With less than 50 days remaining for WrestleMania 35, the match card for the biggest stage of them all is getting clearer with each passing day.
Now that Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber are already in the record books, WWE only has one big stop left before WrestleMania arrives. These last two PPVs were booked quite nicely, and the fans would be expecting a solid Fastlane PPV as well.
Fastlane has never been a top-notch PPV. The last editions of Fastlane have been more or less like just a warm-up for the biggest PPV of the year. The only memorable thing that has ever happened on Fastlane is Goldberg winning the Universal Championship a couple of years ago.
But this year, all this could change. With a couple of exciting bouts booked and rumoured to be booked at the PPV, this year might just give us the best Fastlane PPV till date.
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The only thing that can ruin it is terrible booking. Something WWE is known to do very often.
In this article, let's take a look at the 3 things WWE should avoid doing at the PPV. This would not just make the PPV better, but also set things up nicely for the grandest stage of them all.
#1 No United States Championship Match
Remember the time when John Cena used to defend the US Title in his open challenge every week, putting on great matches and uplifting the status of the title.
Gone are those glory days of the US Title. It's correctly said that the Champion makes the Title and not the other way around.
The US Title has lost all its prestige in the last year, hardly getting any TV time these days. First Shinsuke Nakamura had a stale reign as the US Champ, then Rusev. Currently, R-Truth is the US Champ, and ever since winning the title, he's been off TV.
It would be a huge mistake from WWE's side if they don't have a US Title match at Fastlane, as they don't have much time to start building towards a proper feud and match for the Championship at WrestleMania.
#2 Kofi Kingston losing clean
The last couple of weeks have witnessed the sudden rise of a veteran, named Kofi Kingston. Who would've thought that Kofi would be challenging the New Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at Fastlane?
Much like Seth Rollins last year, Kofi blew the roof off in the Gauntlet match on the SmackDown before Elimination Chamber. Coming in as the replacement of an injured Mustafa Ali, no one expected Kofi to do what he did.
He pinned Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe in one night back to back. If this was not enough, he was one of the last 2 left in the Elimination Chamber match and felt just short of becoming the WWE Champion.
Though all the fans and roster is on the side of Kofi to win the title at Fastlane, from a booking point of view, such a huge victory isn't meant for a PPV like Fastlane. Kofi is most likely to lose his championship match, maybe to get another title opportunity at Mania and finally grabbing the Title.
But WWE should avoid making Kofi lose clean to Bryan at Fastlane to continue his momentum. Any sort of interference or unfair tactics would work.
#3 No surprise returns or WrestleMania challenges
The confirmed matches for this year's WrestleMania so far are -
Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar(c) for the Universal Championship
Charlotte vs Ronda Rousey(c) {vs Becky} for the Raw Women's Championship
Other than these, no matches have been finalized. With the rumors of a lot of stars missing WrestleMania this year, the lack of star power might be a huge issue for WWE.
WWE desperately needs some of its top stars to return and set up feuds for the WrestleMania season. Superstars like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Bray Wyatt are the top contenders to make their return to the ring soon.
The ratings would also boost-up if a returning legend shows up at FastLane to set up his/her WrestleMania match. Someone like Batista showing up out of nowhere and challenging Triple H for a match at Mania would be a huge moment and would get a lot of mainstream attraction that WWE needs.
Do let us know your thoughts on how WWE can make FastLane a good PPV.