The Road to WrestleMania makes its last stop in Milwaukee and the WrestleMania card will begin to take shape.
Kickoff Match: Rich Swann & Akira Tozawa def. The Brian Kendrick and Noam Dar
Hell of a way to kickoff this show and set the tone for the show. Originally, I had suspected Alicia Fox would be the X-Factor and in a way I was right. Of course she tried and succeeded on one occasion. Swann and Tozawa attempted to go for a double suicide dive, but stopped when they saw that Fox had positioned herself as a human shield to protect Kendrick and Dar. All of that being said, the match was exactly as I might have expected (apart from the finish). Since Kendrick had been a little reluctant about this match, I was surprised he didn't do anything to Noam Dar after the match. Needless to say, I am wondering where these feuds will go from here.
Samoa Joe def. Sami Zayn via submission
Samoa Joe was victorious in his PPV debut. This match was the perfect balance of psychology and physicality. Zayn was the ever resilient babyface and Joe was the epitome of destruction. There was one line from commentary that stuck with me. Corey Graves said something to the effect of Samoa Joe should have been in WWE ten years ago and he is absolutely right. It has absolutely baffled me that Vince didn't sign Joe sooner. For a big man, he is easily one of the most athletic wrestlers in the world today. In his PPV debut, Joe has established dominance and I suspect Sami Zayn has hardly seen the last of Joe. I feel as though these two will meet once again at the Showcase of the Immortals, maybe to settle their differences.
Gallows & Anderson def. Enzo & Cass by pinfall to retain the RAW Tag Team Championship
I know I picked Enzo and Cass to win, but I don't mind being wrong. In a pinfall attempt, Enzo got his foot on the rope and while the ref didn't see it (remember kids, if the ref didn't see it, it didn't happen) Gallows knocked Enzo's foot off the rope. I loved this match because Gallows and Anderson got to be incredibly dominant, something that they have not gotten to do. WWE has had this tendency to make Gallows and Anderson look as weak as possible so it was nice to see a break from that. The controversial ending also opens up further opportunity, but Dublin-07 (Sheamus & Cesaro) are just waiting for another chance.
Sasha Banks def. Nia Jax via pinfall
As I have noted in the past, Nia Jax has been fairly protected. While my original prediction was a loss via submission; however, this would have destroyed the credibility, which has already been brought into question by me. Needless to say, Nia Jax was pretty dominant so that is not lost. The pinfall came as a result of the cunning of Sasha, to which Nia did not appear to be happy about. Expect a rubber match in the near future.
Cesaro def. Jinder Mahal
I literally wrote this before the match even happened. The outcome of this match was not even remotely in doubt. Earlier in the show, RAW GM Mick Foley said Rusev and Jinder would have separate singles matches and Mahal/Cesaro began. For me personally, it is incredibly difficult to be invested in a match that gets announced the day of the card. This just felt like filler so I am treating it as such.
Big Show def. Rusev
I might have thought Rusev would have won this one, but as has been proven, I can be wrong. Three chokeslams and a knockout punch. 1-2-3! More filler.......
Neville def. Jack Gallagher to retain the WWE Crusierweight Championship
A match I predicted to be the match of the night..... As I noted in my predictions, this feud has been the perfect balance of humor and seriousness in wrestling and this carried over into the match as well. Good way to pick the show back up from the filler matches. I was surprised though how physical this match was, mostly on Gallagher's part (though that headbutt makes me fucking nervous). What I am looking forward to is seeing how the Cruiserweight Division will go on and develop for WrestleMania. The Cruiserweights have easily been the most watchable part of RAW and hopefully they continue on the path they are going down.
Roman Reigns def. Braun Strowman
The Big Dog took on The Monster Among Men and came out victorious. This match was incredibly physical, going to the barricade as well as through an announce table. Strowman was coming into this match having never lost and make no mistake, Roman earned the W. Not to take away from either man though because both of these Superstars have improved incredibly and put on one hell of a match. What will be interesting to see the fallout from this and what happens for both men going on. While the match was good and I DID predict Roman would win, you have to question the logic. When you're trying to build a monster heel, you probably should feed him to the super good guy, especially on a B show like Fastlane.
Bayley def. Charlotte to retain the RAW Women's Championship
Charlotte Flair came into this match 16-0 on PPV, 15 of which were for the Women's Championship. Never did I think that Charlotte's PPV streak would be sacrificed on a B show like Fastlane, especially under those circumstances. Frankly, the match should have ended when Sasha attacked Charlotte. Charlotte would have won by DQ as well as keeping the streak intact. But this does open an interesting opportunity. What I think will happen is Sasha turns on Bayley, citing her (Bayley) being ungrateful for Sasha's help and of course Charlotte will want another match, one that is more pure. The match was good (not great), but I am severely disappointed Charlotte's streak was ended here.
** Goldberg def. Kevin Owens to win the WWE Universal Championship**
Goldberg came into this match having never lost a one on one match on PPV. And that didn't change. I was really hoping I would be wrong. So now we get Goldberg vs. Lesnar III (a match literally no one asked for) at WrestleMania. This went exactly how I thought it would. Bell rings, Jericho causes distraction (though I was wrong about intent), Goldberg gets the pin. This match as well as the finish were trash, but this was a problem of WWE's own making. Sure this might contribute to Jericho vs. Owens, but for Kevin Owens to go from having the Universal Championship to go down an feud for the United States Championship is kind of like when CM Punk went from going against Lesnar to going against Ryback.
Predictions Correct on: 3.5 **
*1: Predicted Sasha would win by submission
*2: Had no predictions for Cesaro vs. Jinder Mahal or Big Show vs. Rusev
Quote of the night: "Let's take a look at my beautiful package." -Austin Aries
Grade for PPV: D
All of that being said, I think I'm done with RAW. I'll watch for the Cruiserweights, but that's really it.