WWE Fast Lane Spoilers

Roman Reigns ensured he will face Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight title at WrestleMania after overcoming the challenge of Daniel Bryan at Fastlane.

The final pay-per-view before WrestleMania was free to watch on the WWE Network, and featured the collision of Reigns and Bryan as well as the return of Sting as he confronted rival Triple H.

A back-and-forth battle saw Bryan attempt a running-kick on Reigns, only for The Big Dog to counter into a spear and cover Bryan for the right to face Lesnar next month. As Reigns celebrated, Bryan would shove him in the chest, threatening a post-match brawl, but instead he offered Reigns a handshake and told him “you better kick his a***” in reference to his match against Lesnar.

The most anticipated clash of the night wasn’t a match in itself, but when Sting came out to confront Triple H after their escalating rivalry began at Survivor Series when Sting cost The Game victory for The Authority.

Triple H offered Sting a reprieve if he walked away now, promising to induct him into the Hall of Fame and allow his legacy to live on from his WCW days, however, once Sting arrived in the ring it soon became apparent that there was only ever going to be one option. The Game accepted this, but immediately got in a cheap shot and made a beeline for his trusty sledgehammer.

But Sting was ready for Triple H’s underhand tricks, and was waiting in the ring with his legendary black baseball bat. He pressed the bat into The Game’s neck to halt him in his tracks, backing him into a corner and making him release his sledgehammer.

Sting eyed the WrestleMania sign that loomed overhead, laying down the challenge for and almighty collision on the Grandest Stage of them All, but as he turned to leave Triplke H would attack him again. Sting recovered with help from the baseball bat, and eventually laid the King of Kings out with a Scorpion Death Drop.

John Cena came up short in his attempt to recapture the WWE United States Championship and inflict a first major defeat on Rusev, but the Bulgarian Brute needed to play dirty in order to do so. With Cena threatening to break out of the Accolade, Lana distracted the referee long enough for Rusev to deliver a low blow to Cena, kick him in the head and put him back in the Accolade. Eventually, referee Charles Robinson was left with no option but to end the bout and award Rusev the win.

Bray Wyatt signalled his intention to face The Undertaker at Wrestlemania after mocking the Deadman’s entrance with a similar arrival as he emerged from a casket. Wyatt promised to claim ‘Taker’s soul at the main event, before unleashing his demonic laugh on the WWE Universe. Will the challenge be enough to lure The Undertaker back into the ring for the first time since his shock defeat to Brock Lesnar last year?

Dean Ambrose was disqualified in his WWE Intercontinental title fight with champion Bad News Barrett after refusing to stop an attack on the British brawler when he was backed into a corner. Barrett twice tried to leave the fight, but it would be Ambrose who left with the title even though he wasn’t champion after a post-match assault on Barrett.

Meanwhile, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd were crowned the new WWE Tag Team Champions after beating the Usos, while Seth Rollinsm Big Show and Kane defeated Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan in the first match of the night. When the three members of The Authority attempted to launch a second assault after the bell along with J&J Security, a returning Randy Orton made the save to renew his rivalry with Mr Money in the Bank Rollins.

Nikki Bella defended her Divas Championship with a victory over Paige, while Goldust overcame his brother Stardust only to be assaulted backstage after the fight when talking to his father, Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes.

Forgot this was on.

Good to see Cesaro and Tyson Kidd new tag champs.
Not a fan of the Uso's.

Thought Goldust would win.

Good to see Nikki win. Dang, she fine.

Was an above average episode of RAW, despite some hype based on the card. So many weird booking decisions I dont know where to start.

Why did Kane pin Ziggler? Just stupid. In the words of the returning Orton: Stupid Stupid Stupid.

Glad Cesaro and Kidd one, really like the team and they work well together.

Thought the referee botched the end of the Rhode Brothers match. Sets up Stardust to retire Goldy at Mania though, which is nice.

Wait, did Nikki cheat to win? Finally. A heel champion doing what heel champions should do.

Bray Wyatt was exceptional again. Starting to get excited by this feud, even though I still think its lose/lose for Bray.

What was the booking behind getting Ambrose DQ'd? Stupid again. Like how he stole the belt though. Could lead to some fun promos.

Oh good. Sting vs Triple H is official now. And Sting had a bat! Yawn. Still dont care. Cheering for Triple H purely because this is being booked as WWF vs Ted Turners country wrasslin' hootenany.

