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Fastlane was a good show from top to bottom. But, it was one of the most predictable shows in a long time. Apart from the Beth Pheonix and Natalya beatdown, the night was mostly as expected.
There were no title changes. Expectedly so, because this is not one of the major pay-per-views and with Wrestlemania on the horizon, this was the right course of action taken by WWE.
The in-ring was good with the WWE title match being the best. The US title match was also a very good match. Some storylines progressed and new storylines were added for Wrestlemania.
Here are 4 things that WWE did right at Fastlane:
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#1 Shane Mcmohan heel turn
A heel turn in the tag team of Shane Mcmohan and The Miz was coming. WWE decided to go with the McMahon turn, and it worked perfectly. This is the first heel turn for Shane Mcmohan after his return to the company in 2016.
The face act of Shane was getting a bit stale. Moreover, Shane was a decent heel when he started in the company as an onscreen personality about 20 years old.
This effectively sets up the match with Miz at Wrestlemania. The Miz would look to get revenge on Shane for the attack at Fastlane. Shane, on the other hand, would be the boss that makes the life of the A-Lister miserable leading up to Wrestlemania.
#2 The Kofi Kingston set-up
Kofi Kingston was set-up by the chairman of the company, Vince Mcmohan. After seemingly agreeing to The New Day's request, that Kofi is added to the WWE championship match, Kingston was forced to face The Bar in a two-on-one handicap match.
To stack the odds further against the New Day member, both Sheamus and Cesaro were allowed to be in the ring at the same time.
What followed was a thorough beatdown from The Bar. The crowd hated the outcome.
But ultimately it helped Kofi because he was portrayed as a sympathetic babyface that got screwed up by the higher-ups. When Kingston eventually gets his match at Wrestlemania against Daniel Bryan for the WWE championship, it would mean so much more and the crowd would be firmly behind Kofi.
#3 US championship match
In the Kickoff show, it was announced that the scheduled match between Rey Mysterio and Andrade would not take place. Instead, both of them would be joined by R-Truth and Samoa Joe in a fatal four-way match for the United States championship.
The fatal four-way match would end up being one of the best matches of the night. The US championship has been neglected for a long time, so it being on the main card of the pay-per-view is a nice sight to see.
After dispatching R-Truth, Mysterio, and Andrade, Joe would probably move to the rumored feud with John Cena at Wrestlemania.
#4 The Samoan Slaughterhouse post-match attack
The team of Nia Jax and Tamina faced-off against Sasha Banks and Bayley for the Women's championship.
After a tightly contested match, the champions ended up retaining the title. Post-match, Tamina and Nia attacked Sasha and Bayley. The beatdown spread outside the ring and Beth Pheonix, who was in the commentary also got involved. Nia and Tamina attacked Beth and when Natalya went to save the Glamazon, they laid her out as well.
The Samoan Slaughterhouse stood tall after all the carnage, effectively portraying themselves as a dominant team in the women's tag-team division.
The attack might also lead to the return of Beth Pheonix as a competitor, forming the team "Divas of Doom" with Natalya.
