WWE Fastlane: Facts you should know

Fastlane is WWE's final special event on the Road to WrestleMania, and generally sets things up for the Show of Shows. The first Fastlane event was produced in 2015, and since then, it has become an annual extravaganza. The event has been normally treated as a secondary show, as the focus remains mostly on 'Mania with many major storylines building up to the same.

However, Fastlane in its short history has produced some very interesting matches. Also, it has often made the Road to WrestleMania more compelling, clearing the path for many performers en route to the grandest show. Here, we present 5 interesting Fastlane facts you should know (from its 4 years).

#0 Some quick facts:

#0.1 Fastlane was a RAW-exclusive event in 2017. In 2018, it became a SmackDown exclusive event. In 2019, Fastlane takes place as a dual-branded event.

#0.2 The first two Fastlane events took place in February; since then, it has moved to March.

#0.3 Fastlane-3 (2017) holds the record for the most matches at this annual event: 10

#0.4 Roman Reigns is undefeated at Fastlane. He has a 3-0 win-loss record.

#1 Winless legends

Chris Jericho with John Cena

John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and Chris Jericho have all wrestled at least one match (2 matches for Cena) at the annual event, but neither of them has ever won a match at the event. That's 3 future Hall-of-Famers with an unwanted record.

John Cena competed in his first match at Fastlane 2015, where he lost to Rusev by technical submission. Cena's second match came in the 2018 installment of the special event, where again Cena ended up losing in a 6-pack challenge for the WWE Championship.

On the other hand, Brock Lesnar has only competed once at Fastlane, which isn't exactly bad considering he only wrestles at the biggest shows normally. Anyway, Lesnar had fought Reigns and Ambrose to determine the #1 Contender for the Universal Championship in 2016, that Reigns won in a stellar encounter. On the same night, Chris Jericho lost to AJ Styles in a great singles match.

#2 The longest match: 21:52

This match stole the show at Fastlane 2018.

Only 2 matches in the first four years of the event's history could last longer than 20 mins. The longest match was wrestled at Fastlane 2018 where AJ Styles (c) defeated Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, John Cena, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn to retain the WWE Championship. The match had gone on for 21 minutes and 52 seconds, truly setting the crowd alive in an epic contest with some well-paced action.

The second longest match is Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns at Fastlane 2015. The match lasted 11 seconds longer than 20 minutes, and it was really good. The only thing that kept it from being something even more memorable was the predictable result, as nobody expected Bryan to get over the Big Dog. Still, this match had every right to be called an 'Instant Classic.' The match has been rightly considered as one of the best WWE matches in 2015.

#3 The shortest match was for the Universal Championship: 0:21

Fastlane: When Goldberg kept its aura at KO-Mania's cost.

As we have revealed earlier, the Universal Championship match between Kevin Owens and Bill Goldberg lasted 21 seconds. Unsurprisingly, it is the shortest match in the history of Fastlane. Basically, Goldberg pinned the Champion Owens with a Spear and a Jackhammer, after a distraction from Chris Jericho. Well, the match did its job, setting up a WrestleMania clash between Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg.

Any guesses for the second shortest Fastlane encounter? R Truth vs. Curtis Axel (2:23) at Fastlane 2016. The only thing this match does is remind us of a faction that many of us had already forgotten: Social Outcasts.

#4 A night of Champions: Only 3 Championships have changed hands at the event

Randy Orton won the US Championship at Fastlane, 2018.

When Randy Orton defeated Bobby Roode (c) for the WWE United States Championship at Fastlane 2018, it was only the 3rd Championship to change hands in the event's short history. Bobby Roode was also the only Champion that lost his match out of the 4 Championship matches on the card, carrying on Fastlane's interesting 'Champion's advantage' game.

A year before the match, Goldberg had defeated Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship. Owens was also the only title-holder to lose his title that night out of the 4 Championship matches that took place.

It was 3-0 for the champions in 2016, as all champions retained their titles. While, in 2015, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd (with Natalya ) defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) (with Naomi) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship, which was also the only loss for the champions on that night out of 4 Championship matches.