Skip to content
Sports
Link copied to clipboard

WWE Fastlane 2015: Results and observations from the show

WWE Fastlane has come and gone and it all felt like a formality.

There really wasn't anything inherently special about this pay-per-view and the WWE didn't deliver anything special during the course of the three-hour show.

That's because the WWE doesn't put a lot of effort in the way of doing anything special on the majority of its pay-per-view offerings anymore.

We can complain for years to come about how pay-per-view now feel like nothing more than a Sunday night edition of Raw, but that's just the climate we live in with the WWE Network.

The WWE has doesn't place any value on their pay-per-views anymore, with the exceptions being WrestleMania, Summerslam and the Royal Rumble… and maybe Survivor Series if the company is feeling motivated.

After all, the WWE only charges $9.99 for their pay-per-views these days and gave away Fastlane for free. That's right, for absolutely nothing. So if it felt like Fastlane was merely a bridge to further stories for WrestleMania next month, that's because it was. It's been that way for a while.

Look back all of the pay-per-views during the year and change that the WWE Network has been up and running — with the exceptions being the ones I named — they all felt that way. They're merely a means to an end.

So with that being the case, let's run through my observations and judge Fastlane for what it was: just another day on the WWE calendar.

But before that, let's take a look at the full match results:

- Seth Rollins, Kane & Big Show def. Dolph Ziggler, Ryback & Erick Rowan

- Goldust def. Stardust

- WWE Tag Team Championship – Tyson Kidd & Cesaro def. The Usos

- WWE Divas Championship – Nikki Bella def. Paige

- WWE Intercontinental Championship – Bad News Barrett def. Dean Ambrose by disqualification

- WWE United States Championship – Rusev def. John Cena

- Roman Reigns def. Daniel Bryan

With that now out of the way, let's go through my observations from WWE Fastlane, which took place at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn.:

Is there a sense of apathy from WWE fans?

Besides the matches, a running story throughout Fastlane was the lack of enthusiasm from the fans in Memphis, which begs the question: Why were the fans so quiet during crucial moments of the show?

On one hand, you can blame the fans for simply being lethargic. On the other, however, you can place just as much blame on the WWE for not offering the fans something to cheer about.

I place blame on both. Yeah, the fans in Memphis could have shown more life, but an overwhelming majority of the blame belongs firmly on the shoulders of the WWE.

Let's get this straight right here: Memphis is one of the more historic wrestling cities in the United States. Among the milestones that city's wrestling heritage could be proud of is helping to end segregation in the city.

The old Mid-South Coliseum is essentially a historic landmark in Memphis and played host to numerous wrestling shows during its time, most of which were probably headlined by Jerry "The King" Lawler.

The point I'm trying to make is that the people of Memphis love wrestling. The only problem is that the WWE hasn't done anything to create any sort of heat or momentum for the television product, and we're only a handful of weeks from the biggest show of the year.

Instead of heat, there's just apathy. There's apathy because the people are simply losing interest in the product. They'll pay money for a ticket, pay for parking, concessions and maybe even some merchandise, but once they sit and watch the show, they're not given much to cheer for.

A prime example of this apathy was during the Roman Reigns-Daniel Bryan. While the two men got a more favorable reaction than a lot of the other matches on the card, the fact that these two are babyfaces that are in line to face the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania means the place should be firmly behind both men.

That was not the case Sunday night. Instead, Reigns received more boos and Bryan received a more tamed response than usual. The WWE has literally quelled both of these guys' popularity somehow with the way it has booked them on television.

The WWE can blame Philadelphia for being overly vocal, and can blame Memphis for not being vocal enough, but at the end of the day, this is the fault of the WWE. There's simply no juice surrounding the product right now, and it's showing by the reaction — or lack there of from the live audiences.

Roman Reigns to face Brock Lesnar

Speaking of Roman Reigns, he now has two very tall orders in front of him. In storyline, he has the unenviable task of facing WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

In reality, his tallest order is surviving the booking of the WWE, which has done him zero favors up until this point. I don't think I've ever seen such a lukewarm reaction for a guy that's challenging for the title at WrestleMania. I'm really thinking hard about this, too. This is highly unusual.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, this is not Reigns' fault. He's doing the best he can, given the circumstances. The circumstances Sunday night were to put on a good-to-great 20-minute match with one of the best in-ring performers in the world.

I think Reigns did a fairly good job in that spot. The match came off looking very good, but the circumstances moving forward will be to get on the good side of fans when he interacts with Lesnar. People love Lesnar, making this difficult to do.

I believe Paul Heyman will and should do his best to lend credibility to Reigns in the coming weeks, but the fans may have already made their minds up. Not to mention, WWE booking can always thwart whatever progress Heyman makes on the microphone.

The WWE managed to create intrigue around Fastlane with the Reigns-Bryan, but now has to put in real work with the Reigns-Lesnar match.

There can be no half-stepping when it comes to this. None of this should be rushed or booked on the fly. This should be carefully thought out and planned. The rest of Reigns' career may actually depend on it.

What's next for Daniel Bryan?

Once Daniel Bryan shook hands with Roman Reigns Sunday night, it was supposed to be a ringing endorsement from one of the WWE's top stars.

