WWE Fastlane 2021: Three things that went right on the PPV

In a lot of ways, WWE Fastlane 2021 exemplified why the company should consider running fewer of these pay-per-views during a calendar year.

During the weeks prior to the event, most of the advertised matches for the show received the promotional support that would need a few more layers of pulp to be considered paper-thin, and if that didn’t convince you that this show didn’t need to exist, then the finishes — particularly the ones for the first few matches — certainly should have.

That said, Fastlane also featured its share of positive moments that kept the event from being a complete waste of time, so let’s take a look at those high points.

These were the three things that went right at WWE Fastlane 2021

3. Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Under most other circumstances, Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura would be a dream match that you’d find either near or at the top of most PPV cards. On this show, however, it was merely undercard filler, and for the first few minutes, it looked like Rollins and Nakamura planned to work the match like it was.

Thankfully, the two kicked it up a notch as they approached the climax, as they traded counters and signature moves at a pace that barely resembled the glacial pace these two operated early on.

We got a pretty cool finish to this one, too, as Nakamura ducked a Rollins running knee attempt, but Rollins responded by connecting with what looked like a rewind kick to the back of “The King of Strong Style’s” head and hitting The Stomp for the clean pin.

While it’s disappointing to see Nakamura used as cannon fodder for Rollins en route to Rollins’ probable match with Cesaro at WrestleMania 37, this accomplished what it needed to while standing out as one of the better matches of the night.

2. Drew McIntyre and Sheamus beat the crap out of each other….again

WWE made plenty of mistakes that sapped this Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus match of its intrigue — announcing McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley for WrestleMania 37 beforehand, booking a NO-CONTEST in NO DQ match that McIntyre and Sheamus had on Raw a couple weeks prior, and having Sheamus lose to Lashley on the Fastlane go-home episode of Raw — but none of that mattered once the bell rang for this one.

McIntyre and Sheamus continued their recent trend of slugging each other with their fists, feet, and any weapon they could get their hands on in this 19-minute war. Unlike the Raw match, however, we got a definitive finish, as McIntyre delivered a Future Shock DDT to Sheamus on a piece of the announcer’s table and followed up with the Claymore Kick to finally put his former best friend in his rearview mirror.

Given that this was supposed to be a major win for McIntyre before facing Lashley at WrestleMania, they should’ve built Sheamus up a bit more beforehand, but this was good enough to make those issues less glaring.

1. Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns…before the overbooking

Thanks to the unnecessary special enforcer stipulation, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns faced a tall task in keeping the viewers invested in a match where you knew the finish wasn’t happening until the extracurricular activities started, but they more than held up their end.

Sticking to a simple but effective story where the Universal Champion relied on brute strength and the challenger used technique and quickness to keep his opponent off-balanced, Bryan and Reigns turned in an effort that would’ve put him in some Match of the Year conversations.

Then, we got the ref bump, interference from Jey Uso, and the somewhat anticlimactic conclusion (though it was the best-case scenario relative to what they could’ve booked) that served to set up the Bryan/Reigns/Edge triple threat match for WrestleMania.

But even amongst that chaos, Bryan and Reigns still mined a good bit of drama out, as they repeated the brilliant “Bryan counters the spear into the Yes Lock” spot from Elimination Chamber, only this time Reigns tapped, though there was no referee and Edge ultimately broke up the hold with chair shots to Reigns and Bryan.

Even with all the shenanigans, this was still an excellent main event, which says a lot about the trajectory this match was on before all of that went down.