Cena vs Rusev was decent, but wait, ANOTHER HEEL CHAMP CHEATING TO RETAIN THE TITLE? Be still my beating heart, maybe Vince is remembering what makes a heel a heel.

Bryan vs Reigns was a highlight. No shock it was Reigns best singles match of his career, and hopefully he proved himself a bit more.

Remember when the PPV between the Royal Rumble and Mania was still a big deal? Remember Mick Foley retiring, or Triple H and Stone Cold killing each other in the first Three Stages of Hell match? Or Rock vs Hogan two? This PPV just didnt feel like a big enough event. Crowd didnt help, felt they were a bit poor.

I really liked the storytelling of the PPV.

It was hindered by having to set up rematches (as well as a dead crowd)

The crowd were absolute w@nk.

Crowd were poor but thought it was a decent PPV overall.

It's a shame Ziggler took the pin in the 6 man tag, hopefully he gets something decent for Mania, shouldn't be jobbing to Big Show and Kane. Great to see Orton back, him vs Rollins is a potential match of the night at Mania.

Stardust vs Goldust is obviously building towards the pay off at Wrestlemania, where Stardust should retire Goldust. Thought the ref made a mess of the pin, and this is a bit of a random one, thought the ref's were poor all night, in a couple of matches it wasn't clear whether they'd given a three count or not.

Really glad to see Tyson Kidd and Cesaro get the tag titles, Kidd is really under-rated and deserved a reward for how he performed down in NXT for 6 months. Hopefully not the last time we see the two teams face other as think there is potential for much more.

I'm such a Sting mark I thought that whole segment was cool. I'm glad he didn't talk, think it was Dolph who said on chatbox he doesn't need to, mostly because it normally ruins things.

Guessing Ambrose was booked how he was to live up to the whole lunatic fringe gimmick, can't say I'm a huge fan of it but at least he should get a bit of air-time at Mania in a rematch.

Nikki vs Paige is what it is, nice to see some heel tactics. again I think we'll get a rematch at Mania with Paige winning the belt.

Wyatt was really good, although I was hoping that it was Undertaker with Wyatt interfering from there. I'm the opposite to Samo, I think this is a win/win for Wyatt. He's not going to have the stigma of being the first person to beat Taker at Mania, but it will still be the biggest win of his career so far(I'm assuming he's going to win the match!)

Cena vs Rusev was better than expected, thought the ending did everything well. Some heel tactics from Lana/Rusev, keeps Rusev strong in making Cena pass out while also living up to Cena's "never give up" thing as he didn't tap. I expect he'll get the win in the rematch which I'm fine with.

Bryan vs Reigns was match of the night, unsurprisingly it was Reigns' best showing as a singles competitor. There was some interesting spots in the match, particularly Reigns' three suplexes in a row mirroring Brock. Will be interested to see how their match goes, could be really good but also has the potential to be a shocker. Not sure where they're going to go with Bryan at Mania, maybe the best option is just giving him and Ziggler 15 minutes at the start to go out and put on a great match to get the fans going.

Really enjoyed the PPV on the whole and I'm with Ziggler in that they did the best they could booking wise what with essentially knowing rematches had to be set up in some form or another for 3 matches at least.

Bryan is a real conundrum heading into Mania; I am a fan of him...though not a 'fanboy'...in so much as I won't follow him to the moon and back. Fan or not though anything he is involved in at Mania is going to feel so underwhelming. A guy who for the best part of 2 years has been one of the top two stars in the industry...who for a year chased down the authority before going into Mania and putting in not one...but two standout performances (both in terms of in ring action and ring psychology/storytelling) ...and now were talking about sticking him in a battle royale or a mini feud with no real meaning other than getting the crowd hot for the evening ahead.

Yes at times you have to take one for the team, but no one can say off the back of the past 4 weeks...let alone last nights match that there any uncertainties regards Bryan and his ability to go. And that's the massive issue I had...if WWE had no plans to stick him in the main event they should have left him well out of the Rumble. Could have easily had him come back and the Authority play on his injury and whether he was going to be the same. Make him claw his way up...heck even have them come out and say sorry but your start from the bottom and prove your injury isn't holding you back.

