Wrestling is all about the chase.
Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan are both 6-time WWE champions, but Hogan spent 1,600-plus more days as champ than Austin. The reason behind this is simple: the business transitioned, particularly in the 1990s, to the top babyface constantly pursuing the title but struggling to attain the gold.
WWE’s Fastlane pay-per-view on Sunday served as the final stop on the road to WrestleMania. Fittingly, it took place only hours after Tiger Woods’ failed attempt to reclaim a PGA tour title. Woods finished one stroke behind the winner, which was the equivalent of John Cena—seeking his 17th WWE championship—getting to two but never the one-two-three pinfall.
Cena failed in his bid to set the new world title record, and it’s the reason only one of Austin’s title reigns lasted over 100 days: wrestling is all about the chase.
For WWE, that chase leads next to April’s WrestleMania.
• Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Rusev
• Randy Orton won the United States title in his victory over Bobby Roode
• Carmella and Natalya Neidhart defeated Becky Lynch and Naomi
• The Usos and New Day fought to a no contest due to outside interference
• Charlotte successfully defended the SmackDown women’s title against Ruby Riott
• AJ Styles pinned Kevin Owens to retain the WWE title in a six-pack challenge match that also included John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, and Sami Zayn.
1. Despite some of the Fastlane matches coming in with little or no story (a United States championship feud over a Top 10 list seems straight out of the pages of the “New Generation” playbook), this is the type of show where WWE regularly shines.
The WWE roster is incredibly talented. Pay-per-views still serve as a safe place for fans who desperately want to watch wrestling matches. Even if the lack of interest in this card is justification for WWE’s decision to move to dual-branded shows after ‘Mania, I am of the opinion that, if you enjoy wrestling, even if we don’t look back on this card with the fondness of Savage-Steamboat at WrestleMania III, it will be worth the price of the Network.
2. Opening with Shinsuke Nakamura—and closing with AJ Styles—is a great segue to the most must-see match at WrestleMania 34. Hopefully this does not mean Rusev is collateral damage that is buried along the way.
3. Rusev and Nakamura worked an entertaining opening match, which was significantly enhanced by the energy of the crowd in Columbus, Ohio. The finish saw Nakamura knock Rusev out with a second kinshasha.
4. Imagine the excited reaction of wrestling fans if you told them in 2015 that Orton would feud with Bobby Roode over the United States championship.
But the storyline—arguing over their spots on SmackDown’s Top 10 list—is absurd. The lack of realism really grinds my gears because this program should have such a realistic feel to it, considering that Orton headlined WWE shows for years while Roode toiled away in TNA. Roode could have argued that, promotions aside, he was every bit as talented and deserving of Orton’s success. Instead, we have a Top 10 list.
5. Can anyone describe Roode in a sentence or less?
Roode has worked on the WWE main roster for seven months, but still does not have a definable character.
Wrestling is all about selling a product, which is the wrestler, and the audience needs to know what it bought. Beyond an entrance, which is fantastic, the presentation of Roode in-ring and on the mic has been very vanilla. Roode needs some type of conflict to take his work to another level.
6. Speaking of overcoming conflict and chasing a title, Roode lost his U.S. title courtesy of an RKO. This is Orton’s first U.S. title run in his 16-year WWE career, and the idea that he is better than Roode sets up a really solid story for a WrestleMania rematch. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this is not a watered down three-way with Jinder Mahal.
7. My head is spinning from the match’s aftermath.
See if you can stay with me here. Mahal’s music hit as Orton celebrated his win, and he started his beat down on Orton, who was exhausted after his match with Roode. Then, selling no injuries or even fatigue, Roode returned to the ring to give a Glorious DDT to Mahal, and then another to Orton. Even though he lost the match…
