As Fastlane is the final PPV before Wrestlemania 33 it will be a pivotal indication of how the show of shows in Orlando will play out. In the past years, WWE has often used the penultimate PPV before Wrestlemania as the setup show, the show that brings us returning Superstars and cements major storylines. This year will hopefully be no different.
After a year filled with continuous big match rumours for WM33, Wrestlemania season is finally in upon us. Fastlane will put to bed some of these rumours and confirm others. Either way, the road to Wrestlemania will be much clearer after this much-anticipated night in Milwaukee.
Here are 5 things that need to happen at FastLane 2017.
#5 Sheamus & Cesaro split
All good things must come to an end. Sheamus & Cesaro have been fairly entertaining on TV as a duo. However, as of late, their gimmick has clearly run out of the steam. Fans have realised that without the tag team titles, they're merely two guys lost in the shuffle on Monday nights.
The quest for the gold was the only entertaining aspect of their alignment, now that that's over, there's nothing left for them.
Despite the ample number of booking in their favour, Sheamus is still not over as a babyface like Cesaro is. However, as a fan who always likes the unexpected, I'd prefer it if Cesaro were to turn on Sheamus. It'd give the Swiss superman some much-needed storyline direction and may even move him higher up the card in the future. We can only hope I suppose.
#4 Seth Rollins returns
Based on the last episode of Monday Night Raw it looks as though Samoa Joe will be taking on Sami Zayn at RAW's exclusive PPV FastLane. Sami Zayn is easily the most likeable babyface in the WWE today, his never die attitude and constant grit has made him a household favourite with all WWE fans.
Zayn is the Daniel Bryan figure of today's era, he's the constant underdog that every fan wants to see win.
Samoa Joe has just debuted on the main roster and obviously, a clean loss wouldn't do him any good. That's where Seth Rollins comes in, if the Architect's first WWE appearance since his injury was to cost Joe his first ever PPV match, it would set up major implications for Wrestlemania.
If Hunter's apprentice loses, Hunter gets angrier and the match at ‘Mania is made official. Through all this, Zayn retains his status and gets a high-profile PPV victory under his belt.
#3 Goldberg wrestles for more than 10 minutes
I don't know about you but I'm very concerned about Goldberg's in-ring rust. Since his return to the WWE back in October, Goldberg has competed in two wrestling bouts, wrestling for an incredible 5 minutes and 20 seconds.
In that short space of time, he's pinned Lesnar, speared the Undertaker and eliminated Lesnar from the third biggest PPV of the year. I'm starting to wonder whether the WWE even trust Goldberg to wrestle a long match.
The short nature of his bouts so far suggests that officials are protecting him from embarrassing himself in the ring. Goldberg has to lay those fears to rest at Fastlane or he could face a momentous backlash at Wrestlemania. If the 50-year old cannot last longer than five minutes in a wrestling match, the fans will boo him out the building in Orlando.
#2 Strowman pins Reigns clean
If Reigns is truly facing the iconic Undertaker in Orlando then he should be more than ready to take a clean loss at FastLane. Since the draft back in July, Braun Strowman has been one of the main selling points of Monday Night Raw. The 6 foot 8 beast has destroyed everything in his path and he's now set to collide with the WWE's golden boy Roman Reigns at FastLane.
Many look at Strowman now as a monster heel that's being built up to be ultimately fed to Reigns at a later date. The same way Rusev was used last year and the same way the Big Show has been used all his career.
For fans to dispel this worrying narrative, Strowman has to cleanly pin Reigns at FastLane. By ‘cleanly’ I mean Strowman gets the 1-2-3 without any outside assistance from the Phenom.
This way Strowman looks strong going into ‘Mania and Reigns adds a sense of vulnerability to his character. A sense of vulnerability makes his bout with ‘Taker at ‘Mania less of a foregone conclusion, making it more interesting for everyone.
#1 KO to retain his title through Lesnar interference
Everybody in the WWE Universe just expects Kevin Owens to roll over for Goldberg at FastLane. The betting odds suggest the 50-year old is a heavy favourite for the title bout, with many believing the WWE want a Goldberg vs. Lesnar WWE Universal title match at ‘Mania.
However, as we all know, the betting odds don't always reflect Vince McMahon’s thinking. As WWE fans we all feel Kevin Owens deserves a more gracious end to his historic title reign. A part-timer winning a strap only to put over another part-timer is not my idea of a great Wrestlemania feud.
In my opinion, Owens needs to drop the title to a more worthy opponent, someone who has carried the RAW brand for the past six months, someone like say Chris Jericho.....his ex-best friend.
The feud obviously writes itself after Monday nights' shenanigans, but to help the feud culminate in a more epic way, it should be over the Universal title. Lesnar helping Owens give Goldberg his first loss in the new era, would be enough tension for the two tear each other apart at Wrestlemania.
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