Fastlane Tonight - in Cleveland!

[Jack Brickman]

Saw Kevin Owens gave an interview where he said he'd like to fight Lesnar at Wrestlemania. That got me thinking...who is Lesnar gonna face at 'Mania this year?

Cena - Probably facing the Undertaker if the rumors are true.
Rollins - Hurt. Won't be back for 'Mania.
Reigns - Repeat of last year, and the audience would be firmly in Lesnar's corner...not sure Vince wants that.
Ambrose - Possible I guess. A win would be a great way to push Ambrose all the way.
Cesaro - Hurt. Return timetable is four to six months, so he probably won't be back in time to work an entire program with Lesnar leading to 'Mania.
Orton - Hurt. Won't be back for 'Mania.
The Rock - Can't wrestle due to insurance issues.
Batista - Unlikely to be back this year.
Triple H - Can't see him going up against Brock.
Sheamus - Definitely possible. Might actually be a fun match.
Wyatt - What's the point?
Bryan - Would probably die in the ring if he faced Lesnar, and unlikely to ever wrestle for the WWE again.
Ziggler - Stuck in lower-mid card purgatory.
Rusev - LOL no.
Barrett - See Rusev, but jobbier.

Given that, the pickings are pretty slim. I'd say Owens has to at least be in the conversation to go against Brock, along with Sheamus, Reigns, and Ambrose. Other than that, the other best options are hurt. I can't imagine the plan will be to have Reigns go over Lesnar as a face. The audience will boo the fuck out of that ending, and there's no more money in the bank briefcase to pull a last-second swerve.

Thoughts?

 

[Tornicade]

Sami zayn-definately wouldnt be slotted against lesnar
Albert del Rio-
Jeff Hardy- This is less likely with POPTV picking up Impact wrestling.
the Great khali-Former WWE champion who even though he might have become a joke could be competitive against Lesnar.

I want to see Lesnar facing people that could look convincing against lesnar.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Sami zayn-definately wouldnt be slotted against lesnar
Albert del Rio-
Jeff Hardy- This is less likely with POPTV picking up Impact wrestling.
the Great khali-Former WWE champion who even though he might have become a joke could be competitive against Lesnar.

I want to see Lesnar facing people that could look convincing against lesnar.

God Lesnar versus Khali would be fucking boring. Khali can barely even move.

I'd rather have Lesnar face guys who can actually go than guys who are just big and convincing. We saw how boring his match versus Big Show was a few months ago.

 

[Tornicade]

I like this authority backed league of nations w/ prime time players.

edit
BTW anyone notice bubba sounds like a poor mans paul heyman sometimes

 

[Tornicade]

Is Neville getting a rebranding?

 

[DJTJ]

some of the wooers booking ever

 

[Kizzle]

Last two Raw shows have been entertaining to me. Nothing that really drives a story but matches have been entertaining.

Seems like when Seth went down, the WWE simply had no idea of what to do. Let's look at what a happened since Rollins got injured.

A weak tourney that everyone fucking knew Roman was gonna win.....a MITB cash in. And a boring set of factions in the League of Nations and Roman Dean and the USOS.

Dude



These guys are just making shit up at this point lol

 

[Kizzle]

Charlotte as a heel has way more potential than her as a face. It's literally in her blood


I liked her heel-ish banter with Becky last week too

Very cynical

 

[Kizzle]

Think Jack Swagger is better for the WWE as a main guy and not a jobber.

 

[kookoo]

Reigns has had some pretty sick spear spots in the last few months.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Charlotte as a heel has way more potential than her as a face. It's literally in her blood


I liked her heel-ish banter with Becky last week too

Very cynical

Charlotte is better as a heel, but this turn has just kind of come out of nowhere. They should have teased her using some heel tactics to win before she tricked Becky, because it just didn't make sense that her first time fighting dirty on the main roster would be against her best friend.

 

[TheLand1287]

Think Jack Swagger is better for the WWE as a main guy and not a jobber.

I agree with this. He's a former World Heavyweight champion, a solid worker, he's over (well, at least his theme music is) and with how thinned out the roster is right now there's no reason he can't be a decent midcard guy. Looks like the Del Rio/Zeb partnership could be over already, so it would be nice to see Zeb cost Del Rio the belt and have it go over to Swagger, but... I'm sure that won't happen. More likely that Zeb will tease costing Del Rio the match, only to help him beat Swagger.

Last two Raw shows have been entertaining to me. Nothing that really drives a story but matches have been entertaining.

Seems like when Seth went down, the WWE simply had no idea of what to do. Let's look at what a happened since Rollins got injured.

A weak tourney that everyone fucking knew Roman was gonna win.....a MITB cash in. And a boring set of factions in the League of Nations and Roman Dean and the USOS.

Dude



These guys are just making shit up at this point lol

Last night's Raw was solid. I've enjoyed seeing these factions/stables come back after being almost non-existent from WWE for so long. Original ECW guys (Dudleyz, Dreamer, Rhyno), League of Nations, Wyatt's, New Day (plus Team BAD). Stables were a big part of what made WWE great in the attitude era (DX, Nation of Domination, The Corporation, Ministry of Darkness, The Brood, Human Oddities, Kaientai, etc). I doubt any of these live up to the impact of what most of the factions of old did, but it's nice to see something different for a change.

 

[Jack Brickman]

The problem with Swagger is that you know he's not winning the feud with Del Rio, so he's basically just been brought back to the main roster to job for one program before returning to irrelevance. At least, that's my guess.

 

[Bill Walton.]

Love talking to Jack on WWE because we generally have the same views.

Swagger vs Del Rio is completely pointless. It's a solid angle but will never end in a swagger victory. Even if he did win, I'd say wow that's cool, but would honestly do nothing for the WWE except maybe sell a couple of we the people arm shirts.
In another note, is there anything cornier than having the U.S. Champ be ultra against the U.S.? Yeah it worked for Rusev, but shouldn't be used as much as they continue using it. Seems like they play the U.S. sucks heel champ as soon as they change titles every time.

ECW vs Wyatts could be fun. Could have an old school feel to it. Problem is, there four young, gifted athletic guys on one team and four old vets on the other. Sounds like a match where the Wyatts take it easy. Not to mention, Bray really doesn't impress me in stipulation matches. Especially ones involving chairs, tables or latters. Him and Dean put on a show at TLC last year, but too many bodies in this one. And waaaay too many frail bodies. I don't see how the Wyatts don't win this one

Ambrose and Owens should be entertaining. But honestly, I'd rather have them cut promos than fight. Owens is great in the ring but Ambrose drives me nuts in the ring. That stupid fake slip through the ropes move is retarded and starting to piss me off. Not to mention I can't think of one moment Ambrose blew me away, except when he faked the curb stomp through the cinder blocks.

Triple threat tag really doesn't interest me. New day is fun but like Owens Ambrose, I prefer them cutting promos. Lucha dragons are fun to watch but have no shot of winning the titles tmr night. Usos bore me. Nothing new here, don't see anyone taking the belts off new day.

Title match doesn't matter to me. I could see this going any way. I prefer Sheamus but I really don't care. I'm assuming Reigns will be champ at WM so I'm expecting him as champ sooner than later. But then again, with the rumble and fastlane on its way, will they start a new rivalry with Sheamus or Reigns? Probably not. Vintage wwe booking/storyline has this one going on for two more PPVs, so my prediction is Roman DQ win.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I think Ambrose is generally solid in the ring, just not spectacular. I agree the rope fake clothesline is awful. It wouldn't be so bad if he only used it once a match (like Undertaker with Old School, another dumb move that would be insanely easy to counter), but he always uses it like half a dozen times and it gets old fast because it doesn't look that great to begin with.

The real problem with Owens/Ambrose is that WWE has done absolutely nothing to make anyone care about this feud. The guys have gotten basically no promo time on Raw and then had a contract signing, which is meaningless in a feud this tepid, on Smackdown (which I'm sure a lot of people skip because it's typically just a Raw replay these days...I haven't watched Smackdown once since I started following wrestling again like two years ago and don't feel I've missed much of anything). Further, has Ambrose even mentioned the Intercontinental title once in this feud? This feud should be about the fucking belt!

Owens and Ambrose could have had an awesome, violent feud. Ambrose is supposedly crazy (although to Vince these days that just means wacky and nonsensical) and Owens is a sociopath who doesn't give a fuck who he hurts on the path to bettering life for his family. These guys could have developed an intense hatred for one another as they continually one-upped the other with each attack. Ambrose wants a title to bring him back to relevance after a string of losses on the big stage and Owens is willing to end Ambrose's career to keep his belt. That would be compelling!

Instead, their feud is just boring as fuck. Ambrose is goddamn throwing popcorn and soda on Owens when he should be beating him half to death with a chair, and Owens is just running away when he should be using sneak attacks and apron power bombs to do everything he can to hurt Ambrose before their match.

The match should also have a ladder stipulation, to be honest, but I would have settled for a feud that didn't completely blow. Owens and Ambrose should be the fucking world title match instead of Sheamus and Reigns, but instead it's been made meaningless because god forbid anyone in the WWE get a push besides Reigns. They've done everything possible to taper Ambrose's popularity for the past six months, after all, even though he has the potential to be another Stone Cold (he'll never be that popular, but he could provide a similar give no fucks violent attitude that would take off) with the right push and booking.