PWP Nation’s Eron Ramadanov explains what we learned from WWE Fastlane and what to expect heading into WrestleMania 32.
Well, another pay-per-view in the books, as we’re only 40 some-odd days away from the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania 32 from AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
But we had to go through one last stop behind getting to “Big D.” WWE Fastlane from Cleveland, Ohio was in many respects a glorified Monday Night Raw, with a really good main event match, that felt like it meant something… until the finish, of course.
We saw almost every title defended, but no new champions. We witnessed a certain AJ Styles be “legitimized” against a multiple time World Champion Chris Jericho. We set our eyes on possibly the end of the Bella reign over the Divas Division. But most importantly, we feasted our eyes on WWE blatantly figuratively tell us that our opinions don’t matter and that they’re going to do what they want, even if we don’t like it.
Here’s what we learned from WWE Fastlane:
The Reign of Bella seems to the over
As “sad” as it makes me, it appears that tonight’s Divas Championship match has cemented the idea that the hold that Nikki Bella and Brie Bella once had on the division is finally over. With Nikki Bella on the shelf, maybe for good, and Brie Bella on the verge of retirement, the “IWC” might finally get what they want. Instead of being treated like “divas,” the women of this division will be treated as athletes, competitors and performers.
Now, I’m not happy about HOW the Bella Twins have been case aside, but I am joyed to see that women like Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch are finally going to get the spotlight at WrestleMania, presumably in a triple threat match for the Divas Championship. Listen, I don’t have anything personally against the Bella Twins. I think they’ve done a lot for the brand of Total Divas and have been mainstays in the division for a long time, almost 10 years.
But I am thrilled to see them be moved aside for a new style, breed and ideology to be pushed into place: the age of women wrestlers; not divas.
Attention to details don’t matter in the WWE
Overall, I felt like the show was pretty good from a wrestling standpoint. There really wasn’t any bad or unwatchable wrestling. But the finishes in several matches were just lazy, terrible and sloppy.
One noticeable blunder was when Brie Bella was locked into the figure eight, which is Charlotte‘s finishing move, and was about, oh, I don’t know, two inches away from the freaking ropes and decided to tap out instead. Not to mention that the story of her leg giving out wasn’t told until after the match was over, instead of the announcers have the foresight to see that when Brie applied the half-crab. The fact that Brie could have EASILY grabbed the bottom rope, instead of taping out was something that left a bad taste in my mouth, for a match that overall, wasn’t bad at all.
You might say, “but Eron, you’re nitpicking! That’s only one blundered finish.”
THINK AGAIN!
We also saw during the main event match, in the final moments, Dean Ambrose pounding away at Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns with the chair, where “Super-Reigns” rose from the ashes and speared Ambrose and pinned him clean, virtually no-selling numerous chairs that had been delivered only 10 seconds earlier.
In a company where they restrict certain terms, for there to be a consistent and obvious problem with booking smart, logical and reasonable finishes, is just unacceptable. Tonight isn’t the first time. WWE has a proven track record to forego the details of a finish and do whatever finish they want to, not matter how stupid it is.
Yeah, I might be nitpicking, but why shouldn’t I? This is WrestleMania season. For finishes to have this little foresight is unacceptable.
Follow the Losers
Wow, another loss… to…. Ryback, Kane and Big Show. WWE must be trying to make these guys look like total and complete losers, right? They have to be, right? They can’t possibly think that they’re booking the Wyatt Family the right way, can they? Can they?!?!
How exactly am I suppose to treat this group as serious threats when they lost to a team that was put together in the last week, made up of two guys that haven’t been relevant for ages. I just don’t get it.
When the Wyatt Family lost to the team of Kane, Show and Ryback, I assumed that they’d look strong by the end of the night by attacking Brock Lesnar in the main event. I was sadly mistaken. No, the idea was for the Wyatt Family to lose clean and just not be seen again.
Am I missing something here? Am I not seeing something that WWE is seeing? Oh, right… I forgot. Silly me… wins and losses don’t matter.
These poor Wyatts. Such freaking losers.
AJ Styles belongs in WWE, but we already knew that, right?
In what I’d consider the semi-main event of this card, AJ Styles and Chris Jericho put together a good, quality match. For two guys that have had limited exposure to each other, I thought they did a fine job. Yes, there were some botches and miscues here and there, but the final 3-4 minutes of that match was a lot of fun, and I don’t think I’ve seen Chris Jericho that rejuvenated in a long time. When he was locked in the calf-crusher, Jericho’s face brought me back to how wrestling used to be in its heyday.
But, there was one problem I had with this match.
Why did Chris Jericho have to kick-out of the “Styles Clash?” I mean, if he was going to kick-out of it anyway, why even do it? I’m totally fine with the finish of this match, but the reasoning for Y2J to kick out of the calf-crusher didn’t really hit with me. I felt like it didn’t need to happen.
Overall, this match was a lot of fun. I really enjoy watching AJ Styles wrestle. That is all.
Tone deaf
Well, it’s that time of the year again, right? Oh, you know. That time of the year where Vince McMahon thinks we want to see Roman Reigns in the main event at WrestleMania. I mean, that’s what we want, right?
Listen, I really like Roman Reigns. I truly do. I think he’s a good, genuine guy, who really works hard, maybe harder than anyone on the main roster. But people just don’t care about that stuff. They don’t want to see him fight for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and they definitely don’t want to see him in the main event of WrestleMania.
But yet again, Vince McMahon must be hard of hearing, because if he did have 100% of his hearing, he would be able to hear the “boos” that showered over Roman Reigns at the end of the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view.
Deja vu, no? Hmm… where have we seen this before? Oh, that’s right… last year!
I just don’t get it, folks. Why is it that Vince McMahon, for three years in a row, is going to make the same mistake and cast someone in the main event of the biggest show of the year, that we don’t want to see in that position? When you have someone like Dean Ambrose, who is genuinely liked and adored by the crowd, why not push him to the freaking moon? Instead, McMahon would rather force-feed Reigns vs. Triple H down our throats.
So, what is it? Is he out of touch? Does he just not care about what we think? Or is he just tone deaf? Can he just not see what’s happening around him? Either way, McMahon and his company are going to find themselves in the same exact spot they did last year (and the year before that), where their top “babyface” is getting booed, but they want said “babyface” to get their big “pie-in-the-sky,” crowding moment on the grandest stage. It just doesn’t work. It didn’t work for WrestleMania 30 or 31, and it’s not going to work for 32.
As much as I’d like to see Roman Reigns get his big moment, and as much as I’d wish for people to just accept this guy so we can move on, it’s not going to happen. It’s the classic teenager vs. parent scenario. If you tell the teenager to like something, they’re going to like the opposite.
We have about 4-5 weeks until WrestleMania 32, and it’s certainly going to be interesting to see how the WWE universe reacts to Roman Reigns being the one to face Triple H at WrestleMania for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It’ll be interesting to see if the fans can once again, for the three year in a row, change fate and force WWE’s hand into changing their plans for their biggest show of the year.
I have a funny feeling things are about to get very interesting… and not in a good way.
Thanks for reading, everyone!
If you’d like a more detailed breakdown of WWE Fastlane, listen to Eron Ramadanov, Zack Heydorn, Christopher Epps and Jon Curry review the entire show!
LISTEN HERE: