Fastlane Tonight - in Cleveland!

[Thelorn]

Roman will be a 3 time champ come wrestlemania, getting them numbers quick.

Rollins you fixed yet?

 

[elcheato]

Given how much they've passed around the title recently, once Roman gets it back at Mania, he is holding onto that belt for a LONG time.

 

[Real Deal]

My only complaint was Lesnar looking like a bitch for accepting what had happen to him. Ive seen him destroy the whole ringside setup before over getting screwed.

He just walked away and accepted the fact of getting cheated. The old Lesnar would of destroyed every moving thing in that ring. He would of went apeshit basically, but no the writers act like he wasnt capable of that when they already showed us it before.

Thats my only legit wtf, well Strowman basically man handled Kane and Big Show. Creative is telling the audience that there is a new giant to be reckoned with. But im not buying it, he'll be a jobber soon right next to Rusev.

It was so obvious that Reigns would make a comeback and HHH was entrant #30 and become the winner.

I also didnt see the Sasha Banks comeback and the way she did it although i could tell she was playing Charlotte. Kudos to creative for that, but only because i love Sasha and want her to sit on my face.

Between her and Paige its better than cookies and milk.

 

[Tornicade]

Holdng ambrose until the final two gives the IC title prominence over the US title with kalisto. Also it was the only way to give Owens any pop after losing to Ambrose and getting outed rather early for the rumble.

As far as Brock he eliminated 3 out of the 4 Wyatt family members. in an impressive fashion.


Reigns was booed upon introduction. I don't think "losing the Crowd"

Owens and New Day may be heels but they were real crowd pleasers.

Owens definitely made Ambrose better.

I like when big e caught Kofi on his shoulders. that was fantastic.

I wonder if Kalisto makes it to fastlane.

I thought AJ styles showed himself as a smart crafty wrestler.

Taking reigns out for injury was a good move imo

 

[TheLand1287]

If Owens or Ambrose enter the Rumble, Hunter and Vince should be shot on site.

Welp... Lol

 

[TheLand1287]

My only complaint was Lesnar looking like a bitch for accepting what had happen to him. Ive seen him destroy the whole ringside setup before over getting screwed.

He just walked away and accepted the fact of getting cheated. The old Lesnar would of destroyed every moving thing in that ring. He would of went apeshit basically, but no the writers act like he wasnt capable of that when they already showed us it before.

Thats my only legit wtf, well Strowman basically man handled Kane and Big Show. Creative is telling the audience that there is a new giant to be reckoned with. But im not buying it, he'll be a jobber soon right next to Rusev.

It was so obvious that Reigns would make a comeback and HHH was entrant #30 and become the winner.

I also didnt see the Sasha Banks comeback and the way she did it although i could tell she was playing Charlotte. Kudos to creative for that, but only because i love Sasha and want her to sit on my face.

Between her and Paige its better than cookies and milk.

This 100%. The Royal Rumble was much improved from the last two years, but I absolutely hated what they did with Lesnar. He didn't get eliminated cleanly, so for him to just accept it and walk away was an extremely weak move. What should have happened would've been for him to go back in the ring and destroy Wyatt with a few F5's before throwing him over the top rope. That way, it also makes Wyatt look strong by not being tossed out naturally either. Just a little more thought into the booking there would've went a long way.

As much as I enjoy the random surprise entrants some years... I'm glad they didn't go that route this year. Unless you include Styles, Zayn, and HHH. Even despite all of the injuries in WWE the roster is still pretty deep. I mean for a 30 man rumble there weren't even entrances from Wade Barrett, Big E, Xavier Woods, Kalisto, Heath Slater, Bo Dallas, Adam Rose, Uso's, Dudley's, etc. Not that those guys were serious contenders to win, but they are regulars on WWE TV.

 

[Lee]

Not a wrestling fan but years ago when i bartended at a Hyatt downtwon phoenix, i met all of the wrestlers when they stayed for an event.

Vince McMahan is one of the nicest celebrities i have ever met, truly humble and respected by all of the wrestlers and staff.

Also, Triple H is a very large human being and Rick Flair's face looked like pizza from all of the cuts.

 

[Jack Brickman]

If winning the Rumble means Triple H is main evening Wrestlemania, then what match will we be getting at Fastlane?

Probably Reigns and Brock to be Triple H's opponent. Wyatts interfere and cost Brock the match, thus leading to Wyatt/Brock and Trips/Reigns at 'Mania.

