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WWE Fastlane was an interesting pay-per-view on the road to WrestleMania. The event helped the creatives heat-up some rivalries on both RAW and SmackDown. Apollo Crews got another opportunity to get his hands on the Intercontinental Championship, but will Crews get another shot at the title after losing to Big E yet again?
Drew McIntyre made a good showing of his skills by defeating Sheamus in a No Holds Barred Match. But Mustafa Ali suffered a setback after his loss to Riddle. Will RETRIBUTION continue to work together without their leader on WWE RAW?
The Fiend finally returned to WWE TV after a three-month hiatus. Is Bray Wyatt planning to play more mind games with Randy Orton to get a match against him at WrestleMania 37?
Braun Strowman was unable to get his hands on Shane McMahon, while Seth Rollins took down Shinsuke Nakamura to send a message to Cesaro.
The Fastlane main event left fans with many unanswered questions after Roman Reigns tapped out to Daniel Bryan, yet won the match moments later. Let’s take a look at the five biggest questions from WWE Fastlane this year.
#5 What’s next for RETRIBUTION after the faction imploded at WWE Fastlane?
Mustafa Ali had a big opportunity at WWE Fastlane this year. Ali was scheduled for a match against Riddle for the United States Championship. The leader of RETRIBUTION started strong in the match and expected his faction-mates to help him out at Fastlane.
However, he lost his grip later in the match and took the Bro Derek to pick up another loss. Ali was livid at the members of RETRIBUTION after his loss, but they were not ready to listen to him this time around. Reckoning and Slapjack walked out on Ali before Mace and T-Bar laid him out with a Double Chokeslam.
Was it the right move to allow RETRIBUTION to implode at Fastlane after putting so much work into the faction? RETRIBUTION wasn’t able to do anything substantial during their time together, and Ali finally had some chance to win gold for his team.
Did WWE pull the trigger too early? Should the creatives have waited until WrestleMania to award Ali the United States Championship before breaking the faction?
These are some of the big questions that call for answers after Fastlane. WWE and the Superstars put a lot of work into building RETRIBUTION. Allowing the faction to break up without achieving anything important seems to have wasted a lot of build and development.
#4 Was it wise to put Braun Strowman up against Elias at WWE Fastlane?
Braun Strowman was set for a match against Shane McMahon for WWE Fastlane. Shane had been questioning Strowman’s intelligence on SmackDown over the past couple of weeks, and The Monster Among Men wanted to teach him a lesson.
However, a few days before Fastlane, the match was removed from WWE.com and it wasn’t clear whether the match would go ahead or not. At Fastlane, Shane revealed that he had injured his knee while training and revealed Elias as his replacement for the night.
Strowman vented his frustration on The Drifter and defeated him with ease at Fastlane. However, the question remains whether Elias deserves this kind of treatment after all the skills he’s shown in the ring? Elias continues to be an enhancement talent in WWE no matter how hard he tries to get ahead.
Andrade asked for his release from the company, and seeing the talented superstar go is a big loss. Unless WWE wants Elias to potentially go down the same path, he needs a push in WWE.
Will WWE try to mend their ways in the weeks to come after Andrade’s release? And was it a wise decision to have Elias compete in a match just so Shane and Strowman’s story can stretch on for longer? Fans will need to wait and see what’s in store for Elias and Strowman.
#3 Why was the match between Big E and Apollo Crews so sloppy at WWE Fastlane?
Apollo Crews got another shot at the Intercontinental Championship at WWE Fastlane this Sunday. Big E had offered Crews a final shot himself after being attacked by the superstar earlier.
Crews has shown his potential over the past year, while Big E is known as one of the best wrestlers in WWE today. The match between the two men was expected to be great, however, that did not stand true.
Big E and Crews failed to perform well at Fastlane and their match ended after some messy looking pin reversals. The botched ending took a lot away from the match and the rivalry.
After the match, Crews once again attacked Big E and stood tall. Does Crews still deserve a shot at the Intercontinental Championship after losing again? And why was the finish of the match so messy?
The creatives could have come up with a few better finishes for the match to keep the fans interested. The ending of the match left many fans with a sour taste in their mouths, over what could have been an excellent match.
#2 How long will WWE continue to team up future rivals as it did at Fastlane?
Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair teamed up to compete against the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler at WWE Fastlane. Banks and Belair are scheduled to compete at WrestleMania 37 for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Just as Karrion Kross and Finn Balor fell apart during their NXT Tag Team Championship match on Wednesday, Belair and Banks also fell apart. They were unable to win the titles and The Boss slapped The EST after their match.
This helped the creatives build towards the big match at WrestleMania 37. However, how long will WWE continue to use the same formula to build major matches?
Fans have watched rivals being put together to compete for tag team championships for too long now. In fact, even Jax and Baszler were rivals before they won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships in the first place.
This method of building towards big matches isn’t working well. Twice in one week fans had to watch future rivals compete as a tag team, fall apart, and then build towards their own singles matches.
Will WWE stop using this method at some point? Or will fans continue to get matches similar to the one they got at Fastlane?
#1 Will Daniel Bryan finally get his WrestleMania match after what happened at WWE Fastlane?
WWE Fastlane hosted some big matches ahead of WrestleMania 37. The biggest match of the night saw Daniel Bryan challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. Edge played the role of a special enforcer for the match.
Bryan was all over Reigns during the first part of the match, before The Tribal Chief made a comeback. The latter part of the match was engulfed in chaos and Edge decided to attack both men before walking out.
Before Edge’s attack, Reigns tapped out to Bryan’s Yes Lock, but there was no official around to call the match. This finish allows the storyline involving all three men to get even more exciting.
Will The Yes Man finally get what he’s looking for at WrestleMania 37, after what happened at Fastlane? Will WWE make the match between Edge and Reigns for the Universal Championship a Triple Threat Match by including Bryan?
That seems to be the case, and not many will complain about the booking. Bryan has been one of WWE’s best superstars over the years, and his involvement in the match at WrestleMania will make things even better.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
