It is amazing to think we only have four weeks until WrestleMania 33. It is hard to see the entire build of the Show of Shows on the Raw Brand as of yet. We certainly have a lot of title matches and heated feuds that have been built for Sunday’s show in Milwaukee. Will the WrestleMania road look clear after this week?
There are a lot of solid storylines going into the show. Will Samoa Joe win his pay-per-view debut? Will Charlotte actually lose on a pay-per-view? Will Roman look strong? Will Goldberg be on his way to WrestleMania as Champion? With these questions in mind, I present my list of top five most likely twists to Fastlane 2017:
#5 Sasha Banks turns heel
Is it just me or is Sasha Banks acting more like a traditional heel these days?
She cheated in a Raw Women’s Title Match in Las Vegas and insulted the looks of Charlotte on a recent Raw. Sasha is far more effective as a heel and seems to be acting more like her “Boss” persona from her NXT days.
If wrestling has taught us anything it is that when someone talks a lot about your strong friendship a lot, it is a sign that someone is about to destroy that wonderful friendship. Poor Bayley.
Since Raw is really a four women division, this would allow Sasha into the title picture and have the added benefit of giving Charlotte another win for her impressive pay-per-view streak to continue. It is time for the Boss to return. I think it will happen at Fastlane.
#4 Undertaker interferes
The Undertaker told us he wasn’t just a WrestleMania guy anymore last November at Smackdown. He has been on Raw twice and in the Royal Rumble since then as his only appearances. In his only match, he was thrown out by Roman Reigns in the Rumble match. Why hasn’t the Dead Man had his revenge?
The Roman Reigns-Braun Strowman match has a good build but it is in a really tough spot. Braun’s impressive build would be destroyed if he lost clean to Roman Reigns. The issue is Roman needs to maintain his momentum as well.
The solution? Allow the Undertaker to actually get some revenge on Roman and cost Reigns the match. It starts to step up the expected match at WrestleMania and keeps all three wrestlers strong going into Orlando.
#3 Enzo & Big Cass win the Tag Titles
Is there a more popular tag team then Enzo & Big Cass?
What always shocks me is that they never won a tag title ever in their storied history. It didn’t happen in NXT nor has it happened on the main roster. It would seem like they are setting up a big WrestleMania moment with them finally winning the Raw Tag Team Championship for the first time. But it won’t get to that point.
Let us face it, they are not making Gallows and Anderson seem like an important team. Giving the belts to Enzo and Big Cass in really their first real try would be the more shocking twist.
It naturally could set up some interesting matches with teams like the New Day and Sheamus & Cesaro going forward into WrestleMania 33. But Enzo & Big Cass need that big moment first. The twist would be for it to happen this Sunday at Fastlane.
#2 Sami Zayn wins
Sami sure loses a lot. He seems to be the go-to face for the up and coming heel to beat up on the way to bigger feuds. That naturally seems like what they are setting up with his match with Samoa Joe. That makes it all the better time to give us a twist.
It isn’t like a Samoa Joe loss would destroy him going forward. It could be achieved by cheating by a returning Seth Rollins or Finn Balor. But to constantly have Sami lose will do him no favours in the long-term. It is time to flip the script.
#1 Goldberg Doesn’t Win the Universal Title
It seems so obvious, doesn’t it? Goldberg has been portrayed as an unstoppable monster since his in-ring return at Survivor Series 2016. He destroyed Brock Lesnar at two pay-per-views and has destroyed everyone and everything that has comes across his path on the Raw brand.
Meanwhile, Kevin Owens has not looked like a strong Champion during his reign. He has played the comedic heel and has cheated (or had help cheating) to win virtually all his matches. It seems to be setting Owens up for the clear fall at Fastlane. That would make Goldberg not winning the Universal Title the most likely twist of the night.
There are certainly a lot of ways to do it and still set up the big Goldberg-Lesnar match at WrestleMania 33. You could have Jericho show up and cost each wrestler the match. He could simply attack Kevin Owens, resulting in disqualification.
Better yet he could then keep the title on Owens to get himself a match for the Universal Title at ‘Mania. Neither of my above scenarios even take into account the very likely chance Brock cost Goldberg the title as revenge. Either way the “shoo-in” scenario of Goldberg holding the title heading into WrestleMania has many paths to not happening.
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