Fastlane is in the books. The pay-per-view will be remembered for a lot of things but going forward, WWE has no more major stops to make before WrestleMania 33. The entire focus of the creative team will be rested upon the granddaddy of them all and what this ensures is some potentially great storytelling from the WWE.
Some segments have already been planned for the show with huge implications and not only this, the way in which the title matches at Fastlane turned out gives WWE room for exciting fallout storylines.
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As always, in this preview, we will be looking at the possible developments that could happen this week on Monday Night Raw.
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#5 The Seth Rollins recap
Rollins appeared last week on Raw and told Triple H that he would be fit in time for WrestleMania. He further ensured that he would go on to face Triple H even if that’s the last thing that he ever did.
WWE has lined up a Seth Rollins segment for Monday Night Raw where they will take a closer look at the rehabilitation process that Seth has been going through.
The segment is going to give us an idea about the seriousness of the injury that Rollins has and at the same time, it is something that WWE would make use of to improve the babyface appeal of Rollins.
If he is indeed fit to have a match at WrestleMania, the segment that WWE has planned on Raw will be a great kick start and if not, then it could set the platform for Triple H to cement his new opponent.
#4 Why Big Show?
A surprising booking decision that took place on Sunday night was Big Show’s win over Rusev. The Bulgarian Brute was having some good momentum heading into WrestleMania and the last thing he probably wanted was to suffer a loss.
However, he was floored by Big Show at Fastlane and the way in which WWE allowed Big Show look strong raises many questions.
The rumoured match with Shaquille O’Neal is far from being confirmed. If the match was confirmed, Big Show getting a win over Rusev was completely acceptable. This points towards some big plan that WWE has for Big Show going forward and the picture will be clearer once Raw rolls out.
#3 The Mid card titles
The Cruiserweight and Tag Team championships did not change hands at Fastlane. Enzo and Big Cass failed to cash in the opportunity they had against Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows whereas Neville managed to retain against Jack Gallagher.
With the trend of mid card titles being thrown in just as add-on matches for WrestleMania, it wouldn’t be a surprise if things get a bit chaotic as far as the Tag titles and Cruiserweight titles are concerned.
New challengers might be crowned or the old ones might get another crack, either way, the titles will be under the limelight this week on Raw and we will get an idea of what WWE plans to do for WrestleMania with these two belts.
#2 The streak ends
The undefeated pay-per-view streak of Charlotte came to an end at Fastlane when she lost to Bayley. The title is still in the hands of Bayley and it was a good decision from WWE’s side as they did not repeat the same storyline they had with Sasha Banks and Charlotte.
Elsewhere, Sasha got a huge win over Nia Jax on the same night and if we go by simple matchmaking, Sasha Banks vs. Bayley for the title could happen at WrestleMania.
But then again, this would leave Nia Jax and Charlotte without any major storylines so a fatal-four way feud for the Raw Women’s championship could also be a possibility. Just like everything else on this slideshow, the situation regarding the Women’s title will be clearer once WWE rolls out Raw.
#1 Implications of Fastlane main event
The main event of Fastlane saw Goldberg become the new WWE Universal champion. The short match once again raised questions about whether or not Goldberg can hang in for long matches and on top of that, having a part-time Universal champion makes matters more questionable.
At the same time, the interference from Chris Jericho has pointed towards a feud between Jericho and Owens, as expected.
Owens and Jericho could probably feud for the United States championship while the Goldberg – Brock Lesnar match which was booked for WrestleMania could see the Universal Championship as the prize.
Irrespective of the plans that WWE has, the fallout of what happened in the Fastlane main event will be a major plot driver this week on Monday Night Raw.
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