WWE Fastlane 2018 Final Rating: Road To WrestleMania Gets Hotter
Credit: WWE.com
WWE Fastlane 2018 is in the books as the SmackDown brand improved its road to WrestleMania after a very good showing last night in Columbus, Ohio.
There wasn’t much hype for WWE Fastlane 2018, but the show more than exceeded those expectations with a stellar show from top to bottom, including some major WrestleMania 34 developments as well.
The main card began with Shinsuke Nakamura’s battle with Rusev and what was a last-minute type of match turned out to be very solid with both individuals shining, especially Rusev even in defeat after Nakamura finally pulled out the win to solidify himself heading into his WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 34.
The United States Championship match with Bobby Roode defending against Randy Orton followed and what started out as a slow match turned out to be solid in its own right. But in the end, Orton hit Roode with an RKO outta nowhere to shock The Glorious One and win the U.S. Championship for the first time in his career, seemingly ahead of schedule with not only Roode, but Jinder Mahal still looming.
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The women’s division tag team match pitting Carmella and Natalya against Naomi and Becky Lynch seemed like the odd match out of the night, but despite its shorter duration, it was a pretty good match with Carmella getting the win for her team as Miss Money in the Bank picked up some momentum.
The epic rivalry renewed between The Usos and The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship looked like it was going to be another classic, and while it was very good for the time it lasted, The Bludgeon Brothers interrupted the match and laid waste to everybody. These teams seem destined for a tag team title match on the grandest stage of them all.
The SmackDown Women’s Championship was at stake when Charlotte Flair defended her title against Ruby Riott and the two would put on a very solid match. The outside shenanigans of The Riott Squad and Naomi and Lynch played a little role, but Charlotte made Riott tap out in the end to retain her title.
However, The Queen’s night wasn’t finished when Royal Rumble winner Asuka made a surprising appearance to confront Charlotte. The Empress Of Tomorrow made her intentions clear as she pointed to the WrestleMania sign and the epic dream match between Charlotte and Asuka for the SmackDown Women’s Championship was made official.
The 6-Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship featuring AJ Styles, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, and Dolph Ziggler main evented the show and put forth nothing short of an outstanding match. Every individual got a chance to shine and the number of impressive counters, near falls, spots, and storytelling was fantastic from start to finish with so much going on.
Photo by WWE’s Twitter
It looked like Owens had the match won towards the end with a popup powerbomb to Cena, but Styles came out of nowhere to hit Owens with a phenomenal forearm to retain his title and officially set up the dream match at WrestleMania 34 with The Phenomenal One defending his title against The King Of Strong Style.
Overall, this was a very good pay-per-view from start to finish. There was nothing bad to be found in this entire show and many key WrestleMania developments took place. The WWE universe should walk away from this pay-per-view with a lot of anticipation for the blue brand’s future heading into WrestleMania 34.
Asuka vs. Charlotte should be fantastic, Styles vs. Nakamura could be all-time good, the tag team title picture should see The Usos vs. The New Day vs. The Bludgeon Brothers, and the U.S. Championship picture featuring new champion Orton, Roode, and Mahal could be interesting. Not to mention, the problems between Shane McMahon and Owens and Zayn will be on display as well.
Fastlane is a B-level show, but it resulted in an A-level show after many impressive moments throughout as the brand-exclusive pay-per-view era comes to an end and the road to WrestleMania intensifies.