WWE Fastlane 2018 Results: Reviewing Top Highlights and Low Points
In the past, WWE Fastlane has been a moniker for some rather bland and lackluster events, with this year's show not having the best build to give it a strong foundation.
Going into Fastlane 2018, it was easy for fans to write it off as something unnecessary to check out, as it would be unlikely any titles would change hands and the matches would follow a predictable pattern.
On top of that, some bouts had such little effort put into setting them up that there was nothing to get invested in whatsoever.
Thankfully, there were also some noteworthy talents involved, with The New Day and The Usos promising another amazing fight as they've done in the past, a dream match between Randy Orton and Bobby Roode for the United States Championship and a mashup of six of SmackDown's best and brightest for the WWE Championship.
Now that Sunday's pay-per-view has concluded, how did the event settle down? Were there more positives to applaud or negatives to complain about?
It's time to look back on what transpired to pinpoint what went wrong for the show and what ended up being worth the hype.
Presented in order of appearance, here are those standout segments of the show, for better or worse, as we break down the highlights and low points for Fastlane 2018.
Low Point: Pre-Show Kickoff
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Not to sound like a broken record, but as is always the case, the pre-show for this pay-per-view left much to be desired.
Normally, there is a sense of it being kind of pointless to watch, but this was magnified even more so when WWE couldn't even muster the effort to advertise a single match in advance of the show.
Completely at random, Chad Gable, Shelton Benjamin and Mojo Rawley were put together with Tye Dillinger and Breezango for a six-man tag team match—as if we haven't seen enough three-on-three matches in the past few months.
It's good to see those guys get on the card in some capacity, but would it have been so hard to plan out something several days ago to give it some promotion?
The match itself was nothing special, and since no revelations or game-changing moments happened on the kickoff, the whole hour was awash with mostly catch-up material that can be mind-numbing to watch.
Low Point: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev
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It didn't do Shinsuke Nakamura any favors to be booked against Rusev here.
One of the problems WWE should have seen coming was the response from the crowd, which was half in support for Rusev over the babyface.
The win for Nakamura was meaningless, too, and having to struggle to get the victory didn't help him at all.
Ideally, the Royal Rumble winner should be one of the biggest focal points for this card. Instead, he was starting the show off in a rushed and lackluster feud.
This did nothing to help push Nakamura as someone more interesting to watch, nor as someone to get behind more in the coming weeks. All it did was prove he isn't popular enough to offset the Rusev chants and fans were willing to accept him being booked on the same midcard level.
Highlight: United States Championship Match
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For years, the prospect of a match between Bobby Roode and Randy Orton was something wrestling fans have been anticipating.
Thankfully, those expectations didn't turn into disappointment, as the pair proved they have solid chemistry together.
Truth be told, the match wasn't some spot-heavy match-of-the-year-quality extravaganza, but it was a standard good wrestling bout at its core.
That in itself was a enough of a highlight, but there was a bonus of the title change with Orton hitting an RKO out of nowhere.
That helps provide more intrigue heading into WrestleMania 34, as Jinder Mahal is in the mix, Roode will be seeking his rematch and Orton will fight to hold on to his new championship.
Low Point: Becky Lynch and Naomi vs. Natalya and Carmella
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It's one thing for this match to have been thrown together at the last minute as it was, as well as having no stakes or reason to get invested in it.
That meant the segment had a deficit to work with, but it could have been ignored had the end result been good enough to justify its place on the card.
Sadly, that wasn't the case. This was flat at best and problematic at worst.
This was especially bothersome toward the end of the match, when everybody seemed to lose track of what they were doing.
In the process of tossing Naomi and Natalya out of the ring, there was enough confusion to make every step awkward.
This is exactly the type of match that will be cut from future events when WWE goes back to a co-branded pay-per-view system—it failed in pretty much every way.
Highlight: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
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As mentioned in the final picks for this event, this was one of two matches that could have ended with a no-contest ruling after interference, with this being the preferred option.
The New Day and The Usos have had enough matches together to prove they are on equal footing, so with The Bludgeon Brothers coming into disrupt things, it keeps the two teams from having to look weak by either taking a pin.
It was alluded to well in advance with multiple segments on SmackDown showing Luke Harper and Erick Rowan taking an interest to The Usos and The New Day, so contrary to some other things on this show, this had a proper setup to it.
This should give all the motivation to set up a Triple Threat at WrestleMania on April 8, with The Bludgeon Brothers providing the heel powerhouse obstacle for both the other teams to get over.
Highlight: SmackDown Women's Championship Match
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Given how little momentum The Riott Squad has been able to build up in their time on the main roster, this ended up being a better segment overall than what it could have been.
The match itself was fine, and it was nice to see some logic where referee Mike Chioda ejected both Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan as well as Becky Lynch and Naomi.
More importantly, though, the major highlight was Asuka coming out after the match to clarify she will challenge Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania.
This was something that was easy to see coming over the past few weeks, as WWE never fully committed to making the match between Asuka and Alexa Bliss official. Looking between the lines, once Ronda Rousey was taken out of the equation, it was obvious The Empress of Tomorrow would jump ship to SmackDown.
However, if you're not someone who analyzes every move, you might have been taken by surprise and this could have been one of the best moments of the night.
Highlight: WWE Championship Six-Pack Challenge Match
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Right from the start, this match was a lot of fun, with John Cena hitting four Attitude Adjustments on all of his opponents bar AJ Styles.
From then on, there was another entertaining moment to spice things up every two minutes or so.
One of the most interesting was SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon's involvement to screw over Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn as a result of an uncoordinated accidental superkick from KO.
Everyone was able to have some kind of spot in which they were showcased and running into a bit of good luck to potentially win the match, which helped keep suspense up for a possible title change.
Thankfully, the status quo remained and the match between Styles and Nakamura was preserved, as it should have been.
What were your highlights and low points for this event? Do you agree or disagree with this list? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
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