5 good things that happened at WWE Fastlane 2018
The last stop before WrestleMania was the SmackDown specific paper-view, Fastlane, which aired live from the Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio. The event was headed by a six-pack challenge, which saw, AJ Styles defending his WWE Championship against five other contenders.
In another set of marquee matches, fans got to see The Usos squaring up against their biggest rivals, The New Day; and also, Charlotte defending her Women's Championship against the Riott Squad Leader, Ruby Riott.
The build-up to the PPV was quite lackluster and it looked as if SmackDown was just biding time before they could go into full WrestleMania mode. The PPV fared much better than most fans expected. Let's take a look at the five things which helped save Fastlane.
#5 Nakamura and Rusev look impressive
Fastlane opened with a stellar bout between Nakamura and Rusev, setting the tone for the rest of the show. The crowd was firmly behind the two men, with dueling chants of 'Nakamura' and 'Rusev Day'. The quick strike exchange between the two men was a joy to watch.
This match helped Nakamura gain some much-needed momentum as he was not featured heavily on TV since his Royal Rumble win. Rusev looked amazing too and landed some pretty good strikes. The match delivered on all fronts. It was a fun opener.
Nakamura is set to face AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34 for the WWE Championship. This match once again proved his expertise within the ring, and, silenced his doubters. Rusev is currently not involved in any match, and it looks as if he might feature in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. It is only a matter of time before Rusev is seen as a legitimate main-event superstar by the management.