WWE Fastlane 2016 Results: Power Ranking Every Match at PPV
WWE Fastlane has come and gone, and all eyes are now on the Road to WrestleMania 32.
But before we put the February pay-per-view in the rearview mirror, the matches that unfolded Sunday night deserve attention.
The Superstars and Divas of World Wrestling Entertainment delivered strong individual performances in the night's most important matches, but some still excelled where others faltered, leaving a mixture of outstanding and lackluster in-ring work.
The matches widely expected to be great were, while those most figured to be mediocre or bad lived down to their expectations, which was fitting for a show that was sometimes good, sometimes bad but largely entertaining.
Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar provided a wildly entertaining main event, while The Wyatt Family, Kane, Big Show and Ryback did the opposite. Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Naomi and Tamina wrestled a really solid tag team bout, while R-Truth and Curtis Axel left fans wondering how they even managed a spot on the card.
Where did your favorite match of the night rank on a list primarily based on match quality but also taking into consideration importance and crowd heat?
Take a look for yourself.
8. R-Truth vs. Curtis Axel
1 of 8
R-Truth vs. The Social Outcasts' Curtis Axel did not belong anywhere near the Fastlane card.
An excuse to further the awful storyline involving the clueless Truth and Goldust, it was a pathetic excuse for a match that never had any real structure and was hampered by the extracurricular activities involving Axel's outcast teammates and The Bizarre One.
The story in question is WWE's attempt at recreating the genius of Goldust's team with Booker T. Unfortunately, he and Truth do not have the same chemistry, nor is the comedy nearly as strong, and the result is a waste of television time that could be better used on two guys fans legitimately care about at this point.
It was a bad match that, when coupled with The Cutting Edge Peep Show that preceded it, has fans wondering why the United States Championship was relegated to the Kickoff Show.
7. Ryback, Kane and the Big Show vs. The Wyatt Family
2 of 8
Had it not been for the unannounced match between Truth and Axel, the six-man tag team match pitting Ryback, Kane and Big Show against The Wyatt Family would have run away with Worst Match of the Night honors.
The absence of Bray Wyatt severely hurt the match. He is, without a shadow of doubt, the most dynamic performer in the heel faction. He may not be the celebrated worker Luke Harper is, but he understands how to combine the in-ring work with the theatricality necessary to connect with the audience.
That would have gone a long way in helping the match. Instead, Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan lumbered around the ring, working their slow-paced style that killed crowd heat.
Sure, Big Show generated a reaction by getting fans to chant "Feed me more!" in support of Ryback, then by press-slamming Harper over the top rope, but it was hardly enough to erase the underwhelming action and the complete apathy of the fans.
The mind-boggling finish, which saw the babyfaces go over, only left even more of a sour taste in the mouths of the fans.
6. Divas Championship Match: Brie Bella vs. Charlotte
3 of 8
There are times that the effectiveness of a match is more dependent upon the story than the actual in-ring action.
Sunday night, Brie Bella challenged Charlotte in a bout that was supported by an emotional storyline but did not necessarily have high expectations from an in-ring perspective.
The match was much better than it had any right to be, with Bella turning in an incredibly strong performance in what may very well be her final singles pay-per-view match.
Though there were some iffy spots, some can be attributed to nerves or adrenaline more than a lack of skill, particularly on the ugly small-package roll-up late in the match.
But Bella was brilliant as she grabbed hold of the Yes! Lock, then slapped on a half-Boston Crab from there. The was the most impressive part of her entire performance. She really grabbed hold of the maneuver and make it look like it legitimately hurt, sitting down on the upper back of the champion.
Of course, the execution of moves and the sequencing of the events is still important, and there was enough of it done as well as it needed to be.
Add to that an unsatisfactory finish that saw the challenger tap out within a second of being put in the figure-eight leglock despite the ropes being right there, and you have a match that was good but not enough to be considered for a higher spot on this countdown.
5. Best 2-out-of-3-Falls Match for the U.S. Title: Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio
4 of 8
The first match on Sunday's card was the 2-out-of-3-Falls match between Kalisto and Alberto Del Rio, which aired on the WWE Network Kickoff Show.
Summoning the formula that made the match between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus at Extreme Rules a modern classic, Del Rio intentionally got himself disqualified in the first round by using a chair on the United States champion then scored a quick win of his own in Fall No. 2.
Thus, the heel softened up his opponent early and made up for the fall he forfeited in short order, and the match became a more dramatic, sudden-death affair.
As expected, Kalisto retained the title by winning the third fall of a match that was very good but never really elevated itself to greatness.
