WWE Fastlane 2016: Best Possible Finish for Each Match
Sunday night, WWE will enter the Fastlane on the road to WrestleMania 32 with a three-hour pay-per-view extravaganza broadcast on the company's revolutionary streaming network.
The main event will see Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar battle for the right to challenge Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at The Showcase of the Immortals.
Supporting that match is an undercard full of talented wrestlers, all of whom are likely to give everything they have in order to grab the attention of management ahead of the biggest show of the year.
AJ Styles makes his singles pay-per-view debut, battling Chris Jericho in the third match of their brilliant series of bouts. Then, the new intercontinental champion, Kevin Owens, will defend against Dolph Ziggler in a match that has been building for weeks.
And finally, Kalisto and Alberto Del Rio will settle their differences on the pay-per-view Kickoff Show, when they compete in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match.
The Divas Revolution will take over the event, as Divas champion Charlotte will defend against Brie Bella, and Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks will battle Team B.A.D.
The show's top bouts have been supported by solid booking, but now that it is time for them to unfold on such a grand stage, all eyes will turn to WWE Creative and the finishes it concocts for each match. With WrestleMania right around the corner, the importance of every outcome and how each comes about is magnified.
A misstep could kill a character's heat at a time when the company needs as many stars as possible. A strong finish can reinvigorate a star, strengthen a feud and create even more interest in it going forward.
Which finishes best suit each match on Sunday's card, ensuring the preservation of the characters' heat and the quality of the matches?
Let's take a look.
2-out-of-3 Falls Match for the U.S. Title: Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio
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Any time WWE books a 2-out-of-3 Falls match, one expects the babyface to win one fall and the heel to win the other, guaranteeing the third.
Before Sunday's match between Kalisto and Alberto Del Rio, though, WWE Creative should re-evaluate that method.
Does the company have any significant plans for Del Rio at WrestleMania? If not and if he is to remain just another member of the nondescript League of Nations faction, Kalisto should win Sunday's match in straight falls.
The United States champion is still in the infancy of a push that the company hopes ends with him enjoying the same success that Rey Mysterio once did. A strong win over a Superstar who has held world titles and main evented pay-per-views would do wonders to getting him on track to achieve that goal.
Otherwise, a loss in the first or second fall eliminates the decisiveness of the victory and creates doubt in the minds of fans that appear ready to buy into the masked luchador.
Best Finish:
Kalisto defeats Del Rio in the first fall of the match, preferably with a roll-up of sorts, then beats him in the second fall with the Salida del Sol to put him over as both a credible champion and a Superstar on the level of his world championship-winning opponent.
Intercontinental Championship Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens
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Kevin Owens is intercontinental champion.
Again.
While that should represent a major accomplishment, it is more damning evidence of WWE Creative's inability to create stars. Owens is a tremendous performer who was as hot as anyone imaginable just eight months ago. Instead of striking while the proverbial iron was hot, it took the former ROH and NXT champion and dragged him into the mangled mess of mediocrity that is the midcard.
The same can be said for Ziggler, who has proven to be among the most popular stars on the roster and someone fans are waiting to get behind but who can never overcome the 50-50 booking that plagues so many deserving talents.
Sunday night, they will have an ultra-competitive match that pops the crowd, uses false finishes to create drama and builds on their previous bouts.
One man will win, one will lose and neither will benefit in any measurable way.
Best Finish:
Kevin Owens pins Dolph Ziggler after 14 minutes with the Pop-up Powerbomb.
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks vs. Team B.A.D.
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WWE built the Divas tag bout pitting Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch against Naomi and Tamina on the back of a storyline in which former rivals, Banks and Lynch, must coexist to thwart a common enemy.
It is a story that has been told dozens of times before, but the women have done a strong enough job of playing their roles that they have erased the feeling of repetition that generally accompanies the story.
Make no mistake about it, though—this match exists only to put Banks and Lynch over as they march toward a date at WrestleMania with Charlotte for the Divas Championship.
Both are among the elite women's wrestlers on the planet, and Naomi is strong enough of a worker that the match should be good, but it will still be a showcase for the babyfaces.
Thus, the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
Best Finish:
Lynch scores the submission win for the team, forcing Tamina to tap out to the Dis-arm-her.
After the match, an envious Banks drops Lynch with the Backstabber and traps her in the Bank Statement, bringing an end to their brief union and setting them on a collision course for 'Mania.
Big Show, Kane and Ryback vs. The Wyatt Family
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The Wyatt Family has recaptured momentum in the wake of a Royal Rumble in which they dominated and eliminated "The Beast Incarnate" Brock Lesnar.
To continue rolling into WrestleMania 32 on fire, the Wyatts will have to overcome the "WWE Titans," as Michael Cole was so desperate to get them over, in Ryback, Kane and Big Show.
It is a match that, on first glance, is designed to put Bray Wyatt and his followers (primarily Braun Strowman) over even stronger than they have been since December. Upon deeper look, it becomes even more obvious.
Each of the babyfaces has been treated as a jobber to the stars of late, putting over the competitors WWE Creative has invested in more than them. No show-closing Raw segment with The Big Red Monster popping up from underneath the ring will change that.
