5 things to watch for at WWE Fastlane 2018 event

The final pit stop on the WWE Road to WrestleMania 34 will be Fastlane 2018, coming up this Sunday, March 11th.

This is where the SmackDown brand will cement a portion of the roster's involvement for the biggest show of the year as well as potentially make any last minute changes and swerves to keep fans on their toes.

For the most part, every pay-per-view has an outline of specific keynotes WWE's creative team are trying to accomplish and some bullet points to hit for storylines.

With a little bit of foresight and some guesswork mixed with logical deductive reasoning, we can try to figure out the most important elements that are coming our way for Fastlane before they happen.

Here's a look at five of the chief things to pay attention to and look out for when it comes to what will go down at Fastlane 2018.

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#5 Momentum for AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura

They've had the graphic up on the website for weeks, so this one isn't a hard one to predict.

In some ways, what should be the most important thing to take away from this event should be excited about the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Obviously, this implies that Styles retains his title in the Six-Pack Challenge and nothing happens to Nakamura to prevent him from utilizing his Royal Rumble title opportunity, but that should go without being said.

Nakamura is booked in a throwaway match with Rusev where he'll definitely win and it won't matter, so the only real positive to come out of that is that he will have another victory to his name than he did before Fastlane.

Likewise, Styles will have gone through the arduous task of retaining his title in a match with five other men who could all steal it from him at any point without even beating him, so he'll look very strong leaving this event.

If WWE plays the right cards, one of the biggest impressions viewers should have when the event is over is that they watched enough to convince them that Styles vs. Nakamura will be a lot of fun to watch.

#4 Jinder Mahal refuses to stop butting in

Having Jinder Mahal creepily staring at you from the sidelines must be distracting.

From the very start of the feud between Randy Orton and Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal has been between the two of them as the third wheel.

It's actually quite surprising that he isn't officially entered into the match to make it a Triple Threat, but with a Six-Pack Challenge on the card, it's possible WWE simply didn't want to repeat the same basic idea twice.

Still, that isn't going to stop The Modern Day Maharaja from sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, as he's remained adamant that he feels he's not just the rightful No. 1 contender to Roode's title, but the uncrowned United States champion.

As Mahal hasn't been booked for some alternative match to keep him busy or a feud on the side that could get in the way of him doing so, look out for him to thrust himself back into this United States Championship match by either interfering during the fight, doing something beforehand or afterward to keep his name in the discussion.

#3 The end of a renewed friendship

This friendship was definitely not built to last.

When Kevin Owens made his debut on the NXT roster, he immediately severed his relationship with Sami Zayn and started a feud that lasted years, until it was squashed several months ago.

Since Hell in a Cell, Zayn and Owens have been working alongside each other as best friends once more, but tension has risen and they are butting heads like normal right now.

Zayn had mentioned that he would lie down for Owens and allow him to win at Fastlane, but that isn't going to happen and in avoiding that scenario, it's extremely likely these two friends will officially cut ties with one another yet again.

Being in a match against each other can't do them any favours, so be on the lookout for parts of this fight where the two find themselves at odds with their buddy and willing to throw away any chance at mending fences in favour of possibly winning that WWE Championship.

#2 Interference from The Bludgeon Brothers

The Bludgeon Brothers have The Usos in their sights.

At this point, The Usos and The New Day have had so many matches together that any normal finish to their fight will be something we've already seen before.

Plus, they've firmly established that the two teams essentially equal, as they've traded wins and despite The Usos holding the titles right now, neither team has really come out looking like the stronger unit.

It would make sense for this match to end in a no-contest of sorts to further the storyline and create a need to see them lock up again at WrestleMania, but not just by themselves.

Instead, it would require the addition of at least one more team to spice things up, with no better options than The Bludgeon Brothers, who have already teased a feud with The Usos and The New Day in the past few weeks.

Overlooked on the card and feeling rightful for a title shot due to their dominance, watch out for The Usos and The New Day to be putting on a fantastic match, only for Harper and Rowan to screw it all up in order to make a statement and position themselves in a good spot for a WrestleMania title opportunity.

#1 John Cena's WrestleMania opponent revealed

Could Fastlane be the event we get confirmation of John Cena vs The Undertaker?

John Cena has been on the prowl for any opportunity to secure his spot at WrestleMania after failing to win the Royal Rumble or the Elimination Chamber.

Now that he has another shot with this Six-Pack Challenge, he needs to lose again in order to keep the storyline going that he is panicking and getting desperate not to lose out on being on the card.

Since he's still John Cena, the idea of him losing clean is hard to swallow, even though he's had more simple losses in the past two years than he did in the previous ten.

With WrestleMania looming, there's a very good chance we see his future opponent for the biggest show of the year make an appearance to cause a distraction or interfere in this No Disqualification match in order to cost Cena the title and spark a rivalry.

The lights may go off with the ringing sound of a gong to symbolize The Undertaker has called upon Cena's soul, or Samoa Joe could make good on his promise from earlier this year that he would take Cena out of the competition, provided he's healthy enough to return to action.

This would be a prime time for someone to stake a claim to challenging Cena and in doing so, prevent him from having the pleasure of his seventeenth world title reign.

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