That has been the story of this U.S. championship-centered feud. The matches have been very good but have not reached the full potential given the talents of the wrestlers involved. They were either too one-sided or fluky to really get to the level fans expected of the performers.
Sunday's night was another fine example.
Hopefully, the decisive manner in which Kalisto picked up the win suggests the Superstars will move on, because the feud has run its course.
4. Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks vs. Tamina and Naomi
5 of 8
The WWE Divas kicked off the actual pay-per-view portion of Sunday's show, a first for a North American-based show.
Sasha Banks entered the arena first and looked like a star from the moment she flashed her "Legit Boss" knuckles to the second she received the hot tag from Becky Lynch and exploded into the match, taking down both Naomi and Tamina before tapping the latter out to the Banks Statement.
Lynch, to her credit, was a fantastic babyface in peril, taking a convincing beating from her opponents and returning just in the nick of time to prevent Naomi from breaking up Banks' submission hold. The Lass Kicker even trapped the former Funkadactyl in the Disarmer, giving fans the very cool visual of both babyfaces with their signature maneuvers applied to their rivals.
Naomi and Tamina worked extremely hard, turning in their finest performances in a long time.
They worked the old-school tag formula to perfection, isolating Lynch, cutting off tag attempts, then bumping around the ring like crazy to really put over the offense of Banks as she rallied late.
Overall, it was a tag match that proved that the women could work the exact same style of match that their male counterparts do, and maybe even better them.
3. Intercontinental Championship Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens
6 of 8
Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler had wrestled so many times in the weeks before Fastlane that the idea of another match between the Superstars was anything but appealing.
Luckily, the performers thrived under the pay-per-view spotlight and delivered their best match to date.
Ziggler was also fueled by his hometown crowd, which got behind him late in the match as he made his babyface comeback. The only problem with said comeback was the fact that no one was really convinced that he would win the match, which probably prevented it from generating an even louder response than it did.
Owens was outstanding, talking trash to Ziggler as he beat him down. Again, though, it did not matter how much he bumped late in the match, as the outcome was never really in doubt.
That is of no fault of the performers. WWE Creative did an awful job of convincing fans that The Showoff had even a remote chance of leaving with the title. Thus, the heat was hurt significantly.
While that does have an effect on the overall product, the strength of the ring work was enough to land it at No. 3 on our list.
2. Triple Threat Match: Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar
7 of 8
The main event Triple Threat match was interesting in that everyone knew Roman Reign was going to win (and be booed loudly for everything he did), hoped Dean Ambrose would win and cheered along with every display of brutality dealt out by Brock Lesnar.
From trips to Suplex City and teases of former long-lost Shield days, the match had something for every fan.
The story of the contest was that Reign and Ambrose would work together to neutralize Lesnar, then focus on each other as they put aside friendship for the right to face Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania.
The eventual Reigns victory, achieved via spear to Ambrose, was met with the predictable boos and jeers of fans disenfranchised with the idea of his headlining the biggest show of the year. But it made sense within the context of the story that began months ago. There never was any chance that anyone but him was leaving victorious, regardless of how strong Ambrose was booked heading into the match, so there should have been no real surprise or disappointment.
Nor should that outcome dampen anyone's opinion of the match.
It was wild, chaotic and presented fans with tremendous spots that took them on an emotional roller-coaster ride. The quality was excellent, even if the finish was lackluster.
It was a match that, had it featured any other outcome, would have been greeted with a universal thumbs-up and is facing unjust scrutiny.
1. AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho
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The best match of Fastlane 2016, in this writer's opinion, is the match that looked like the best from the second it was announced.
Chris Jericho and AJ Styles had wrestled two very strong matches on Raw and SmackDown ahead of Sunday's event, and their rubber match had earned the intrigue and anticipation of the audience.
The celebrated in-ring competitors had a wrestler's wrestling match, confined to the ring for the most part and featuring strong character work from both guys.
Styles put himself over on the Kickoff show as the equivalent to the great NFL running back Barry Sanders, in that he was never the biggest guy but persevered and did phenomenal things between the ropes. He followed that up by withstanding Jericho's onslaught, including a dropkick that sent him tumbling off the top rope and smacking his face on the mat, and scoring the win with the Calf Crusher.
Jericho, on the other hand, exhibited the frustration that some believe will lead to a heel turn.
"You're a stupid son of a b---h!" Y2J exclaimed after failing to put Styles away. He reiterated the "stupid" claim and even teased an unsportsmanlike post-match attack before shaking hands with the victor.
It was a beautiful match that did not rely on plunder or gimmickry. There was no overly complicated backstory or poor attempts at comedy sprinkled into the equation.
It was wrestling at its finest and, not so coincidentally, the hottest match of the night.
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