5 Surprises that could happen at WWE Fastlane 2019

WWE Fastlane is scheduled to take place on March 10, 2019, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. It will be the final stop to the "Road To WrestleMania". The show will feature bouts from both the brands, Raw and SmackDown Live.

As of now, four matches have been confirmed for the event, with "The New" Daniel Bryan defending his WWE Championship against a returning Kevin Owens who replaced the previous #1 contender Kofi Kingston, this past week on SmackDown Live.

SmackDown Women's Champion Asuka will face Mandy Rose, The Miz and Shane McMahon will get their rematch for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles against The Usos, and the inaugural Women's Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Bayley will be defending their titles for the first time against Nia Jax and Tamina.

The match-card looks decent, with more matches to be added on next week's go home shows. As usual, there will be a lot of surprises by WWE for this event because it's so close to WWE's annual event, WrestleMania.

So, here are five surprises that could happen at this year's Fastlane PPV.

#5 R-Truth puts an open challenge for the United States Title; Sami Zayn answers

Sami Zayn after losing the United States Open Challenge in his debut match against John Cena.

This past week on SmackDown, R-Truth issued an open challenge for his United States Championship, which was answered by both Andrade and Rey Mysterio. Truth successfully retained his title with a roll-up on Mysterio.

Now, these open challenges have always been the best part of WWE programming whenever they occurred, as not only they provide opportunities to the talented WWE Superstars who are sitting at the back, but they also give us surprising returns and debuts. Even in the past, top stars like John Cena and Seth Rollins have issued successful open challenges.

R-Truth should definitely put an open challenge at the Fastlane pay-per-view, as it would generate curiosity among the fans of which superstar can return or debut at the event. The challenge should be accepted by Sami Zayn, who is heavily rumored to be ready for an in-ring return.

Zayn injured both of his rotator cuffs and has been recovering since June 2018. A return at Fastlane will bring him back for WrestleMania season and he could possibly win his first main roster title in WWE by becoming the new United States Champion.

#4 Trish Stratus and Lita interrupt the WWE Women's Tag Team Title Match

Trish Stratus and Lita after defeating Mickie James and Alicia Fox at WWE Evolution.

It was really an emotional moment to see Sasha Banks and Bayley become the first WWE Women's Tag Team Champions at Elimination Chamber last month. They are set to defend their new titles for the first time against Nia Jax and Tamina at Fastlane.

Now, The Boss 'N' Hug Connection were already rumored to win the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles before the Elimination Chamber event itself and were planned to defend it against WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Lita at WrestleMania 35.

Stratus and Lita returned as one of the entrants in the first-ever Women's Royal Rumble match at last year's Royal Rumble event. They also worked as a team in the first-ever-all-women's pay-per-view, WWE Evolution, defeating Mickie James and Alicia Fox.

It would be a huge surprise for the fans to witness Stratus and Lita returning to interrupt the WWE Women's Tag Team Title match, possibly helping Banks and Bayley to retain their titles and then begin a feud against them that will culminate at WrestleMania.

#3 The Shield reunites for one last match

This past week on Raw, one of the most overwhelming moments that occurred on the show was Roman Reigns announcing that he is on a remission, since informing that he was battling leukemia, back in October, fans have been clamouring for Reigns to return.

Later in the night, when Drew McIntyre defeated Dean Ambrose in a no disqualification match with the help of Elias, both of them were then joined by Baron Corbin and Bobby Lashley in a 4-on-1 beatdown on Ambrose.

Reigns and Rollins arrived to help their Shield-brother to take down the four superstars. The most notable thing here was that Reigns was in action, which was so sudden after his announcement and it now opens the possibility of him competing at WrestleMania this year.

The rumors have already begun floating that he will team up with Rollins in a handicap match against Corbin, McIntyre and Lashley at Fastlane. But with Ambrose leaving WWE after his contract expires in April, a final reunion between The Shield would be surprising at the event.

#2 The New Day turns heel and costs, Kevin Owens, his WWE Title match against Daniel Bryan

This past week on SmackDown, Kofi Kingston was replaced by Kevin Owens in the WWE Title match against Daniel Bryan at Fastlane. The change happened during the contract signing between Kingston and Bryan to make their match official for the event.

Vince McMahon arrived before Kingston could sign the contract. The chairman appreciated whatever Kingston has achieved in 11 years of his WWE career, but stated that the WWE Title match for Fastlane isn't a "box office" attraction, so he replaced Kofi with a returning Owens.

Now, if rumors are to be believed, this change has occurred for setting a WrestleMania moment for Kingston where he will finally become the WWE Champion and the sudden replacement was done to bring more sympathy and support for the New Day member.

But WWE could completely surprise us if they instead turn The New Day heel and cost Owens his WWE Title match against Bryan at Fastlane. Obviously, there was a lot of frustrations among all the three members of The New Day and if history is to be believed then these frustrations always lead to a change in character.

To be honest, Bryan vs. Kingston isn't a WrestleMania calibre match, already we know Kevin Owens would be working as a face going forward, so we could get a feud between face Owens and heel New Day for WrestleMania season.

#1 Bray Wyatt returns to challenge WWE Champion Daniel Bryan

Another benefit of The New Day turning heel is a possible return for Bray Wyatt, who has been rumored to make a return for a very long time with WWE not having the right storyline to bring him back. This could perhaps be the right moment for the Eater of Worlds to return.

He was also rumored to be part of seven short-listed opponents that WWE was planning for Bryan at WrestleMania 35 which included names such as The Undertaker, Batista, John Cena, Kurt Angle, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.

In the past, Bryan has had a feud with Wyatt where he ended up joining the Wyatt Family which also included Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. Later on, he left the group and went on to main event WrestleMania 30, winning the WWE World Heavyweight Title.

Recently, Bryan has become a heel and changed the WWE Championship into an eco-friendly title. Rowan has joined Bryan since helping him to retain the WWE Title against AJ Styles at Royal Rumble and Luke Harper could also join the duo.

It makes perfect sense for Bryan to face Wyatt at WrestleMania 35, because of the history between both the stars and also we could get a possible reunion of the Wyatt Family during the building of this feud ahead of their showdown at WrestleMania.