One positive from last night is that we might be seeing Styles/Owens at Wrestlemania, and I think we can all agree that that's an instant four star or better match. I don't think they're ready to call up Zayn just yet, so the inevitable Owens/Zayn main roster feud will probably take place later this year. It'd be a nice post-Mania feud that blows off at Summerslam. Alternatively, Owens is set up nicely to be a heel opponent for Reigns following his obvious title win at 'Mania.

 

[Jack Brickman]

By the way, I'm still in awe of how inept WWE's Rumble booking is. It was so easy to predict that Reigns was going to get booed and yet they still forced him down our throats and the crowd turned on him. Vince must be locked away in his own little world to have not seen that coming. They also had to know that Triple H is basically a wrestling god in Orlando due to NXT, and that he wasn't going to get the heat he would in a lot of other cities.

They should have had Reigns get tossed early due to interference, get beaten down, and then maybe show up again at the end and clear a few inconsequential heels (basically the League of Nations and Social Jobber guys) from the ring before the refs dragged him to the back. That keeps him looking strong but also keeps him away from the more popular heels (Owens, Wyatt), and more importantly it means he isn't walking away with the title, which makes the crowd more likely to pop when he comes back, kicks a little ass, and then leaves.

Like, how are they this bad at booking these things?

 

[bigfoot5415]

My uncle is a huge wrestling fan, not just WWE. He is fortunate enough to travel the world for his job and has tied in wrestling events with corporate trips. Hes seen Wrestlemania, Wrestle Kingdom, TripleMania, TV Shows, House Shows, Independent Promotions. He said that no one he has ever encountered received the reaction AJ Styles got last night. He referenced all the big names when we had a quick chat this morning, but nothing compared (that he has seen live) to this debut. Thats crazy to think about, but I beleive the guy. He does not BS when it comes to wrestling lol.

For those who didnt see it.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ubZR-cfkSDQ

 

[Jack Brickman]

It makes sense, though. Styles was essentially the biggest indie guy in the world before signing with WWE, and widely regarded as one of the best wrestlers to boot. You know that any match he's in is likely to be at least a four star showing, and there aren't really a lot of guys like that.

Then you add in that Orlando is a smark city that will undoubtedly know who AJ Styles is and you get the debut he got last night. If he had debuted in Texas, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere near that ovation (barring at Wrestlemania, which is always a smark event).

It was a perfect storm of the biggest indie name in the world and a city that knows enough to recognize him.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I'm rewatching the Rumble right now (was a bit shit-faced last night due to the Panthers game)...I love how Michael Cole tries to sell Reigns. "A bit of a mixed reaction to Roman Reigns tonight" is a very polite way of saying he was getting the ever-loving fuck booed out of him.

Also, not a fan of the sixty second entrances. It's too fast. Guys are just getting into the ring when the next guy is coming out. Didn't really notice it last night because I had just gotten home when the Rumble started and was drunk and cooking dinner, but it's very noticeable on a sober rewatch.

 

[TheLand1287]

Was it 60 second entrances this year? That makes sense why it seemed like it went by so quickly.

Another few notes that I'm now remembering... Rusev is officially buried. They had him as the 2nd entrant, which is whatever, but the 1st guy eliminated. He lasted the 6th least amount of time behind, in order, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, R-Truth, Tyler Breeze, and Curtis Axel. Ouch.

Also, Swagger and Henry lasted 45 seconds COMBINED. Why have a qualifying match in which these two were highlighted just for them to both last the least amount of time in the Rumble match? I mean, there was obviously a 0% chance either one would win, but my god what a waste of everyone's time. Both are decent enough to have received a little more of a showing, IMO.

 

[Bill Walton.]

Was it 60 second entrances this year? That makes sense why it seemed like it went by so quickly.

Another few notes that I'm now remembering... Rusev is officially buried. They had him as the 2nd entrant, which is whatever, but the 1st guy eliminated. He lasted the 6th least amount of time behind, in order, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, R-Truth, Tyler Breeze, and Curtis Axel. Ouch.

Also, Swagger and Henry lasted 45 seconds COMBINED. Why have a qualifying match in which these two were highlighted just for them to both last the least amount of time in the Rumble match? I mean, there was obviously a 0% chance either one would win, but my god what a waste of everyone's time. Both are decent enough to have received a little more of a showing, IMO.

