WWE Fastlane 2017: Results and observations from the show
When Fastlane concluded Sunday night, it meant that there were no more pay-per-view stops on the road to WrestleMania.
From here on out, WWE is going full steam ahead to its biggest event of the year.
But was the company's final pay-per-view installment before the annual spring extravaganza, Fastlane, worthy stopping to see on the way to the big show?
No.
Overall, the show was rather forgettable. It was chalked full of time-filling segments and storyline decisions that left many viewers scratching their collective heads
However, those questionable decisions made for some strong opinions coming out of it. The opinions that will populate blogs like this one and social over the next couple of days will be stronger than what WWE presented Sunday night with Fastlane.
I was generally on board with what WWE was presenting on the way to WrestleMania, but I must say that Fastlane sort of dulled my enthusiasm.
Before I delve deeper into my analysis, here are the full match results from the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee:
- Akira Tozawa & Rich Swann def. The Brian Kendrick & Noam Dar
- Samoa Joe def. Sami Zayn
- WWE Raw Tag Team championship – Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows def. Enzo Amore & Big Cass
- Sasha Banks def. Nia Jax
- Cesaro def. Jinder Mahal
- Big Show def. Rusev
- WWE Cruiserweight championship – Neville def. Jack Gallagher
- Roman Reigns def. Braun Strowman
- WWE Raw Women's championship – Bayley def. Charlotte Flair
- WWE Universal championship – Goldberg def. Kevin Owens
Goldberg crushes Owens
Although it felt inevitable, it was still shocking to see Owens' six-month Universal title reign come to an end in less than 30 seconds at the hands of Goldberg.
Although the match was about 22 seconds, Owens and Goldberg were in the ring far longer than that.
After each man made his entrance, Owens did his usual mind games tactic by leaving and circling the ring. However, he did so before the bell rang to officially begin the match.
Goldberg seemed unfazed by Owens' tactics and simply stood in the ring waiting for his opponent. Eventually, Owens was ready to go against Goldberg and even told the referee to ring the bell, but right before he could, his former best friend, Chris Jericho, made a surprise return.
Like with most wrestlers in WWE, Jericho's mere presence was enough of a distraction that Owens turned his back on Goldberg. While his back was turned, the referee followed Owens' orders and signaled for the bell to ring.
As soon as the bell rang, Goldberg hit Owens with a spear and followed that up with a jackhammer to claim his first world title since 2003, which makes the time between Goldberg's title reigns (4,830 days) the longest in WWE history, according to ESPN.
It also means that Goldberg will likely defend (and probably lose) the Universal championship against Lesnar — another one of those part-time attractions — at WrestleMania.
As expected, a lot of wrestling fans complained on social media about Goldberg winning the championship, citing that Goldberg is a part-time attraction that is unable to put in long efforts in the ring.
They also cited that Owens is a current star that deserves the spotlight of a marquee match at WrestleMania.
I don't disagree with either one of those sentiments, but what I am going to do is try to rationalize why WWE has taken this course of action.
Here is the thing, we as fans and pundits alike have dreamed of scenarios like this for at least a decade. We have all created a dream card that featured the likes of Goldberg and Lesnar.
When stars of that stature finally make their return, fans go crazy. There is always a massive — and mostly favorable — reaction from the fans in whatever city WWE is in to whoever makes their return to the company after a long absence.
WWE hears that and decides to feature these names and to make these dream scenarios a reality.
But for the fans, the reality never lives up to the dream and before long they resent the part-time attractions to a certain extent.
A prime example was just last year, when Shane McMahon returned to WWE after seven years away from the family business. When he returned, the fans in Detroit and fans all over the world were buzzing. They couldn't have been happier to see Shane O'Mac back in the fold.
It didn't take long, however, for fans to scoff at why he had returned, which was a Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Fans had good reason to scoff at that, but that's just my point.
WWE heard fans for years say they wanted Shane McMahon back and the company gave to them. Barely a year later, I have heard a number of fans balk at the notion of Shane McMahon facing AJ Styles.
The same goes for guys like Goldberg, Lesnar, The Undertaker and so on and so forth. Every time these guys show up, fans go crazy, nostalgia kicks in and everything that was old feels new again.
Unfortunately, nostalgia is temporary and it can wear off fast. But as long as fans keep cheering, WWE will find a way to bring stars of the past back.
What are fans scoffing at in this specific case? They're scoffing at a 50-year-old man that has worked less than 10 combined minutes in his last three matches holding the top title of the company's flagship brand and potentially headlining said company's biggest show.
Compound that with the fact that he is going to probably lose that title to another part-time attraction and the fans are not very happy.
But in WWE's mind, the length and quality of the match, along with whether the participants are full-time acts are secondary to creating the biggest match possible at the biggest event of the year.
WrestleMania is annually used as a vehicle for WWE to attract casual/lapsed fans — something it has been chasing since the end of the "Attitude Era."
For whatever reason, those fans stopped watching and WWE's mainstream exposure has suffered as a result.
WWE's attempt to regain that audience is bringing back names like Goldberg and Lesnar — people that the casual/lapsed fans are familiar with — with the hopes of capitalizing on their drawing power outside of WWE.
From that standpoint, WWE is making the right decision in putting Goldberg and Lesnar on top of the card at WrestleMania.
The match won't garner five stars from wrestling pundits, but that's not the job of a Vince McMahon. His job is to promote. The quality of the match is secondary. As long as there are butts in the seats and WWE Network subscriptions increase, he has done his job.
Making money is what this is all about. In a different time, that was what Hulk Hogan versus Andre the Giant at WrestleMania 3 was all about.
Hogan was never about putting on five-star classics in WWE and by 1987 Andre the Giant was a shell of his former self. That didn't matter. That match helped make that particular WrestleMania one of the biggest events in the history of professional wrestling/sports entertainment.
