WWE Fastlane 2017 Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades

Follow along with our live review of the WWE Fastlane 2017 pay-per-view.

In February, the exclusive WWE pay-per-views returned with WWE Elimination Chamber, SmackDown’s event. This saw their final big show before WrestleMania 33 takes place. The same will now go for Raw, as Fastlane is the last major event to happen before April 2. It will take place on Sunday, March 5.

Kevin Owens will defend the WWE Universal Championship against Goldberg in the main event. It’s Owens’ first defense since Royal Rumble, which saw him defeat Roman Reigns. With the former WCW star set to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33, it’s possible they’ll be battling for this title in the headlining bout. Can KO manage to keep his title, however?

Bayley will try to keep Charlotte from winning the Raw Women’s Championship for a fifth time and end her PPV streak at 16. However, with WrestleMania 33 coming up, should it be expected that the Nature Girl is a lock to defend the belt?

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows will make their first PPV title defense at Fastlane. They’ll face Enzo Amore and Big Cass, who won a No. 1 contender’s match on RAW. Will we see a title change so soon into this feud?

The matches that will be seen at Fastlane are below:

WWE Universal Championship Match
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Goldberg

RAW Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte

RAW Tag Team Championship Match
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows (c) vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Neville (c) vs. Jack Gallagher

Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns

Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe

Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks

Akira Tozawa and Rich Swann vs. Brian Kendrick and Noam Dar

Next: 20 Early Predictions for WrestleMania 33

Follow along with our live coverage of WWE Fastlane at 7:00 p.m. ET. Who will walk out of the PPV a winner?

credit: wwe.com

Akira Tozawa and Rich Swann vs. Brian Kendrick and Noam Dar

Result: Akira Tozawa and Rich Swann defeat Brian Kendrick and Noam Dar via pinfall.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Things looked a little sloppy for the first 30 minutes, but Swann and Tozawa did the latter’s trademark “AH!” to get the crowd going just a little bit. Cruiserweights aren’t exactly the hottest thing in town, so getting the venue to wake up for them is a task.

After an advertisement break, the crowd seemed somewhat alive for this, which is great. They were involved in the count of the pinfalls. A small but positive step.

Tozawa and Swann broke out the aerial assault on the outside, making for the most exciting part of the match. That Phoenix Splash from Swann also got the crowd off its feet and gave us a hot start to Fastlane.

The babyface cruiserweight team never loses in these Kickoff Show matches, as WWE looks for a way to begin the show with the fans happy. Not the craziest idea, so they keep going back to it. Why would you want to start a PPV during WrestleMania season with everyone confused or aggravated?

credit: wwe.com

Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn

Result: Samoa Joe defeats Sami Zayn via submission.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

First off, how about Joe’s new Titantron graphic? It’s colorful, stands out and is kind of badass! Here’s somewhat of a look at it below:

Joe mostly crushed Zayn for the first 10 minutes of this match. Those vicious chops could be heard from a mile away and even went after the knees of the Underdog from the Underground, using his “agility,” as Corey Graves said on commentary. Also, the following Blue Thunderbomb from Zayn in an incredible feat of strength no matter how much Joe may assist with being lifted in the air. That’s a big dude.

As always, Zayn played the “I’m going to look as vulnerable as possible, only to make a surprising comeback with everyone on my side” role, and he does it so well. It made him work in NXT and has continued on the main roster. Whenever he gets a World title opportunity, you’ll see this shine the most.

His comeback attempt was exciting, but in the end, it was all about Joe. He dominated from beginning to end, even though this match lasted around 15 minutes. Zayn only had momentary glimpses of getting in offense, which kept Triple H’s Destroyer looking strong throughout. Very interested to see what he does next.

credit: wwe.com

Raw Tag Team Championship Match
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows (c) vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass

Result: Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows defeat Enzo Amore and Big Cass via pinfall to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Enzo Amore cut a strange promo before the start of this match. It never really connected besides the usual catchphrases from the Realest Guys in the Room. This has been the case for a while, if anything.

We had the usual stuff here from Amore, who took the brunt of the offense for about 10 minutes. It’s been this way for years, and a method that WWE doesn’t go away from. This isn’t the worst thing, but it’s not original anymore.

In this case, it somewhat worked because the crowd was fully invested in the Big Cass hot tag. It even looked like they had the win with the Rocket Launcher finisher, until Amore’s leg was pulled to mess up the pinfall.

With the finish, it sets up a likely rematch for the Raw Tag Team Championship. Maybe it happens at WrestleMania 33 with the match card still wide open. If not, there are still a handful of weeks to go that could fill some time on Raw.

Hi, Matt.

credit: wwe.com

Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

Result: Sasha Banks defeats Nia Jax via pinfall.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

This match was pretty much everything you thought it would be. From the moment it started, Jax used her power and force to run through Banks, very similar to their Royal Rumble bout. The physical differences are drastic here, so the story to tell is easy with the diminutive Boss trying to take down the overwhelming competitor.

Oh, and to add to the mix, Jax did squats with Banks on her shoulders. That’s not fair!

A very Bayley-esque move would be done by Banks. She channeled the Raw Women’s Champion’s match from NXT TakeOver: London in December 2015 with the guillatine chokehold. It worked for the comeback, which eventually brought Jax to the ground and into a Bank Statement. A great touch which didn’t seem to be picked up on.

However, the leg drop to Banks did her in and ended any hope of a comeback … for a moment, until she rolled up Jax for the shocking pinfall win!

This match told a great story and ended with the shocking pinfall. It had the early domination, the signs of a comeback, the actual comeback itself and the three-count out of nowhere.

Now let’s see if Banks shows up again at Fastlane.

