5 possible shocks that could happen at WWE Fastlane 2018

All four SmackDown Live titles will be on the line when the final WWE pay-per-view before WrestleMania 34, Fastlane, takes place on Sunday.

The main event will see AJ Styles defend his WWE title in a six-pack challenge match against John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler, while Ruby Riott will challenge Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s title.

Elsewhere on the card, The New Day will renew their rivalry with The Usos over the SmackDown Tag Team titles, and Randy Orton will attempt to claim the United States title for the first time in his career against Bobby Roode.

The other two confirmed matches are both non-title encounters, with Rusev facing Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura and Becky Lynch teaming with Naomi to take on Carmella and Natalya.

In this article, we take a look at five possible shocks that could happen at Sunday’s event.

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#5 Bobby Roode turns heel

Bobby Roode is the current United States champion

You only have to listen back to the crowd reaction during Randy Orton’s match against Jinder Mahal on this week’s SmackDown Live to hear how much support “The Viper” has from the WWE Universe.

Still, despite having a loyal set of supporters, the majority of fans (and even Orton himself) would prefer to see the 13-time world champion return to his dastardly ways and turn heel again in the not-too-distant future.

In all likelihood, that’s not going to happen before WrestleMania, with his current rival (and fellow babyface) Bobby Roode unlikely to draw enough sympathy from fans if Orton were to fully turn heel against him.

Instead, we think there’s an outside chance that United States champion Roode – a much better heel than a babyface – could become the bad guy in the rivalry, possibly by getting himself disqualified in Sunday’s match to retain his title.

#4 Asuka appears after Charlotte Flair vs. Ruby Riott

Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss still isn't official

Asuka outlasted 29 other Superstars to win the historic first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match in January, yet we still don’t know if she’ll challenge for the Raw or SmackDown Women’s title at WrestleMania 34.

If this week’s episode of Raw was anything to go by, Alexa Bliss will almost certainly face best friend Nia Jax in a Raw Women’s title match in New Orleans, making Asuka’s long-rumored move to SmackDown Live more likely now than ever.

It seems only a matter of time before the direction of both women's divisions become clear ahead of 'Mania, with the undefeated “Empress of Tomorrow” surely set to show up at Fastlane or on SmackDown in the next week to challenge Charlotte Flair (sorry Ruby Riott fans) for her title.

#3 Carmella attempts another cash-in

Carmella hasn't teased many cash-ins

Carmella was the biggest talking point in the SmackDown Live women’s division when she won Money In The Bank in July 2017. Since then, however, she has hardly been involved in any meaningful storylines and it’s easy to forget sometimes that she even has the contract.

She lost to Becky Lynch on this week’s episode of SmackDown – her first televised one-on-one match in five months – and will team with Natalya at Fastlane to face Becky and Naomi.

No matter what the outcome of the tag match, we think there’s a big possibility that Carmella makes another appearance on the show by attempting to cash in her contract during, or after, the SmackDown Women’s title match between Charlotte Flair and Ruby Riott.

Will she be successful? And will the cash-in even go ahead? Almost certainly not, but the 2018 Money In The Bank event takes place in just three months, so “The Princess of Staten Island” needs to hurry up if she’s going to claim herself an impromptu match for the SmackDown Women’s title.

#2 The Rusev and Aiden English split begins

Will Sunday be a sad "Rusev Day" for Aiden English?

Rusev has become one of the most popular Superstars in all of WWE over the last few months, yet he continues to be portrayed as a heel on SmackDown Live.

“The Bulgarian Brute” receives huge crowd reactions week after week and, even though he is up against Shinsuke Nakamura at Fastlane, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he gets the loudest cheers of the night on Sunday.

WWE has a huge babyface on their hands if they decide to turn Rusev (which they absolutely should!), and the only way it looks like happening anytime soon is if he splits from “Rusev Day” tag partner Aiden English, who could remain a heel.

This is merely wishful thinking, but maybe English could react badly towards Rusev if he loses to Nakamura, kick-starting a rivalry between the two on the road to WrestleMania and cementing Rusev as a face in the process.

#1 Sami Zayn lays down for Kevin Owens

Was Tuesday's finale all a ploy?

This week’s episode of SmackDown Live provided the perfect build for the WWE title six-pack challenge match at Fastlane, with AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler battling it out in a Fatal 5-Way to close the show.

Zayn reiterated to Owens earlier in the night that he will lay down on Sunday to help his friend win the title from Styles. However, he then went on to betray him in the Fatal 5-Way, hitting KO with a Helluva Kick to steal a surprise victory.

WWE now has us all thinking that Zayn and Owens are no longer on the same page, but is that really the case? Because we think it’s entirely possible that Team Sami and Kevin are up to the same old tricks that Owens pulled with Chris Jericho a year ago, where the duo often ‘betrayed’ each other to play mind games with their opponents.

Maybe, just maybe, Tuesday was all a ploy and Zayn really will try to lay down for Owens at Fastlane.