WWE Fastlane 2018: Analysing and grading each match
The final WWE pay-per-view before WrestleMania 34, Fastlane, took place in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday night.
Four title matches were on the card, with AJ Styles defending his WWE Championship in the main event against John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin.
Bobby Roode vs. Randy Orton (United States title), The Usos vs. The New Day (SmackDown Tag Team titles) and Charlotte Flair vs. Ruby Riott (SmackDown Women’s title) were the other featured title matches on the show.
In the two non-title matches, Shinsuke Nakamura faced Rusev and Becky Lynch teamed with Naomi to take on Carmella & Natalya, while Tye Dillinger & Breezango vs. Mojo Rawley, Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin was included on the kickoff show.
In this article, we take a look at all seven matches and analyse what was good and bad about the final SmackDown-exclusive PPV before dual-brand PPVs become a monthly occurrence.
#1 Kickoff show: Tye Dillinger & Breezango def. Mojo Rawley, Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
Storyline: With Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin by his side, Mojo Rawley labelled Tyler Breeze a “joke”, Fandango a “clown” and Tye Dillinger a “perfect disappointment” in a Fashion Files segment before Fastlane, leading to a six-man tag match on the kickoff show.
Match: Rawley, Gable and Benjamin were on top for much of the match and it looked at one point as if Gable would get the win for his team. However, it was the babyface trio who picked up the victory after Dillinger struck Rawley with a knee to the face.
Verdict: Expectations were obviously low for this last-minute kickoff match, but it was certainly an entertaining match which had a little bit of everything for everyone. Gable was particularly impressive, as ever, and it’ll be interesting to see if he gets more television time post-WrestleMania.
Grade: C+