Jinder Mahal and Rusev Fight

In the Fastlane Kickoff Show, Jinder Mahal and Rusev decided to part ways as a tag team, but not on amicable terms. So Mick Foley decided to put them in matches during the show. In other words, it’s one gigantic time filler.

Anyway, Mahal and Rusev would go to the ring and brawl. This left the former alone and out would come Cesaro as his opponent.

Cesaro vs. Jinder Mahal

Result: Cesaro defeats Jinder Mahal via pinfall.

Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars

It was hard to get invested in an impromptu match on a brand split show. With Kevin Owens vs. Goldberg, Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns and Charlotte vs. Bayley yet to come, putting this before any of them made little sense. If anything, placing it in between any of these bouts would have worked a little better.

Commentary trying to sell this match was embarrassing too. It happened while the crowd chanted for “CM Punk” and “boring.” Why would they care about a match they didn’t pay to see with the top ones yet to happen?

Cesaro and Mahal did the best they could here, but keeping a hot crowd interested took a while, until the Swiss-1-9.

Not surprisingly, Cesaro won. That’ll push this Mahal vs. Rusev feud further into the background.

Big Show vs. Rusev

Result: Big Show defeats Rusev via pinfall.

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

So immediately after that match ended, Rusev beat up Mahal. Then Big Show came out, further pushing the irrelevant contests during Fastlane. Why this couldn’t wait until the gap between one of the bigger showdowns behooves me.

The crowd ate this all up, however. Why? Who knows, but they loved seeing Show destroy the Bulgarian Brute to pieces. It was kind of fun, but continued to take away from the flow of Fastlane, which still had three big title matches to go.

As for Rusev, what can you really say about him after this?

credit: wwe.com

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Neville (c) vs. Jack Gallagher

Result: Neville defeats Jack Gallagher via pinfall to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Most of the match saw Neville stay in control of Gallagher. He looked like the real King, getting in plenty of offense and continuing to stand out like he has for the past two months.

However, it actually turned out to be one of the best cruiserweight matches since the division was reintroduced in September. Gallagher and Neville meshed well for their 10-plus minutes in the ring, From the back superplex, to the headbutts and the aerial moves from the King of the Cruiserweights, it all delivered and had the fans involved, something that never happens with these matches.

Neville walked out of this as the champion, which should push him into WrestleMania 33 with the belt. This is unless Gallagher or someone like Austin Aries takes the belt from him beforehand.

For now, the Cruiserweight division seems to be in good hands with Neville, Gallagher and potentially Aries at the top. There’s decent depth behind them too. Maybe it’s not so bad for the under 205-pound wrestlers anymore.

WWE.com

Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns

Result:

Rating:

So Reigns didn’t walk into this match with the usual wrestling boots on. Instead, he came out in what looked like sneakers, which can’t be anymore John Cena-esque. Seriously. What’s the point of putting him into sneakers? It’s a weird transformation for a man that’s booked more bizarrely than any other WWE Superstar since the Face That Runs the Place himself.

Reigns vs. Strowman was a slugfest from the moment the match started. It never really got off the ground, which isn’t a bad thing, but it stayed at one pace for most of the action.

What was kind of cool to see was Strowman catching Reigns in mid-air, as Wrestle Zone notes below:

See ya, Roman.

Perhaps the second biggest surprise of the match saw Strowman kick out of the spear. When does anyone get out of it before the three-count finishes? It has been protected well, but commentary made little note of this.

Well, it was because Reigns hit a second spear on Strowman and became the first man to pin or submit the Mountain of a Man. Very strange for this to happen at Fastlane of all places. Oh, and no Undertaker.

credit: wwe.com

Raw Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte

Result: Bayley defeats Charlotte via pinfall to retain the Raw Women’s Championship.

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

The story for weeks had been Charlotte not being able to lose on PPV. It’s a fair thing to run with, as she had won 16 consecutive of these.

Like most of the other matches seen at Fastlane, the heel pretty much dominated from the start. She controlled for probably the first 10 minutes, not letting Bayley do much. The moonsault and senton were both crisp moves too.

Bayley finally made a comeback around 15 minutes in with a big clothesline and hurricanrana off the top rope, very much TakeOver: Brooklyn-esque.

Sasha Banks surprisingly made her way down to the ring to help Bayley, providing a momentary distraction. She ended up leading to Bayley retaining her title, causing Charlotte’s PPV streak to end … at Fastlane? Really?

Ending the Nature Girl’s PPV streak on this show in anticlimactic fashion was disheartening, along with most of Fastlane. It could have used the bigger spotlight, especially with WrestleMania 33 just 28 days away. Did WWE not want to wait?

WWE.com

WWE Universal Championship Match
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Goldberg

Result: Goldberg defeats Kevin Owens via pinfall to win the WWE Universal Championship.

Rating: For your discretion

Well, after Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar in 86 seconds, you knew this wouldn’t last long. That would be the case, as Kevin Owens walking in and out of the ring didn’t count, but had the most hype of anything seen here.

If you had money on the match going more than 86 seconds, you would have lost. If you had it at 60 seconds or more, you would have lost. Even if it was 30 seconds, you’d burn a hole in your pocket. It ended up going 21 seconds. Yes, that’s Universal Champion Kevin Owens going down in 21 seconds. Granted, Chris Jericho showed up and provided a distraction, but the man who held Raw’s top title for seven months fell short in 21 seconds.

You know what the issue is here? This ending actually made sense, as Cageside Seats noted on Twitter:

Goldberg vs. Lesnar was the first match made for WrestleMania and is potentially going to receive the biggest push. Now with the title involved, it’s going to the moon.

Jericho also had every reason to interfere there. Why wouldn’t he want to cost his former best friend his title?

Well, Fastlane is now over. What did you think of it?