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Since its inception in 2015, WWE Fastlane has become a staple of the annual Road to WrestleMania. Positioned as the last stop before The Showcase of the Immortals, Fastlane often gives the WWE Universe an indication of what to expect at the upcoming WrestleMania pay-per-view that year.
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The WWE Fastlane card usually has matches and main events with significant WrestleMania implications regarding who will be holding and challenging for major World Championships.
There have been six Fastlane events since the inaugural pay-per-view in 2015. But which Fastlane events were the best and which ones left a lot to be desired? Let's rank all of the WWE Fastlane events from worst to best.
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#6 WWE Fastlane 2017
Fastlane 2017 is perhaps best remembered for the infamous way that the show ended. Heading into WrestleMania 33, the main story was Goldberg's recent return to WWE.
The former WCW World Heavyweight Champion made his in-ring return after 12 years in the wilderness by shockingly defeating Brock Lesnar in quick fashion at Survivor Series. Intended to be his last match before retirement, Goldberg changed his mind and stated he had one more World Championship run left in him.
This led to Goldberg challenging Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at Fastlane. After much excitement ahead of the match, Chris Jericho distracted his former best friend, allowing Goldberg to defeat Owens and capture the Universal Championship after just 22 seconds.
Fans on social media and in the area were visibly frustrated in seeing a promising talent such as Kevin Owens lose a major main event to an elderly Goldberg in less than 30 seconds.
Other matches on the pay-per-view included an excellent bout between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman, in which The Big Dog ended The Monster Among Men's undefeated record. However, the PPV is mainly remembered for the main event, or the lack of one, which left a very sour taste in the mouths of fans even to this day.
#5 WWE Fastlane 2015
WWE presented the first-ever Fastlane pay-per-view event in 2015 from Memphis, Tennessee. A major storyline heading into the event was determining who would challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 31.
Roman Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble match in January to earn the right to head to WrestleMania and challenge for the Championship. However, the match is infamous for the crowd's negative reaction to Reigns' victory. Many within the WWE Universe threatened to cancel the Network and refund their WrestleMania tickets in protest of Daniel Bryan not winning the Rumble match instead.
Aiming to calm the criticism, WWE booked a match between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan at Fastlane. The winner of the match would become the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and challenge Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.
The match at Fastlane was excellent, and Daniel Bryan certainly did everything in his power to make Reigns appear like the main event superstar that WWE was positioning him to be.
However, after The Big Dog defeated Daniel Bryan to become the #1 contender once again, WWE were in the same position that they were in at the Royal Rumble. Fans reacted negatively in the arena and on social media again. Nothing had changed when it came to WrestleMania's main event.
Other major events at Fastlane 2015 included Rusev defeating John Cena by knockout to retain the United States Championship. The event also saw a "face-to-face" confrontation between Triple H and Sting, continuing the build to their match at WrestleMania.
The event was also hindered by a particularly quiet crowd, which made elements of the show very difficult to watch. Nevertheless, an excellent main event did make the show a decent watch, but certainly nothing to write home about.
#4 WWE Fastlane 2018
WWE Fastlane 2018 is the only time in the event's history that the pay-per-view was exclusive to the SmackDown Live brand.
The main storyline heading into the pay-per-view centered around AJ Styles' WWE Championship. Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura had won the 2018 Men's Royal Rumble match the prior month, earning him a main event Championship match at WrestleMania.
After his victory, The King of Strong Style announced he would be challenging for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34, setting up a "dream match" between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.
However, for the dream match to become a reality, AJ Styles had to defeat five other superstars at Fastlane. The Phenomenal One defeated Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, and John Cena in a six-pack challenge main event to retain the WWE Championship. Despite being a multi-man match which can often become clunky and messy, the match was executed to a high degree of quality and was easily the match of the show.
The event also featured several other significant moments on the road to WrestleMania 34. Randy Orton defeated Bobby Roode in a fantastic match to win the United States Championship for the first time. By winning the United States Championship, Randy Orton became the 18th Grand Slam Champion in WWE history.
Charlotte Flair also successfully defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Ruby Riott. However, after the match, RAW Superstar, and winner of the 2018 Women's Royal Rumble match, Asuka announced that she had decided to challenge Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania.
#3 WWE Fastlane 2016
WWE Fastlane 2016 once again centered around a main event with major WrestleMania ramifications. After Triple H shockingly won the 2016 Royal Rumble match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship the prior month, a #1 contender was needed to complete the WrestleMania 32 main event.
Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns made legitimate claims as to why they should be the ones to challenge The Game on The Grandest Stage of Them All. Therefore, it was decided that all three stars would face off in a triple threat match, with the winner facing Triple H at WrestleMania 32 for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
In an excellent match, Roman Reigns was able to outlast his opponents by pinning Dean Ambrose to set up his WrestleMania 32 main event showdown with Triple H. The match also served as the start of the build-up to Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania 32 match.
The Fastlane 2016 also presented AJ Styles' first-ever singles pay-per-view match inside of a WWE ring. AJ Styles was in the midst of a feud with Chris Jericho after making his stunning WWE debut the prior month in the 2016 Royal Rumble match. The rivalry continued into Fastlane as Styles and Jericho delivered a fantastic technical masterpiece.
The Phenomenal One was able to get the victory after forcing Y2J to submit to his calf crusher submission. However, this was just the beginning of the Styles and Jericho rivalry, with the two opponents set to face off once more at WrestleMania 32.
#2 WWE Fastlane 2019
WWE Fastlane 2019 delivered one of the best main events in the history of the PPV. The main storyline heading into the event surrounded the return of Roman Reigns to WWE and the reuniting of The Shield.
Roman Reigns was forced to relinquish the WWE Universal Championship and step away from WWE after revealing that he had been diagnosed with leukemia in 2018. However, The Big Dog returned in early 2019 and revealed that his leukemia was in remission.
Roman Reigns' first match back inside a WWE ring would take place at Fastlane, but he wanted to reunite The Shield with his brothers Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins had been feuding for the latter part of 2018 after Ambrose had turned on his former tag team partner. However, The Lunatic Fringe saw the light and decided to reunite with Reigns and Rollins and form The Shield once more.
At the event, The Shield successfully reunited and defeated the team of Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, and Bobby Lashley. Not only did this mark Roman Reigns' return to the ring, but it was also The Shield's last pay-per-view match before Ambrose left the promotion in April.
The event also saw several significant matches and angles that set up the upcoming WrestleMania 35 event. After The Miz and Shane McMahon lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to The Usos, McMahon viciously attacked The Miz and berated his former partner's father at ringside. This marked Shane's first WWE heel turn in over ten years.
Fastlane also saw Becky Lynch earn her way into the RAW Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 35 after defeating Charlotte Flair by disqualification. Other excellent matches on the show included The Revival facing Aleister Black & Ricochet and Bobby Roode & Chad Gable in a triple threat tag team match to retain the RAW Tag Team Championships. Daniel Bryan also defeated Kevin Owens and Mustafa Ali to retain the WWE Championship in a triple threat match.
A truly excellent pay-per-view event that possibly outshone WrestleMania later that year.
#1 WWE Fastlane 2021
Fastlane 2021 has certainly set the table for a very interesting WWE WrestleMania 37 pay-per-view event. The major storyline heading into this year's show centered around the WWE Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 37.
WWE Hall of Famer Edge miraculously won the 2021 Men's Royal Rumble match, despite being the number one entrant. The Rated-R Superstar later revealed that he would challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
However, for that match to take place, The Tribal Chief had to first make it past Daniel Bryan at Fastlane. After defeating Jey Uso on an episode of SmackDown, Edge also became the special guest enforcer for the match.
After an excellent back and forth encounter, Daniel Bryan seemingly had the match won when he forced Roman Reigns to submit to the YES! Lock. However, the referee for the match had previously been knocked down earlier in the match. Edge was also knocked down when Daniel Bryan accidentally struck The Rated-R Superstar with a steel chair which was brought into play by Reigns' cousin Jey Uso.
As The Big Dog was tapping out, Edge attacked both Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns with the steel chair declaring "It's mine!" before leaving the WWE ThunderDome after seemingly turning heel. This allowed Reigns to spear Daniel Bryan and retain the Universal Championship.
Although this looks to have now set up an exciting triple threat match for the Universal Championship between Edge, Roman Reigns, and Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 37.
The event also saw excellent matches, such as Drew McIntyre defeat his former best friend Sheamus in a vicious No Holds Barred match.
Fastlane 2021 also saw the long-anticipated return of The Fiend to WWE television during the Randy Orton vs. Alexa Bliss intergender match. The dark alter ego of Bray Wyatt had been absent from WWE television since being "burnt alive" by Randy Orton at WWE TLC in December.
With his return, The Fiend debuted a new, graphic, and horrifying new look. The Fiend's trademark mask and attire has now been replaced with a hybrid of charred-looking flesh and burnt ring attire. The stunning visual and return capped off a fantastic pay-per-view.