It is still seen as one of the benchmark events in the industry 30 years later.
With that said, there is a risk WWE is taking with this.
While having Goldberg and Lesnar on top of the card will draw mainstream attention, attention from the casual/lapsed fans, they probably won't look at Goldberg like the star he used to be.
They might seem him as a shell of his former self.
Whenever I talk to casual/lapsed fans (and this is just my personal experience), they always ask about the stars of yesteryear. And whenever I tell them one of those stars is still wrestling, they ask the same questions: "He's still wrestling? How old is he now? He's got to be pretty old, right?"
Then I'm forced to tell them that someone like The Undertaker is north of 50 years old and they all look at me like it's ludicrous that a man his age is still active in the ring, even if it is only once a year.
Goldberg will probably make an appearance on SportsCenter or whatever to promote WrestleMania and the fans that haven't seen him since 2003 or even 1999 will wonder the same thing.
"How old is he now?"
That person will inevitably pick up their smart phone/device and do a quick Google search to see that Goldberg turned 50 back in December.
A lot of these people are probably fans of "real sports" such as football, basketball, etc., where the age of 30 is almost seen as the kiss of death for most athletes.
Sure, you have people like Tom Brady that play at a productive level well past the age of 30, but those are rare cases.
Old men/women in other sports are looked at as expensive liabilities that are typically cut and shown the door. Most athletes do not retire on their terms. They are usually forced out in favor of younger, cheaper talent.
This is especially the case in the National Football League where veteran players go from on-field contributors to salary cap casualties on an annual basis. It's almost like a rite of spring in the NFL.
So when a casual fan sees a 50-year-old man not only still wrestling but is also the champion, it might raise some eyebrows and cause them to jokingly wonder why WWE is still relying on guys like that.
They may wonder if the current crop of stars is any good if WWE is putting its top championship on a 50-year-old. They'd have every right to feel that way since most sports are not kind to athletes over 30, let alone 50.
But that is a risk WWE is willing to take. It may not help the company in the long term, but WWE is not thinking that far ahead. It is thinking about what it can do to create the biggest attraction possible right here, right now.
Next year is next year and a decade from now is a decade from now. What is much more important to WWE is today and that is why Goldberg will face Lesnar at WrestleMania for the Universal championship.
By the way, it made sense for Jericho to be the one to cost Owens the Universal championship after all of the times he helped Owens keep it.
The streak is over!
Charlotte's winning streak on pay-per-view finally came to end Sunday night at the hands of Bayley.
While that sounds like a momentous happening, after it happened it felt like it meant nothing at and made me wonder why WWE went through all of the trouble it did to keep it alive.
Yes, Bayley defeated Charlotte to retain the title, but it came after interference from Banks that helped end the match on a whimper instead of a bang.
Banks' interference should have caused a disqualification, but it didn't and it led to a very uneventful end to a streak that WWE had hyped up as the crowning achievement in Charlotte's career for months and months.
On top of that, Bayley and Banks came away looking like the heels whereas Charlotte looked like an honest babyface. Bayley challenged Charlotte to keep Dana Brooke away from ringside during the match.
Brooke never did, which meant that Charlotte held up her end of the bargain. Granted, as far as we know Bayley didn't request Banks' assistance, but she didn't seem too upset with her presence after the match, as they celebrated taking down Charlotte together.
I understand that this will make for some good storytelling when the time comes for Banks to potentially turn on Bayley, but in the meantime, this is not very good.
It didn't help that the match Bayley and Charlotte produced was less-than-stellar either.
It looks like we're going to have a four-way between Banks, Bayley, Charlotte and Jax at WrestleMania, which sounds good on paper, but I am having trouble finding a reason to care about it.
Reigns topples Strowman
Another streak that was toppled was Strowman's, as he suffered his first pin fall loss at the hands of Reigns. Both of these moments could have been saved for a bigger event like WrestleMania, but WWE decided to wrap them up a month prior.
Why? I don't know.
Well, I sort of know why when it comes to Reigns and Strowman. If Reigns is going on to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania, it would make sense for him to beat Strowman. It wouldn't make a lick of sense for Reigns to lose unless The Undertaker was the cause of it.
The Undertaker didn't show up Sunday night, so Reigns had to go over.
However, it did come at the expense of Strowman, who suffered his first real loss. He doesn't even have the silver lining of it happening in a big moment or match.
Instead, it happened after a good but not great match with Reigns at Fastlane, which is an event fans will forget in a matter of 48 hours.
Rusev machka'd
At least Strowman went down swinging because Rusev did not.
Rusev and Mahal were given a pair of impromptu singles matches after they wanted no parts of each other anymore.
Mahal lost to Cesaro in uneventful fashion and suffered a beating from Rusev not long after.
However, Rusev suffered a beating of his own at the hands of Big Show.
This wasn't just any ordinary beating. Big Show choke slammed Rusev three times and then hit him with the knockout punch before mercifully pinning him.
It is crazy to think that two years ago Rusev was entering WrestleMania for a match against John Cena on a tank — a freaking tank! Now, Big Show is decimating him for no reason at all.
It was merely a match to fill some time on the show.
I don't see how WWE could rehabilitate Rusev's character to a monstrous level at this point, especially after Fastlane, but crazier things have happened I guess.
Cruiserweights steal the show
One of the highlights of Fastlane was the fantastic showing from the cruiserweight division.
The tag team match on the kickoff show was amazing and the Cruiserweight championship match between Neville and Gallagher was arguably the best of the night.
It goes to show that if these guys are given time, they can actually shine. The two-minute six-man tags on Raw every week help no one, but matches like the ones we saw at Fastlane do.