Has anyone been buried more than Rusev?

But I loved his reactions after beating up reigns ringside. Hugging Vince his classic Rusev shake. I don't understand why they continue to book Rusev like this.. When he entered number two I was thinking ohhhh shit. Boom, eliminated within a minute..

 

[Jack Brickman]

So anyway, my thoughts on the PPV having rewatched the Rumble itself and watched all the preliminary matches for the first time...

• Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose stole the show. That was just a great last man standing match. I think it probably should have been about ten minutes longer, but it's hard to complain about what was there. They did a nice job of continuously upping the ante, and the final fall that put Owens away was great. I also loved how Owens continued to find creative ways to be awesome, with him rolling out of the ring to get to his feet when he had no chance of standing up in the ring by ten. That was right up there with his one finger on the rope from a few months back.
• The tag team match was fine. It wasn't mind-blowing or anything, but it was a solid bout. The ending with Big E catching one of the Usos and giving him the Big Ending was great. I'm glad New Day retained, because the Usos are awful.
• I kind of skimmed through the US Title and women's match, so not a lot to say about them really. I really like them giving Kalisto the belt. He's really fun to watch in the ring and deserves the push.
• Nice to see that Sasha Banks will finally be getting her shot, and Orlando was the absolute perfect place to bring her back. I really hope that Becky gets her due at some point, though. She's better in the ring than Charlotte and I'd love to see a Becky/Sasha rivalry down the line. Maybe Wrestlemania will be a triple threat match between the three?
• The debut of AJ Styles was awesome. It's a shame they didn't let him do more in the match, though.
• Roman getting mugged and then walking to the back was really stupid. If he's okay enough to walk, why wouldn't he go back to the ring and fight more? It made him look weak rather than strong like they obviously intended.
• I liked Strowman eliminating Kane and Big Show if only because it got the two most boring guys out of the match. Other than that, meh. Strowman is a boring plodder incapable of putting on a good match by himself.
• Kevin Owens limping to the ring was a nice touch. It made it seem like his match earlier in the night mattered. I really hope we get a Styles/Owens feud as a result of that elimination. It needs to happen.
• I wish they'd given Owens and Zayn a bit more time to fight before Owens was eliminated, especially when you consider that Owens was only in the match for like five minutes.
• LOL at Jack Swagger walking in, eating an F5, and then getting immediately tossed.
• Is it just me or was Lesnar really stiffing Strowman on a lot of those clotheslines? Looked like he was hitting him harder than necessary.
• Why wasn't Lesnar more pissed that he got screwed over? Why didn't he at least come in and destroy Bray Wyatt and then eliminate him in turn? His acceptance of his fate just made no sense. The last time he got screwed over he destroyed everyone.
• I really enjoyed the last part of the Rumble where everyone was just stringing big moves against each other. It was fast-paced and a lot of fun, and there were none of the overly large boring plodders (Big Show, Kane, Mark Henry, Strowman) in there to fuck up the flow. It was good, mobile wrestlers doing their thing and it was enjoyable.
• How pissed off must Vince be that the crowd gave the second-biggest pop of the night (the first being when Styles debuted) to Reigns getting eliminated? It's equally hilarious that Triple H, one of the biggest heels in WWE history, won the Rumble and the crowd was generally okay with it because it meant Reigns didn't win.

I still think they should have gone a different route with the title. Reigns/Trips doesn't need to be for the title to be a big match. Any match with Triple H is a big match because he's one of the few legends from the Attitude Era that can still go in the ring, but he also doesn't wrestle more than a couple of times a year so it's always a big deal. There were a lot of great options in there, too. Honestly, giving the belt to Styles might have been their best choice. He got a huge reception, and the crowd would have gone absolutely ape shit if he had won. Wyatt and Owens both would have been solid choices if they wanted a heel champ, and Lesnar will always be Lesnar. You can slap the belt on him any time you want for a couple of months to instantly elevate it. Ambrose would have been a great choice as well if he hadn't retained the IC title earlier in the night. Losing that and then coming in hobbled only to win the Rumble and the title would have been a great story.

It just sucks because it's blatantly obvious that Roman Reigns is winning the title back at Wrestlemania even though that's what no one wants. Maybe we'll get lucky, though, and the WWE will be forced to call an audible for the third year in a row out of fear of the crowd booing the hell out of the main event.