Monday, March 30, 2015

WWE FastLane 2015 Review


Six Man Tag Team Match
The Authority(Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane) def. Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback(13:01)
Thoughts: This wass a good choice to open the show. WWE does six-man tags well, they've established this feud and the crowd gets into Ziggler & Rollins big time. The obvious negative is that we have to watch Kane and Big Show. The heels got the heat on Rowan, which was a huge mistake because no one gives a damn about Rowan, at all. I mean, you have Dolph up on the corner and the crowd ALWAYS reacts huge for him. The best plan would be to get the heat of Ziggler and give the hot tag to Ryback. Eventually, Ryback does get the hot tag and lays out everyone. He shell shock's Rollins, but a big splash by Show to Ryback allows Ziggler to tag in and after a few minutes of doing what he does, he eats a jumping KO punch from the Show, which was really impressive, for the three count. Overall, this was a solid outing. The final few minutes were great and action packed but we had to sit through one of the most dull babyface in peril segments I’ve seen in some time with Rowan to get there.
Rating: ***

Goldust def. Stardust(8:55)
Thoughts: Cody has changed up his look a bit here, dropping the top of the body suit and going partial face paint, which I like. I hoped that he would keep that look, but it doesn't look like he will. Anyway, these two have been working to get this feud and match for the last three years or so and they got it, but unfortunately the crowd was not into this. What resulted was a very boring match. The crowd didn’t care for the storyline and weren’t engaged in Stardust’s antics or cared about Goldust playing face in peril. This ended up being a huge disappointment considering these two have wanted to have their one on one program for years. If I could describe this match in one word, it would be: Letdown.
Rating: *1/2

WWE Tag Team Championship
Tyson Kidd and Cesaro def. The Usos(c)(9:33)
Thoughts: Unlike the previous match, the work in this match was really good. The problem is that the crowd just could not get invested until the final stretch, which is a shame. Now I gotta say, it was a surprise that Kidd and Cesaro won the Tag Titles here since I feel it would be more important if they won them at Wrestlemania...granted, it would've been on the Pre=Show, but it would still be Wrestlemania! Be that as it may, I’m happy Kidd and Cesaro are getting a run with the belts and hopefully they get a long run with them and get a few more matches with the Usos cause I know both teams are capable of greater matches. Not that this was bad, cause it wasn't. It's just I feel both teams can produce something better.
Rating: ***1/4

WWE Divas Championship
Nikki Bella(c) def. Paige(5:34)
Thoughts: There isn't really a whole lot to talk about with this one. Yeah, there was that one screw up with the botched corner roll-up, but other than that, this was actually a solid effort and better than usual Diva’s match. The crowd still could have cared less about this match, but at least the effort was there this time around. Both women looked good here and the major problem here was lack of time, as it normally is for Divas matches. Otherwise, a solid outing here.
Rating: **1/4

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Bad News Barrett(c) def. Dean Ambrose via DQ(7:58)
Thoughts: While it was funny to see how Dean got this match, the build-up wasn't exactly the stuff of legends. But that doesn't really matter; what matters is what these two produce in the ring...and it was a little bit of a letdown. The match was picking up steam before the finish, so chalk this up as another disappointment on this show. I really don’t get what their end game is with Ambrose. Personally, I think that sooner or later, all these crappy finishes are going to kill the poor guy. 
Rating: **1/2

WWE United States Championship
Ruzev(c) def. John Cena(16:45)
Thoughts: I really liked the build to this one and I was really looking forward to this one. Cena always delivers on PPV and going up against Ruzev, you know that John will bring the best out of him and that exactly what we got. The problem with this match was that, once again, the crowd wasn’t all that into the match, which really says something bad about the product. I mean between the USA vs Russia theme and the fact that the crowd always reacts one way or another to Cena, the overall lack of fucks given here is alarming. They eventually got into the finishers and such, but that’s about it. Cena fought forever in the accolade, he was breaking it when Lana got in the ring and the ref took his time to escort her out. With the distraction, Rusev kicked Cena in the balls and then superkicked his head off, reapplied the accolade and Cena passed out. Without a doubt, I can say that this was Ruzev best performance of his career so far. They actually made him look at a monster against one of the few legitimate threats on the roster. I loved they built up to Cena finally landing the AA after multiple attempts and Rusev seeming to know Cena’s offense, having some sort of counter at every turn. While this was missing some big impact moments and some spots that really could have stretched Cena’s vulnerability to put this over the top as something special were missing too, this was still the best thing the show produced at this point.
Rating: ***1/2

Main Event: Number 1 Contender's Match
Roman Reigns def. Daniel Bryan(22:51)
Thoughts: Both men have a legit claim to face Lesnar at Wrestlemania, so he we are. Now let me just say this: If Roman Reigns were up against opponents like D-Bry and NOT BIG SHOW during the build towards Royal Rumble, then I don't think the backlash for him winning the Rumble would be anywhere as severe as it was. Yes, I agree with the majority of you that he has been forced down our throats as the next chosen one, that his promos blow and his matches aren’t organic, but if he had a run of matches like this, with opponents like D-Bry and have strong competitive battles where Reigns proved he was the better man, his run to Wrestlemania probably would've been much stronger. Overall, this was an excellent match and Bryan worked his ass off to make Reigns look strong as he possibly could and a great way to end the show.
Rating: ****


Final Rating:
2.86 out of 5

No comments:

Post a Comment