How effective it turns out to be remains to be seen. What that handshake also signified was the change in direction for Bryan. What direction that is remains to be answered.

The common consensus among fans seems to be that a returning Sheamus will turn heel and feud with Bryan. We've all been there and done that. That's not going to get the fans overly excited to maintain their WWE Network subscriptions or hit the "buy" button on their cable or satellite system.

No matter what direction Bryan goes, it won't be as high up the card as he deserves at this point of his career.

Just two months ago, Bryan was getting the best reactions of anyone on the WWE roster and quite frankly, it wasn't even close. Why the WWE wouldn't capitalize on the opportunity while it's knocking right on its front door is beyond me.

I've never seen a guy so popular get just regulated out of a featured spot like Bryan. This is exactly what would have happened last year if CM Punk hadn't bolted the company, so I don't want to hear that he had his moment last year.

The WWE was backed into a corner and had no other choice, unless they were okay with 70,000 fans crapping all over the main event of WrestleMania, which could very well happen this year as well.

I simply don't understand, and probably never will, why the WWE has been so reluctant to really give Bryan the ball over the last two years. It will remain one of wrestling's great mysteries, I suppose.

Rusev takes down John Cena

One of the bright spots from Sunday night was the Rusev-John Cena match. Not only was the match very good, but the finish made a ton of sense as well.

I loved the fact that Rusev used a low blow to gain the advantage, and I loved the fact that Cena passed out in the accolade, handing him his first submission loss since the Bush administration.

The win for Rusev makes him look like a beast, the loss for Cena finally makes him look somewhat human and I think good business was done overall.

I'm expecting a rematch at WrestleMania where I guess Cena will maintain his suddenly fractured legacy and walk off the conquering hero, but there was a lot of good done this past Sunday night.

Sting finds his baseball bat, challenges Triple H to a match

What was supposed to be just a confrontation between Triple H and Sting turned into a brawl and challenge for a match at WrestleMania.

Absolutely no one saw that coming.

The segment itself was effective. It came off well. I just hoped that Sting would actually explain his motivations for targeting to Triple H.

The pointing at the sign thing has been done before and seems like an excuse to not have to fill in gaps in the story at this point.

It was cool when Triple H and Undertaker did it back in 2011. It doesn't seem necessary now.

I do, however, love the fact that Sting finally has his baseball bat. He just seemed naked without it. He looked weird without a black baseball bat in his hands.

I'm digging that it will also pose as the equalizer to Triple H's sledgehammer as well. Expect both to come into play during their match at WrestleMania.

Also, how about Triple H busting out the tough guy attire? He looked like he had a flashback to 2002 or something.

Bray Wyatt officially calls out The Undertaker

Bray Wyatt pulled a pretty effective troll job Sunday by coming out with The Undertaker's entrance, druids and all.

During the segment, he finally let it be known that he's been talking about The Undertaker all of this time, and that he intends on taking his soul at WrestleMania.

I'm not exactly sure what to expect from this feud. The build for Undertaker's match with Brock Lesnar last year was very underwhelming, and despite its shocking conclusion, the match left a lot to be desired.

The Undertaker is a year older this time and even closer to retirement. I'm just not sure this match will live up to what will be lofty expectations.

Randy Orton's return was poorly executed

You mean to tell me that the WWE kept Randy Orton off television all of that time for that?

That's it?

For one, how is that Ryback, Dolph Ziggler and Ryback get beat down by The Authority, but when Orton comes out, he cleans house? Way to make your babyfaces look strong, WWE.

And if Orton really wanted to gain a measure of revenge, why not have him cause a distraction to help the good guy win? Or how about the good guys wins clean, get outnumbered and then have Orton even up the odds? At least the good guys get something for winning.

Instead, they got nothing but the hell beat out of them, and for what really? The Authority really needs the extra steam? As if they've never gained any over the course of the last 18 months.

All of this made Orton's return pretty forgettable and nonsensical.

Goldust-Stardust was underwhelming

What was also forgettable was the first encounter between Goldust and Stardust.

Never mind the fact that Memphis wasn't into this match at all, the whole thing just felt rushed. Even the finish felt like it came too sudden.

I think this feud has a lot of potential, but it needed the WWE to give it more time to get it first match. Having this match at Fastlane was too early and Sunday proved it.

Dean Ambrose steals the Intercontinental Championship

Another match, and another forgettable, head-scratching finish.

We have three or four weeks of build and the match ends with Dean Ambrose getting disqualified for not adhering to the official's five count? No wonder the fans in Memphis weren't feeling this show. They had to endure silly, unsatisfying finishes like that.

The finish and Ambrose stealing the Intercontinental title would lead most to believe that there is a rematch coming at WrestleMania, but I just have a funny feeling that the conclusion of this feud is taking place on an upcoming episode of Raw.

The Cattitude Era begins

Another high note of Fastlane was Tyson Kidd and Cesaro toppling The Usos to gain the WWE Tag Team titles.

It is a much-deserved accolade for the two, as they have been a very entertaining part of the shows recently. They've really seemed to have built up a lot of chemistry as a team in and out of the ring.

The only problem is, much like The Usos last at this time year, they don't have a ton of teams to work with. The Ascension is there and the Primetime Players are seemingly back together but that's it. That's literally it.