With Wyatt poised for another high-profile bout at 'Mania and WWE Creative doing nothing to convince fans that the babyfaces have even the slightest chance to emerge victorious, finding the most effective way to put the heels over should be the primary objective.
Best Finish:
Management must resist the urge to make Strowman the focus of the finish. The determination to have him squeeze the life out of Big Show will be strong, but this match should be used to shine the light on Wyatt, who is still the leader of the faction and still in the need of quality wins to build him up for the biggest show of the year.
While Wyatt is not officially in the match, he should have an impact post-victory. A vicious beatdown and a Sister Abigail to Big Show after the dust has settled would be exactly the type of statement that would help kick his march to WrestleMania off effectively because of all of the opponents in Sunday's match, The World's Largest Athlete still carries the most credibility.
AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho
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WWE Creative has done an incredible job of introducing AJ Styles to the audience and treating him as a legitimate Superstar. He is never overexposed, the commentary team puts him over as a true industry great based on his accomplishments elsewhere and he is given the opportunity to win matches in strong fashion.
His sole loss to this point is to Chris Jericho, the future Hall of Fame competitor he will battle at Fastlane.
Those two Superstars have competed in two straight singles bouts, each picking up a hard-fought victory.
Now, they will write the latest chapter in their intensifying rivalry when they battle in the rubber match, one of the most anticipated bouts of Sunday's card.
There are few ways WWE Creative can possibly ruin the match, but a screwy one, in which neither man wins in clear-cut fashion, would be one such case.
That sort of finish would undermine the entire purpose for the bout. It would render the story meaningless and prevent the definitive outcome fans of the Superstars and their feud deserve.
Best Finish:
Styles is a hotter commodity at this point and should leave Cleveland, Ohio, with his arm raised in victory.
Putting Jericho away with the Styles Clash, which he has introduced only one other time thus far in his WWE stint, would be the perfect way to put him over as the better man and move him on to whatever Creative has in store for him come WrestleMania.
Y2J is still an all-time great and will rebound the next night with a single promo, so he will be fine.
Divas Championship Match: Brie Bella vs. Charlotte (with Ric Flair)
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Prior to the retirement of Daniel Bryan, Charlotte vs. Brie Bella for the Divas Championship was as uninteresting a choice for a title match at Fastlane as one could imagine.
Then Bryan stepped away from the sport, and Charlotte tapped into the emotion surrounding that moment to create a compelling story that has fans invested in the match.
Brie Bella has become a sympathetic figure, something the Total Divas star has not been able to accurately portray for quite some time. Because of her association with Bryan and groundswell of support for him in the wake of his heartbreaking goodbye, fans are invested in her.
WWE is taking advantage of that and maybe even exploiting it a bit in an attempt to get heat for the match.
It has worked, and after two straight instances of Brie unleashing on Charlotte with a series of "YES!" kicks, the company has fans buying into the possibility (no matter how low) that she can upset the second-generation competitor and earn one more run with the top prize in women's wrestling.
But should she win?
Best Finish:
No matter how sympathetic Bella becomes or how much support she has from fans, Charlotte needs to retain in order to properly set up her WrestleMania program.
This is the one instance where Charlotte does not even need a clean win to maintain heat. A dirty win in which she benefits from her father, the legendary "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, being at ringside would be sufficient.
A backslide roll-up with her feet on the ropes, Flair holding onto her feet to create additional leverage unbeknownst to the official, would be perfect. Bella would retain her heat, Charlotte would be the hated heel who escapes with her title and both would be better off for it.
No. 1 Contender's Match: Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar
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Do not let WWE's booking ahead of Sunday's event fool you; Roman Reigns is winning the Triple Threat No. 1 Contender's match and heading to WrestleMania to challenge Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
With that out of the way, the real question is how WWE Creative goes about that.
Putting him over clean is essential.
If he pins Brock Lesnar following interference from The Wyatt Family or Ambrose after involvement from The Authority, it only creates more doubt in the minds of the fans that he deserves his 'Mania main event opportunity.
Having him bowl through Ambrose does not endear him to an audience more invested in The Lunatic Fringe than him and, at the same time, continues to support the idea that Ambrose is the loser little brother when he should be a babyface on the same level of his former Shield teammate.
That leaves a late showdown with Lesnar, who Reigns has unfinished business with dating back to WrestleMania last year. There was no decisive winner in that match, leaving fans to wonder who would have won if Seth Rollins had not cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase.
Now WWE Creative has the opportunity to answer that question.
Putting Reigns over Lesnar clean, particularly if The Beast spends the match beating the unholy hell out of his opponents, would be the most effective away to prove that he is the undisputed top contender to the WWE title.
Best Finish:
Brock Lesnar delivers a vicious F5 to a defiant Ambrose through the announce table. Down to him and Reigns, he takes the former WWE champion to Suplex City, only to allow his arrogance to betray him and Reigns to deliver three straight spears to cash his ticket to WrestleMania.
Is that the most popular finish among fans who, for whatever reason, hate Reigns? No, but it is definitive and wraps up all loose ends so that he can finally focus on The Game.
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