OK everyone – breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…breathe out…now I’m going to stop typing that, but I suggest you continue the process.
Normally I am against hearing the ramblings of every one of the, as Jim Ross terms them, “internet bookers” tearing down a WWE event. Simply put, they create their own scenarios of what “should” happen. That’s fine! That’s fun to do! I do it all the time!
That being said, the scenario that you create does not HAVE to be the only thing that can happen in order for a show to be good – that’s just being stubborn and ignorant.
All that being said, in regards to this year’s Fastlane pay-per-view, I am with you. What a bad way to lead into WrestleMania! The next six Raw’s have a LOT of work to do to get us ready for the show of shows on April 3.
I was expecting a few WrestleMania based surprises on the show to help build what is supposed to be the biggest WrestleMania in history…or at least something. We got nothing! I don’t get that!
Your main event for WretsleMania 32 has been sent – not much confusion there. After what was a very entertaining triple threat match, Roman Reigns it the spear on his “brother” Dean Ambrose for the 1-2-3. After the match, Triple H came down and we had our first face-to-face encounter of WrestleMania opponents this year…with the large WrestleMania sign in the arena in the background – as will be the case with roughly 83% of the camera angles from here until April 3.
The confusion with this match was simple – where was Bray? For months we have heard that Brock Lesnar would be taking on The Eater of Worlds on the Grandest Stage of Them All. It would have made sense for Wyatt, or at least his family members, to come down and cost Brock the match and the WrestleMania title shot.
Well, word has started to come across today as to the reason there was no Bray. That’s because (spoiler alert) Brock vs Bray is NOT the foregone conclusion that we had been made to believe. Apparently the interaction with Lesnar and Dean Ambrose got the creative team thinking at it is allegedly the Lunatic Fringe who will get the match against Brock. That should be a good one, but where does that leave Wyatt?
The confusion, though, would start before the show even started! I’m watching the pre-show for the first time probably since WrestleMania 31, and it’s a good thing I did! Kalisto and Alberto Del Rio were on the pre-show? Why?? We had multiple Diva matches and R-Truth/Curtis Axel for some reason on the main show but the 2 out of 3 falls match gets moved to the pre-show? Don’t get that one! The match was better than the one the two had at the Rumble – just sad that I’m sure a lot of people who would have wanted to see weren’t able to.
This may be the first time that a Divas match has opened a pay-per-view show, and the four Divas handed the task did not disappoint. Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch are clearly on their way to a triple threat match with current champion Charlotte for WrestleMania. Oh, Charlotte beat Brie later on in the night, that is the most that the match deserved to be mentioned.
Once again Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler put on a match that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. Owens came away with the win to retain the title. If the rumors are true and we are in line for a Owens/Styles Intercontinental Championship match in Dallas, the show may have already been stolen.
Speaking of Styles and stealing shows, The Phenomenal One and Chris Jericho did just that last night. As expected, Styles/Jericho III was the match that people were talking about. On the flip side of the new Lesnar/Ambrose match, where does that leave Jericho? Just like Brock and Bray being penciled in, it seemed like we would get Jericho taking on Ambrose. It will be interesting to see what WWE does with Y2J for WrestleMania.
It’s always good to see Edge and Christian, and they threw out a few good lines last night – but the segment as a whole just seemed confusion and borderline unnecessary. What was the point of the League of Nations coming out? I would like to think that it will be explained on Raw tonight, but I doubt it.
The show as a whole left us wanting more. Hopefully we will start to get more tonight. There is nothing standing in our way between here and WrestleMania. This is supposed to be the most exciting time of the wrestling year. It’s off to a shaky start – hopefully Raw tonight will stabilize things.
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS YEAR’S FASTLANE EVENT? WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE DIFFERENT? DID THIS GET YOU EXCITED FOR WRESTLEMANIA? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @FROM_THETOPROPE AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
