We’re just three weeks away from Wrestlemania, but first we have one final PPV to talk about, and that PPV is Fastlane. Today we have @callumowen98 and @MikeJC821 giving their predictions, so let’s not waste anymore time and get started with our first match
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (C) Vs Bianca Belair Vs Sasha Banks
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
TWB: This one feels very easy to predict, there’s going to be some dissension between Sasha and Bianca, which costs them the match, we might see Banks turn heel to add a bit more to the storyline.
As for Nia and Shayna, I have no clue what they will do at Mania, personally I’d hoped they’d have faced Kai and Gonzalez from NXT but that seems very unlikely now, and don’t get me started on that debate. I would imagine they could have a multi tag team match against Dana and Mandy, Riott Squad and Natalya and Tamina.
Winners (and still WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions) – Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler
MO: I hate WWE’s constant need to put a single champion in the women’s tag title match. It’s been going on for years and it’s stupid. It’s not hard to establish tag teams and build them up to challenge for the belts and to also establish singles challengers for a singles belt. WWE doesn’t know how to do that and that’s a problem.
Sasha and Bianca are heading to a clash at Mania for the Smackdown Women’s Championship which is where their focus should be. Bianca shouldn’t be losing to Tamina in random matches because of distractions (something that actually happened), Sasha shouldn’t be getting pinned by the tag champs at the last pay-per-view and then getting a random rematch for no reason at the following pay-per-view (another thing that actually happened, mind blowing). So WWE constantly booking themselves into a corner here is wrong, Sasha and Bianca should have zero losses each heading into their clash at Mania to make it important.
So because of that, they have to win here which I hate, but they have to win here as the tag champs facing each other at Mania for the bigger title that should have the focus while we don’t have a tag title match at Mania, even though with Mania being two nights they can main event night one for the singles belt and defend the tag belts on night two which would of course cause tension on night two, to whoever they face which should be an established tag team that isn’t Nattie and Tamina to win the belts on night two of Mania. Now is the time to end this stupid crap with Nia and Shayna, this team never should have happened in the first place and nobody wanted it anyway.
Winner: Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair
Big E (C) Vs Apollo Crews
Intercontinental Championship
TWB: The character of Apollo Crews has really developed over the last few months, from being the smiley baby-face to being an agressive heel who is from Nigerian royalty, and it’s felt like a much needed change. I adore Big E, and think he will be the one to dethrone Roman Reigns, hopefully in a year’s time at Wrestlemania 38.
I think Big E wins but only just, then at Wrestlemania we’ll see a multi man ladder match between a handful of the Smackdown wrestlers.
Winner (and still Intercontinental Champion) – Big E
MO: This has been a good feud, and it would be an even better feud if Apollo hadn’t already lost three opportunities for the exact title he’s fighting for here. Classic WWE booking, Apollo gets mad he can’t beat Big E after losing a lot, changes his accent and backstory and all of a sudden he’s a credible challenger after winning one match against Shinsuke Nakamura. Another thing WWE loves to do, giving people title shots for attacking the champion, which I also hate.
So here we are Apollo is in a new heel role which is fine but there’s no reason for the stupid accent that got worse this week on Smackdown by the way. I think this will be a good match but, there’s no reason for Apollo to win it, because that just hurts Big E whose been booked strong since winning it, and just to get Apollo a win like this to get over a character is stupid.
Winner: Big E
United States ChampionshipMatt Riddle (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
United States Championship
MO: I don’t understand why they had the first meeting on Raw where Riddle won clean, it makes this match completely pointless. Why are we having a rematch at a pay-per-view if Riddle already beat Ali clean? Why are we having rematch after rematch? Why is every match I’m talking about from here on out a rematch?
I think Riddle will retain again, all of this seems to be leading to the end of Retribution and with Mustafa Ali being a heel on his own which is where it should go. Riddle should win and move on from here hopefully with something bigger at Mania we can only hope.
Winner: Riddle
Seth Rollins Vs Shinsuke Nakamura
TWB: This match was added on Smackdown, and has only really had a two week build. It seems that Seth is going to face Cesaro at Wrestlemania, so I would imagine he’ll emerge victorious in this one. Nakamura was riding the crest of a wave only in January, following an impressive performance in a Gauntlet match, however just a few weeks later, all of that build and hype he was getting has practically disappeared.
Winner – Seth Rollins
MO: This should be an amazing match. Will it be an amazing match, I don’t know.
This has WWE shenanigans finish written all over it and I hate that. This match came out of nowhere since Seth has been feuding with Cesaro, and Seth has been getting the upper hand on Cesaro since it began. So common sense would say this should be Seth versus Cesaro. Cesaro hasn’t been seen since Seth stomped his head into the mat twice on Smackdown. This past week on Smackdown, Shinsuke stepped in and brawled with Seth basically taking the fight to Seth for his friend Cesaro.
So I really want this match to be good, and I don’t know where they go from here, maybe a triple threat at Mania or a fatal four way with Big E which I’d love. I just hope this match goes smoothly and it’s something to talk about as it should be. I don’t know if we’ll see Cesaro return here or Murphy also getting involved which causes a DQ or a distraction finish (WWE’s favorite thing) and that will hurt the match. I think Seth will win though hopefully in a very good match which it is on paper.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Alexa Bliss Vs Randy Orton
TWB: It feels that the feud between Bliss and The Fiend against Randy Orton will be coming to a close within a few weeks, and I for one am very happy.
