Just a week after Wrestle Dream and a few days ahead of Tuesday night’s head-to-head clash, WWE presented Fast Lane on pay-per-view. A quick glance at the card shows an event that had star power, but it was almost more of a sizzle than substance show on paper, given that this show on the calendar looked more to be a placeholder until Survivor Series, the trademark event of the fall than the peak of any of the specific storylines. With just five scheduled bouts for the show, despite the addition of John Cena to the line-up, this had an atmosphere of a secondary show. Furthermore, after the broadcast went off the air, it appeared that management might’ve missed a key opportunity, depending on where the direction of the Raw brand goes, particularly when you can expect more of an emphasis on the Monday night show since it has yet to sign a new TV deal for next year.
The show opened with the tag team title match and this was a very solid segment. These are four top-notch workers that are arguably at or close to the prime of their careers. Granted, Finn Balor had an extensive career before the WWE and was very accomplished, but he’s still one of the most polished performers on the roster. This contest had a lot of action that built well toward the conclusion and had a level of drama that added a lot to the narrative. Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes won the belts, which originally made me think this decision might’ve been made to set up the surprise cash-in for Damien Priest at the end of the show, but that wasn’t the case. At this point, the shift might be that this tag team run could be used as a dual purpose so to speak to give Jey something meaningful to do away from The Bloodline so he doesn’t hit a skid and maintain the momentum he had after the feud with Roman Reigns. At the same time, this could give Cody an important purpose on the show while management determines if The Rock is going to be available for Wrestlemania next year with the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike for the film industry. The only concern is if the office can keep Rhodes in the spotlight long enough for there to eventually be the championship payoff without it seeming like they are just stalling until the other pieces of the puzzle are put into place.
The six man tag wasn’t exactly a variety booking as far as two tag matches in a row, but it served the greater purpose to set the stage for the return of Carlito, who originally resurfaced earlier this year at Backlash for a thunderous reaction. The action in the match was fine, but this was a segment that was more about the story than the in-ring portion of the contest, and that’s nothing wrong with that. It should be noted that The Street Profits have done very well with the heel turn to join Bobby Lashley. They are a very talented team, but it was definitely a good decision to evolve their characters to give them a fresh run on Smackdown. The Carlito return was very well done, as it maximized the moment and then when to the finish to get the biggest reaction to the finish as possible. It will be interesting to see where this goes and how far up the ladder the LWO can climb as far as a priority for the office. Reportedly, the faction was brought back to help establish new Hispanic stars, which is very wise in theory, but something that hasn’t always generated result in terms of application for WWE. It goes without say that pure lucha libre is a completely different style and wouldn’t fully translate to the WWE audience, as it’s not something that caters to the casual fan. However, that’s not to say that specific aspects of lucha, and more specifically, Latino stars can’t be a major draw for the company. The talent is there, it’s simply a matter of if or how the machine would put its resources behind the next group of Mexican stars. Rey Mysterio is such a legend that it almost seemed like for years the office was comfortable with him as a choice of the Hispanic star on the roster and didn’t see the need to develop another luchador to a main event level. The argument could be made that Alberto Del Rio had the talent, but management eventually regulated him to the mid-card before his own unwise personal decisions more or less ruined his career. Sin Cara was a disaster because he wasn’t smart enough to realize he was hired by the WWE and not another lucha organization. WWE brass made their share of mistakes with how it presented lucha stars as well. Anyone remember that when Rey initially won the world championship that he more or less lost every match? They booked a legitimate lucha legend, Psychosis in the absolutely embarrassing Mexicools gimmick.
As mentioned, the next group of Hispanic stars could be a major draw for the company, an aspect that was really underscored by how well Bad Bunny did in his few WWE appearances, as well as being a major merchandise seller for the organization. How or if management truly gets behind the LWO remains to be seen. The addition of Carlito adds a lot to the faction though, and given the fact that he’s in the best shape of his career, he could have an even better run now than he did years ago. One of the criticisms of Carlito earlier in his career was that he didn’t take his work as seriously as he should’ve, but it appears that he evolved as he got older, and it will be very interesting to see what he accomplishes with a fresh run in WWE. Santos Escobar is very talented, but at almost 40, he might not be the long-term answer for the next top Hispanic star. He can still play an important role in the overall presentation, but if I had to guess, I’d say that Dragon Lee, who is more than a decade younger, has the potential to be the next top Mexican star in the WWE.
The Women’s title match was probably the best match on the show, and even though I’ve said it regularly before, it still applies, the female division is arguably the most consistent aspect of WWE programming. There are definitely too many triple threat matches on pay-per-view and it often seems like a booking crutch, but this bout was still a quality segment. The athletes used the three-way aspect really well, and it wasn’t a scenario where someone was constantly put on the sidelines so that the remaining two competitors could work a traditional match. The action was crisp and smooth. Quite simply, Asuka, Iyo, and Charlotte are top-notch performers. The finish of the moonsault with the figure eight spot for Iyo to retain was a great conclusion, and this match showcased each performer throughout the segment.
John Cena and LA Knight vs. The Bloodline was a segment that was designed to be more sizzle than substance, which was the right move. There wasn’t anything subpar in the contest, but it was very obvious that this was booked as a way to showcase LA Knight and then for him to get an endorsement from the legend, John Cena. Taking into account Knight’s surge in popularity, this all makes sense, but the question is, was this the ceiling for LA Knight? Was the spotlight to team with Cena against the most dominate faction in recent years the payoff for him? I’m not trying to be overly critical, but rather just skeptical about where Knight can go within the current WWE landscape. As I said earlier, Roman Reigns seems to be slotted for an eventual feud against The Rock, assuming that the Hollywood schedule allows it. Seth Rollins is a baby face champion on Raw, and regardless of the missed opportunity for a cash-in on this pay-per-view, it still looks like Damien Priest might be penciled in as the next world champion on Raw so where does all of this leave LA Knight? I’m not saying he shouldn’t get the push, I’m just not sure what the goal is in terms of a storyline Cena and Knight got the win for an entertaining segment.
The main event had its moments because of the gimmicks involved, and both guys put in the effort to make this a solid bout, but this title match had the same problem that the Seth Rollins/Shinsuke Nakamura from Payback had, nobody in the building thought there was a chance that Rollins was going to drop the championship. In fact, while there was decent action, there wasn’t a point during the last man standing match that it seemed like it might be a scenario where Nakamura would win and the lack of crowd reaction was an indication of it. As I said last month, Nakamura, as talented as he is, was cast as a secondary character on the shows for the past several years so this feud was more or less only booked because Rollins needed an opponent, not that Nakamura is viewed as a credible challenger. When the result is obvious, the segment is rather one-dimensional and the nearly 30-minute bout became somewhat tedious before the finish.
Overall, Fast Lane was more or less a paint-by-numbers approach to a secondary pay-per-view. Outside of the tag title switch, which is using the tag division to keep Cody and Uso busy, there wasn’t anything on the show that had a major impact on the direction of the product. The action was fine and there were some entertaining segments, but again, this event seemed like a placeholder until Survivor Series next month.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
