WWE Fastlane 2017: Ranking Every Match in PPV’s History

6. Rusev vs. John Cena – Fastlane 2016

John Cena ended up being the one to conquer Rusev, becoming the first one to pin him and later, submit him. It eventually sent the Bulgarian Brute into a downward spiral that he hasn’t recovered from. Before that, however, he had a win over Cena at Fastlane 2016.

Cena and Rusev received a healthy 18 minutes to put on their match, which was the precursor to the main event. It mostly saw Rusev control this instead of the Face That Runs the Place, which went along with the year-long dominance of his on WWE programming. There was a fight to overcome the heel, but Cena was mostly grounded and even had his AA kicked out of. The slow pace of the bout also hurt it, though, and made it somewhat drag.

To not have the 16-time World champion take a pin or tap, he passed out via the once-powerful Accolade. It kept Rusev dominant heading into WrestleMania 31 and protected Cena before his United States Championship win.

It’s not going to be remembered as a great match, but is one of Fastlane’s better ones through two years.