I’ve not really been a fan of The Fiend in the last year, it really feels his rivalries go on for longer than they should do, this one started in November, but we’ve not actually seen him since TLC, however I’m almost certain we’ll see him on Sunday night, and I think it’ll lead to a DQ finish, Orton is setting up for an RKO, lights then go out, Fiend appears locks in the Mandible Claw onto Orton which causes the referee to stop the match.
Winner (by DQ) – Randy Orton
MO: The build of this story has absolutely sucked. The fact it’s been going on since freaking December which is too damn long and it’s still not over. It’s very clear to me that Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt are not meant to work together because every time they do, something really stupid happens. For example projections of bugs on a mat at Wrestlemania 33 or how The Fiend got “lit on fire” at TLC and we haven’t seen him since.
Enter Alexa, whose been “feuding” with Randy ever since. Remember when The Fiend character was cool and people were excited to see it and WWE had to go and “be WWE” and ruin it like they ruined everything else.
They did that with this version with Alexa very quickly.
At first I was behind it because it was different and you could Alexa is and has been having a blast playing it, however, she started doing Bray Wyatt…Esque things that you could only do it a pre recorded environment that wouldn’t be happening if we were in the landscape we’re in now, and nothing about them were that different. Instead of her having her own “Faces of Foley” thing she had a version of her that just wore dark clothes and makeup and really wasn’t all that different, she didn’t get a fiend mask she didn’t get anything that made her different at all. Then the old Alexa character showed up for three minutes and disappeared again.
All of that bad, then she started having “magical powers” where she’d appear randomly and scare Orton or make some weird black goo come out of his mouth which didn’t get anyone excited for anything, and Randy Orton saw an “Evil” version of himself which makes no sense since Orton is technically the heel here. All of this bad, now Alexa is challenging him to matches which I assume will be pre recorded in some manner to do more stupid crap to inevitably lead of The Fiend finally coming back to lead to their match at Mania. What a waste of time. Alexa wins by some kind of nefarious means thanks to The Fiend, probably.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Drew McIntyre Vs Sheamus
No Holds Barred
TWB: I was almost certain that this one was going to be a number one contender’s match for the title shot at Wrestlemania, but following the announcement of it being Lashley Vs Drew, that throws that logic out of the window.
Sheamus has had a fantastic year since his return from injury, in that time we’ve seen him have some really fun matches against the likes of Riddle, Big E and Drew. Personally I’d would’ve preferred these two to have the WWE Championship slot at Mania, however at least at a show like Fastlane they’ll get enough time.
It makes sense for Drew to win, it’ll keep him looking strong ahead of his match against Lashley at Mania, as for Sheamus and his plans for the next few weeks, perhaps he could win the battle royal at ‘Grandest Stage of Them All’ or become US Champion.
Winner – Sheamus
MO: So, assuming this is the last match between the two, regardless of that WWE announced the WWE Championship match for Wrestlemania early without a care in the world, no number one contenders match, no tournament they just gave Drew his chance at the title at Mania for no reason at all. Making this match completely pointless, just like the feud.
They started feuding right before Elimination Chamber and Sheamus got a pin on Drew to determine the order of the chamber, which ultimately meant nothing because Drew beat him early not even last in the chamber. Then Drew lost the belt due to cash in which was stupid but this feud continued. There’s zero point to this match except to put an exclamation point to it and for Drew and Sheamus to never wrestle again after it. Drew wins not even a question, moves on to the title match at Wrestlemania that he didn’t earn.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
Roman Reigns (C) Vs Daniel Bryan
WWE Championship Match
TWB: Finally we’ve got to the match that I actually care about and feels worthy enough to be on the card.
This one almost feels like 6 years in the making, if you recall at Fastlane in 2015, Bryan challenged Reigns on for his Mania spot, and what followed was an instant classic. Roman would emerge victorious, but I’m sure if it weren’t for Bryan’s retirement in 2016, we’d have seen the two take on each other again on multiple occasions since.
This time round, instead of being pushed as the face of the company, Roman is going into the title defense as an outright heel. Following the events on Smackdown, which saw Edge defeat Jey Uso to become the special enforcer, I would anticipated that the Rated R Superstar to be involved throughout the match especially in the finish. I can picture the referee being taken out, which leads to Edge entering the ring, he attempts to spear Roman, who evades it, instead he hits Daniel Bryan, Edge is then wiped out by Reigns, who pins Bryan for the victory.
Winner (and still WWE Champion) – Roman Reigns
MO: This should be a great match, these two always have good matches. The problem I have is the story. Daniel Bryan earned his title opportunity by winning the chamber match, but had to face Roman immediately afterwards which is such a heel move but, to go from that to Bryan wanting another chance to earn a shot, and Edge not liking that, is stupid. Edge shouldn’t care who he faces at Mania he should only care about the fact that he’s getting the title match at all.
The way Edge has been portrayed during this portion of the story and everything since the rumble has been bad, he’s telling the world that he’s in Romans head, and that he’s playing mind games with Roman, which is not how mind games work, and not a thing Edge does. Edge’s thing was always taking advantage of opportunities and being a heel in that way.
This Edge sucks, and after he told Bryan that he doesn’t like how Bryan is going about this chasing the title which is wrong because Bryan is doing it the right way, now he wants to be special enforcer to ensure no interference, but why? Why does he care about that all of a sudden if he didn’t want Bryan getting the shot in the first place?
What I think is going to happen is this is going to be a no contest. The reason being is Edge already said he doesn’t want Bryan getting the title shot, so I think Edge will cause a no contest as he will spear both guys screwing Bryan over again causing the triple threat to be set up for Mania.
That’s all for our Fastlane predictions, I hope you enjoy the show, follow us on Twitter @sltdwrestling for more content as Mania month continues
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