WWE Fastlane 2017 Review: Top Highlights and Low Points
The aptly named WWE Fastlane 2017 pay-per-view was the final pit stop on the Road to WrestleMania 33 for the Raw roster, setting the stage for the biggest show of the year.
While some matches on the card were the standard operating procedure of a regular event, others had immense implications going forward that promised to change the landscape not just for the next month or so but the entire year in sports entertainment.
In particular, everyone's eyes were on Goldberg and his quest to have one more championship run in him, while Kevin Owens was firm on his aspirations that superheroes don't exist and he would stay on top.
Similarly, Samoa Joe was on a path of destruction to create a name for himself on the main roster, two behemoths in Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman found themselves in the other one's way to the top, and Bayley hoped to end Charlotte Flair's undefeated pay-per-view streak.
Now that the results are in, how good did Fastlane turn out to be? Were there more positives or negatives throughout the night, and did the whole outweigh the sum of its parts?
Let's look back at what happened at the 2017 Fastlane event and single out the biggest highlights and low points of the evening, presented in order of appearance.
Highlight: Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn
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While it wasn't the barnburner it could have been, the match between Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe was still a fun bout to open the show up.
The biggest story to tell was Joe's dominance, which was illustrated here with his submission victory.
For the most part, that was accomplished but done in a way that didn't have to be a complete squash that killed Zayn's credibility.
This fast, Joe has illustrated that he's at least above Zayn on the roster in terms of power and possibly even further up the ladder than that.
It also paints Zayn as the underdog if this is a challenge he's meant to overcome. He excels best in that role, so both men are in a good spot right now after this match.
Low Point: Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks
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This match was just tedious and boring from top to bottom.
At no point was there any actual excitement injected into it as Nia Jax wrestles a style that is simply too slow to get any real momentum going.
When Sasha Banks was in control, it wasn't believable as she's less than half Jax's size. When Jax is putting the hurt on Banks, it should be a total squash.
The finish was also just a means to keep this going even longer, which is disappointing as it hasn't been good since it started.
For this to be less entertaining of a segment than Mick Foley on a phone call is nothing to be proud of.
Highlight: Rusev and Jinder Mahal Split
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Nothing of the sort was advertised ahead of time, but the impromptu split between Rusev and Jinder Mahal ended up being a rather fun addition to the card.
This started off with a humorous backstage segment between the two, Lana and Mick Foley before turning into two separate matches.
Not only did this accomplish putting both of these two men on the card, but also Cesaro and Sheamus as well as a surprise return of Big Show, who finally has a little bit of momentum on his side.
These two had nothing really going for them, and it's funny to think that it took splitting up to finally get Mahal his first match on a pay-per-view in quite a long time.
It will be interesting to see if this feud continues on Raw and going forward into WrestleMania.
Highlight: Cruiserweight Championship Match
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How can someone watch this match and not want to check out 205 Live every week?
This was the most thoroughly fun fight on the entire event as it had a level of energy not seen before it. Both men went at it like it mattered more than anything else that came before.
Jack Gallagher's headbutts in particular were brutal to watch, but Neville also stepped up his game to pull out the Red Arrow, which hasn't been seen in quite some time.
By the end of the fight, Gallagher looked less like a joke to those who might not be used to his style, and Neville looked like he has a legitimate claim to call himself the king of the cruiserweights.
Low Point: No Surprises in Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
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Considering the way Roman Reigns has been booked over the past few years, it was completely unnecessary for him to beat Braun Strowman in this match.
It isn't going to change the crowd's point of view to get him more cheers nor was it a needed victory to re-establish his credibility as he's well past the point of losing that.
On the other end of things, Strowman doesn't look to be as prominently featured going into WrestleMania and could have used the momentum to offset that.
Along with this, WWE missed the opportunity to give Strowman the win with a distraction from The Undertaker, which would have helped propel the Reigns-Taker feud as well as act as a reason for why Reigns wasn't able to get the job done.
How WWE manages to capitalize on this to make it worth the Strowman loss is up in the air, but history has shown that more often than not, the focus will just be on how Reigns was victorious, which does no favors to anybody.
Low Point: Goldberg Wins Universal Championship
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We all saw this coming from a mile away, so it lacked any shock value.
Obviously, the match itself wasn't good as it was under 30 seconds long. Even worse, the downside to this is how little we'll see the Universal Championship going forward.
Goldberg will likely be dropping the title to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, who will stay off television for the majority of the time until SummerSlam, meaning Raw will be without its top title until nearly September.
The mandatory title switch also takes away morale from people like Kevin Owens who work hard throughout the year, but in the end, clearly don't matter as much to WWE as part-timers who swoop in to steal the main event.
The fact that this has been going on for years and nothing has changed is perhaps the biggest disappointment of them all.
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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