Instead they played on his popularity...stuck him in the Rumble and booked him terribly without thinking of the reprucussions and then have had to appease the 'smarks' (and others) by having him fight it out for a main event spot....which has ultimately only proven wrong, those who question his injury/fitness as to whether it's worth the risk.

Mat wrote:
Wyatt was really good, although I was hoping that it was Undertaker with Wyatt interfering from there. I'm the opposite to Samo, I think this is a win/win for Wyatt. He's not going to have the stigma of being the first person to beat Taker at Mania, but it will still be the biggest win of his career so far(I'm assuming he's going to win the match!)

Thats my biggest beef with the whole thing. With the streak broken theres nothing left. All he is doing is either beating an old man, or being beaten by one. This is a match he absolutely has to win. If he loses all his incredible work over the past month has been for nothing.

Im split on it. I'm not sure a crowd want to see Taker lose again, and theres also a chance he goes on for one more and retires in Texas. But if Wyatt loses he isnt getting a rematch to win and level things. Personally, I think people excuse wrestlers losing to Taker at Mania. I'd be fine with Wyatt losing if he then wins Money in the Bank

First time in years a Taker match will have a genuine "don't know" added to it which can only be a good thing, whether people agree with the streak going or not what was always undeniable was the fact Taker would be victorious which for me, after WM24 became so cliché that I found it almost impossible to buy into the notion he may lose

The crowd were brutal but you have you have to look at rhe WWE for that, there wasnt anything earth shattering to get your teeth into, the Bryan/Reigns feud was the one big match but even that didn't feel main event, brilliant match though but I'm not a fan of the Rumble winner having to go past another obsticle, again, it's not about whether Reigns was the right man for the job, he was chosen so I don't think you can then put him in a match, he won it fair and square, there was no logical need to do this, even if the crowd did crap on him, I think it helps Reigns that he went past Bryan but I don't think it does anything for the prestige of winning the Royal Rumble

I thought it was a very decent show, essentially it was set up to branch onto WrestleMania and I think they got the job done, the most iinteresting thing about the whole night for me was the way Cena lost, I've called this kind of loss for him in the past but didn't think we'd see it on a B PPV against someone that wasn't in the Main Event and had already arrived,iit was a brave move, I liked it but anyone who submits Cena should be headed for the stars, unfortunately I'm thinking all Rusev is headed for is the Rocky style comeback, I can accept that but I hoprle Cena wins the right way, I hopenthe match promotes Rusev as a guy to move onto the next level, not just a guy Cena has had to dig deep to overcome.

Cena heel turn has been requested for about 7/8 years now, I wonder now if he'll finally turn this year, with the way he lost to Brock and the way Rusev dominated him at times and how he actually lost, it would make more sense now to turn the franchise player heel, now he's not as dominant,  now he might fear for his spot, the WWE is all he has, maybe it makes sense now to cling onto it with dear life and the only way to protect that could be to join forces with the Authority, I think from a storytelling point of view this makes more sense than other possibilities. 

I was surprised by the booking of the Stardust/Goldust angle, I've been going over it a few times in my head since I saw it and still can't fully appreciate the booking of it, it seems certain Goldust is retiring at WrestleMania so we essentially need a reason to put his career on the line, I don't see why he'd feel the need now to put his career on the line against a guy he really doesn't want to fight and has already beat, I could see Cody put his career on the line but don't bsee why Goldust would want to beat him or want to add his career to it. They could easily do something to make it seem logical in the next few weeks but it just feels like going from A to F just to get to B

I think after attacking Goldie again and the way it ended being a bit quick, Goldust may find himself telling Stardust he wants him again, and that if Goldie wins then Stardust has to go back to Cody. Stardust should then say he'll do it, if Goldust puts his career on the line. Easy sell.

I cant see Cena turning, but if he does then I cannot look past him coming in to make the save for Sting, only to turn on him

I can't really see Cena turning either but I was thinking watching him at the PPV his whole mentality could be similar to Austin's in 2001 whe  he finally joined Vince

I wouldnt mind seeing him feud with Reigns and then Ambrose before turning. The whole "go through me" before you're the face of the business is something I liked, and then I think Ambrose and Cena would contrast so well and have a Punk/Cena vibe. And losing to Ambrose could be something to really start pushing him down

Cena and Ambrose had some good moments leading into Hell in a Cell, I think its a feud i'd be interested in seeing.

