’t even the title on the line, but the friendship of Owens and Zayn. Will Zayn actually lay down and let Owens pin him or will he go into business for himself and try to win the WWE title? Is their friendship strong enough to make it through what happened at SD this past Thursday and what happens tonight?
A few other key storylines: will Cena find a way to the grandest stage of them all against the Undertaker? Can Corbin stop squandering opportunities? Will Ziggler ever be anything again?
Follow along with tonight’s show with Dave Meltzer’s live coverage here on the site.
Two more matches have been added to the card for Sunday’s Fastlane pay-per-view.
Before he challenges for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, Shinsuke Nakamura will be in action against Rusev on Sunday night. That was announced after Nakamura accepted a challenge from Rusev during a backstage interview on SmackDown tonight. Rusev interrupted him and wanted revenge after Nakamura defeated Aiden English last Tuesday, with the story being that English getting hit with a knee to the throat made him unable to sing this week.
AJ Styles will defend his WWE Championship against Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, and John Cena in a six-pack challenge at Fastlane, and the winner will go on to face Nakamura at WrestleMania on April 8th.
Naomi & Becky Lynch vs. Natalya & Carmella was also made official for Sunday later in the show. Naomi proposed the idea to Natalya after Lynch tapped out Carmella in a singles match.
With the two additions, the card for Fastlane is up to six matches. Here’s the updated lineup:
The main event for Fastlane was originally announced as a triple threat match, then became a fatal four-way and a fatal five-way. Now, it’s set to be a six-pack challenge.
John Cena was added to the pay-per-view’s main event after defeating WWE Champion AJ Styles in a non-title match on SmackDown tonight. It will be Styles defending his title against Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, and Dolph Ziggler to decide who enters WrestleMania as champion.
Cena’s appearance tonight was the first time he’s been on SmackDown since August. The storyline is that he’s looking for a path to WrestleMania after failing at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber and being denied a match against The Undertaker. Cena cut a promo about wanting to be added to the Fastlane main event in tonight’s opening segment, which led to Daniel Bryan making Cena vs. Styles for later in the show.
Near the finish, Styles wouldn’t accept a countout win and tried to get Cena back into the ring. Cena then gave Styles an Attitude Adjustment through the announce table, but Styles was able to beat the count. Cena ended up winning after getting out of the Calf Crusher and hitting an Attitude Adjustment.
The Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio will host Fastlane on March 11th. Though his storyline for the PPV has just begun on television, Cena has been advertised for the show since the beginning of the year.
Here’s the current lineup for Fastlane:
After two more wrestlers were added tonight, the main event for Fastlane will now be a fatal five-way match.
It had been advertised going into this week’s SmackDown that Dolph Ziggler would be facing Baron Corbin and the winner would be added to the Fastlane main event, but the show opened with an angle where Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn attacked both of them before their match. That led to Shane McMahon making Ziggler vs. Zayn and Corbin vs. Owens, with Ziggler and Corbin having the chance to earn their spot at the pay-per-view with a win.
Corbin first pinned Owens with the End of Days, then Ziggler beat Zayn with a superkick in the main event. With that, it will be AJ Styles defending his WWE Championship against Owens, Zayn, Ziggler, and Corbin at Fastlane in Columbus, Ohio on March 11th.
After Owens lost, there was a segment where he argued with Zayn. Zayn told him it would be every man for himself at the PPV.
Whoever comes out of Fastlane as WWE Champion will be set to defend their title against Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania.
While AJ Styles is still scheduled to defend his WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn at Fastlane, it looks like there will be another person joining them.
WWE had Shane McMahon announce on Twitter today that the winner of Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin on next week’s SmackDown will be added to the Fastlane main event: “An unexpected end to #SDLive with a triple threat match made for #WWEFastlane…I’m going to make a bit more interesting. Next week: @BaronCorbinWWE vs. @HEELZiggler. The winner is added to the match and makes it a #Fatal4Way for the @WWE title.”
Next week’s episode will be the first time Ziggler has appeared on SmackDown since December 19th. After winning the United States Championship at Clash of Champions, there was a storyline where he left the title in the ring and walked out. Bobby Roode then went on to win the championship in a tournament.
Ziggler returned at the Royal Rumble, coming in as a surprise entrant at number 30 and being eliminated by Finn Balor after a couple of minutes.
Both Ziggler and Corbin were left off the “SmackDown Top 10 List” that debuted as a ranking system this Tuesday.
Daniel Bryan announced Styles vs. Owens vs. Zayn for Fastlane after Styles got involved in a number one contender’s match between the two of them. Earlier in the night, Shane questioned why Bryan even put Owens and Zayn in the number one contender’s match.
Fastlane is SmackDown’s last pay-per-view before WrestleMania and will take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on March 11th. Before Shinsuke Nakamura won the Royal Rumble, the venue had been advertising Styles vs. Nakamura vs. Owens vs. Zayn vs. Randy Orton as the main event.
