WWE Fastlane 2019 Preview
WWE’s Fastlane takes place this Sunday in Cleveland, Ohio and it is the last big stop before Wrestlemania. For the most part this event will further the storylines we have seen over the last few weeks, but it will also launch a few others that will likely culminate at “The Grandest Stage of Them All” in April. Here are the biggest stories to keep your eye on.
1. The Shield will reunite for, what is supposedly, the last time ever. Roman Reigns returned last week to announce that his leukemia is in remission. He wasted no time reuniting with his Shield brother, Seth Rollins. However, since he left after his diagnosis, Dean Ambrose turned on Rollins and the two have been at odds ever since. This week, Reigns asked the two to put their differences aside and team up again. Ambrose finally agreed late into Monday’s episode of Raw. They are touting this as the last time ever, because Rollins will be preoccupied at Mania with Brock Lesnar and the WWE Universal title to team up again, and it has been announced that Ambrose will not renew his contract when it runs out after Wrestlemania. The interesting part of that is that WWE, as far as I know, has never announced a wrestler will be leaving before they actually do. So this could all be an elaborate work, and maybe we see the ‘Hounds of Justice’ back in action again, but I would plan on this being their last match together for a long time at least.
2. Somehow, the WWE has been able to keep the Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair story interesting for most of this year. After Becky was suspended until post-Mania, Ronda laid her title down and said she wouldn’t compete until Becky was reinstated. This week, Becky was reinstated and a match was set for her to face Charlotte Flair this Sunday at Fastlane. At the contract signing on Monday night, Ronda attacked Becky from behind and reclaimed her title. The stipulation was added that if Becky wins on Sunday she will be added to the Wrestlemania match. The best part of this entire feud is Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey going at each other on Twitter. The two of them do not seem to be holding back at all and it is fun to watch. WWE is not known for being able to maintain a compelling story over a long period of time, but so far so good here, and hopefully they can keep it up for another month.
3. The Ronda/Becky story is so nice, WWE decided to do it twice! After Elimination chamber, Kofi Kingston was awarded a championship match against Daniel Bryan at Fastlane. Vince McMahon came out before the contract signing and replaced Kofi with Charlotte Flair. Sorry I mean Kevin Owens. Déjà vu. The crowd was so firmly behind Kofi and him finally getting a shot at the title, that we have to assume this is a placeholder until Mania. There isn’t currently a clear path for Kofi to earn his shot, and hopefully they don’t continue to follow the Women’s story, but I do believe Kofi will face Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania for the WWE Championship, and I believe he will win it. It is absurd at this point that WWE has never had an African American champion, and someone who has been with the company for so long like Kofi would be a perfect choice for that honor.
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
If Becky Lynch Wins, She is Added to the Wrestlemania Match for the Raw Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch has to win this. This is the best way to set up the Wrestlemania match we all want. After several weeks of surprise attacks and beatdowns to both Charlotte and Becky, I’d imagine we’re going to see a great storyline in this match of both competitors working specific body parts of the other. Becky will work Charlotte’s arm, to set her up for the Dis-Arm-Her, while CHarlotte will focus on Becky’s already injured leg. With how hot this storyline has been, I expect this will main event, and Ronda will be involved at some point. Possibly even helping Becky to win.
Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kevin Owens
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan retains. I expect this to be an excellent match between two of the best wrestlers in WWE, but I am going all in on Bryan holding the belt going into Wrestlemania, and dropping it there to Kofi Kingston.
The Shield vs. Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, & Bobby Lashley
This match goes one of two ways. This gets treated as a feel good moment to have the Shield reunited, we get the entrance through the crowd, the old music, and they win after a triple powerbomb to probably Baron Corbin. If that’s the case, Reigns will likely face one of the men from the losing team at Mania. However, there is another road to take. Dean Ambrose screws over his brothers and costs them the match, setting up Ambrose to face Reigns at Mania. That scenario gives us a much better match, but WWE is in a delicate position, where they finally have fans cheering for Reigns and putting him against Ambrose in what could be his last match in WWE could jeopardize that.
Smackdown Women’s Championship
For as exciting as some of the storylines are going into Sunday, this one is nothing. There is absolutely no reason for this match to happen, and even less reason for Asuka to lose the title. Asuka is arguably the best female wrestler in the WWE, and making her drop her title to Mandy Rose would be disappointing to say the least. But then again, Vince McMahon loves blondes....
The Usos (c) vs. The Miz and Shane McMahon
SmackDown Tag Team Championships
Usos retain here and this will create the friction between the Miz and Shane that will lead them to their match at Wrestlemania against each other. Shane will probably attempt another move he is too old to do, like a Coast-To-Coast or a jump onto a table that will look cool, but will still not earn Vince’s love and respect.
Bayley & Sasha Banks (c) vs. Tamina & Nia Jax
Women’s Tag Team Championships
Bayley and Sasha will retain. They will likely keep the belts until Wrestlemania where they will face off against a pair of legends, likely Trish Stratus and Lita. Tamina and Nia do seem to be formidable opponents, but after Bayley beat Nia Jax on raw last week, they have proven that it is possible to overcome the size disadvantage.
The Revival (c) vs. Bobby Roode & Chad Gable vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet
Raw Tag Team Championships
This match could steal the show. Aleister Black and Ricochet are 2 of the most entertaining guys on the roster right now. The fact that this is a triple threat means there are no count outs, so there will be plenty of time spent outside of the ring, with everyone diving out of the ring onto everyone else. I think this will be a fun match but ultimately the Revival will retain. I hesitate to now include one single title change on this card, and if there is one I could see Roode and Gable reclaiming the titles here. I would be surprised if Black and Ricochet win, just because they are better off as singles competitors, and do not need to be stuck in a tag team. I imagine the only reason they are in this match is to promote the upcoming Dusty Rhodes Classic Tag team Tournament on NXT. I put the over under on flips performed in this match at 12.
Andrade and Mysterio have had some great matches over the last few weeks and this will be no different. I do think they will want to get Andrade closer to a title picture heading towards Wrestlemania though. With a guy like Mysterio, he really doesn’t gain or lose anything whether he wins or not, so I see Andrade getting the win and starting to move away from Rey and focusing on the new United States Champion, Samoa Joe.
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