WWE: Ranking the Fastlane 2018 matches by projected quality

Despite an uneven build, the SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view card looks pretty good on paper. Which matches will stand out more than the others?

This Sunday, WWE will present their final brand-exclusive pay-per-view with the SmackDown specific Fastlane event. The company failed to produce much of an effective build for the last PPV before WrestleMania–choosing to focus on Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon instead of the wrestlers–but the show looks pretty good match quality wise. It’s worth a look if you can pull yourself away from Selection Sunday or the second season of Jessica Jones.

Given the excess of quality wrestlers WWE “independently contracts”, bad matches are few and far in between. However, all matches aren’t created equal. Time, story, crowd reaction, psychology, placement on the card, and other extenuating circumstances determine whether fans talk about certain matches years later or forget about them altogether. The reality is that every match on the card won’t make the Match of the Year nominees list.

Even with a fairly strong lineup, WWE won’t give the same level of focus to each bout. Hopefully, all of the matches deliver in the ring, but sometimes they fall short of expectations because of the reasons I rattled off earlier. WWE may craft fully fleshed out stories for some matches and treat others as filler.

Which matches will the fans remember most from this show? Let’s find out.