I like the thought of Ambrose/Cena, i really do, I think Ambrose is so messy in the ring it would actually give Cena a platform to show what he can do, I've grown to like Cena, I hate the character but he's done enough in big matches to win me over, hes been apart of too many for it to be all his oponents good work.

When I say Ambrose is messy I don't mean hes sloppy, I think he's in complete control of what hes doing, I just like the realistic vibe he brings to his matches with that rough n ready style

Well atleast they've done something right this time as #CancelWWENetwork isn't trending

It was never about Reigns just Poopie booking.

Not if you look at reddit's smarks. They hated t. Including being disgusted that Reigns was given the first knee plus kick out and that one spear took Bryan down. The latter I agree with to be fair.

They also think it was all Bryan and reigns was carried, and that Roman was gassing after 5 mins. I'd call it selling, which Adam's favourite man JR also thought both men did great, plus I think Bryan kicked him in the balls instead of the gut!

Cena worked great with Rusev, he's a brilliant worker. He's not a ring wizard but he knows how to put on big matches. Him and Ambrose and him and Reigns would be good for both of the younger guys, both in how to play a big feud and how to wrestle a wwe main event.

Also, the storytelling in Goldust/Stardust was brilliant. Cody Rhodes is a talent above the majority in WWE when it comes to acting and the pair completely understood that this first match so so story driven

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Not if you look at reddit's smarks. They hated t. Including being disgusted that Reigns was given the first knee plus kick out and that one spear took Bryan down. The latter I agree with to be fair.
 

Why would you go on Reddit It's like special central there or is it to get away from Adam's excessive TNA talk

That being said ive canceled my WWE Network mainly cos ive watched what i wanted to and the WM Card doesn't interest me a bit bar Rollins & Orton which could about to be ruined by Jon Stewart's presence and Wyatt & Taker (Although most of that's promo-wise) What i will say Taker/Wyatt wise is i expect it to be much better then Lesnar/Taker because Wyatt will go out work with Taker at his house like HHH/HBK did (Lesnar didn't) The rest of the Card i don't really care about so far so unless the storylines become compelling it will be a free stream for WM tbh.

Im going to be a conspiracy theorist. The crowd sounded like the sound had been turned down at certain points of the evening when i watched it this morning the commentators seemed louder then usual guessing was trying to keep the Reign's booing to a minimum...

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:one spear took Bryan down.

Didnt Bryan kick out of a spear just before he countered one into a small package? Or am I remembering that wrong?

Fernando wrote:Im going to be a conspiracy theorist.  The crowd sounded like the sound had been turned down at certain points of the evening when i watched it this morning the commentators seemed louder then usual guessing was trying to keep the Reign's booing to a minimum...

First heard that on Reddit

I just think the crowd were bad all night. There was no reaction to the Taker entrance, no reaction to Sting and nothing to Cena. Ambrose got a bit of something but that match was so weird that it died down again.

Samo wrote:

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:one spear took Bryan down.  

Didnt Bryan kick out of a spear just before he countered one into a small package?  Or am I remembering that wrong?

My mind is a blur, but it still felt like Bryan didnt really fight as hard as Reigns did to survive. Might be worth them giving Reigns a sleeper hold just so he can put opponents through stress

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

Fernando wrote:Im going to be a conspiracy theorist.  The crowd sounded like the sound had been turned down at certain points of the evening when i watched it this morning the commentators seemed louder then usual guessing was trying to keep the Reign's booing to a minimum...

First heard that on Reddit

I just think the crowd were bad all night. There was no reaction to the Taker entrance, no reaction to Sting and nothing to Cena. Ambrose got a bit of something but that match was so weird that it died down again.

See when i watched there was a reaction to the Taker entrance.

#ConspiracyConfirmed

^ Ha, I watched this last night on the network and I noticed sound going up and down randomly at points but thought nothing of it until I came into this thread. Reigns entrance was one particular point I noticed, the first 'duh, duh' of his music was really loud then it was like someone turned the volume down.

And I was actually coming in here to say that when you get absolutely no reaction to Cena (either way) then you know your audience haven't bought into your booking. But all may not be as it seems

Austin and Wade Keller seemed to think the crowd reactions were fine if not brilliant. Cena for example got a massive pop. They blamed the acoustics in the FedExFrouum building for the poor translation of sound on TV. That seems a fairly reasonable explanation to me, although I'm still not sure what was going on with Reigns' entrance.