Singles Match for the Number One Contendership to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns
Norman Smiley ain't having any of Bryan's shit.
Head to Head Record - Bryan, 1 win. Reigns, 1 win.
In an attempt to garner some support for Roman Reigns, WWE put him in a storyline opposite the most popular babyface in the company. It's a risky decision...but it could pay off. Reigns and Bryan seem to have chemistry when opposite each other, as well as an odd-couple tag team as demonstrated on Smackdown last week and hopefully that will feed into their contest here. Reigns will need to put in a performance of his career to quell the "smart" fan uprising against Reigns that was seen during his Royal Rumble victory, if he's going to go over Bryan and head to WrestleMania. A dusty finish would almost seem like the easy option for WWE, having Bryan compete in the Triple threat at WrestleMania, whilst still allowing Reigns to win the title, by keeping that vocal section of the fanbase happy. Head to Head Record - Bryan, 1 win. Reigns, 1 win.
Prediction - Roman Reigns wins, fans say Bryan "carried him".
Face to Face Confrontation
Triple H and Sting
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| Naitch forgot to flush again. |
Face to Face confrontation. A confrontation that will happen face to face. Sting and Triple H will look at each other for the first time since...last month. LAST MONTH! FACE TO FACE CONFRONTATION! LAST MONTH! Triple Aitch will most likely pull out one of his long meandering promos, and reference the Monday Night Wars and such other things. Eventually Sting will arrive and there'll be some WrestleMania challenge thrown down. FACE TO FACE! CONFRONTATION!
Prediction - There will be a FACE TO FACE CONFRONTATION!
Singles Match for the United States Championship
Rusev (C) vs. John Cena
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| Rusev have boo boo spot. |
Head to Head Record - FIRST TIME MEETING
John Cena's spent most of the last month taking the piss out of Rusev's accent and Lana's breasts, because he's John Cena and can do what the fuck he likes. Suddenly being portrayed as the old man veteran of the roster, whilst Kane and Big Show whizz about like spring chickens, Cena has been having trouble with his eye as of late, so expect that to be a large focus of the match on Sunday. Rusev's proved he's best when given a good story to tell in the ring, see his SummerSlam bout with Jack Swagger, so Cena's eye injury and the fact that Cena is the first real threat to Rusev's undefeated streak should provide enough for these too to put on, at least, a decent match. Although, I wouldn't expect a squeaky clean finish just yet.
Prediction - Cena wins via Countout, Rusev retains the United States Championship.
Singles Match for the Intercontinental Championship
Bad News Barrett (C) vs. Dean Ambrose
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| Who knew Dean Ambrose was a Manchester United fan, eh? |
Head to Head Record - Barrett, 1 win. Ambrose, 2 wins
When he's not engaging in bants on Twitter with Wayne Rooney, Bad News Barrett is loosley involved in a feud with Dean Ambrose over the Intercontinental Championship. Ambrose has become obsessed with joining the "Wall of Champions" in WWE HQ, seemingly forgetting that he held the United States Championship for almost a year.These two have the potential to put together a very good match indeed, with their brawling styles matching up nicely, whilst still being different enough to make an in-ring battle an interesting watch. Neither man can really afford to lose this one so close to WrestleMania, but Ambrose's failure to win a PPV match since the break up of The Shield means that it needs to the Lunatic Fringe who goes over here.
Prediction - Ambrose wins, to gain his first ever Intercontinental Championship.
Six Man Tag Team Match
Dolph Ziggler, Ryback & Erick Rowan vs. Seth Rollins, Big Show & Kane
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| Is Rowan checking out Ziggler's arse? |
Head to Head Record - FIRST TIME MEETING
Nothing says "We have no idea what's going on?" more than a six man tag team match announced the day before the PPV! Essentially a rehash of the Survivor Series main event, with some loose build up on television over the last few weeks, but nothing particularly substantial. I guess there's the intrigue on the situation between Big Show and Kane, although I genuinelly couldn't care less about guy. Why have a Ziggler vs. Rollins match on Raw and then this match on Pay-Per-View? I'm sure the match will be watchable, six man tags usually are in WWE, but I just don't really understand why it's on PPV.
Prediction - Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback pick up the victory.
Tag Team Match for the Tag Team Championship.
The Usos (C) vs. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd
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| The return of Natalya's farting gimmick. |
Head to Head Record - Usos, 1 win. Cesaro & Kidd, 1 win.
I have hope that this match is going to be an improvement on the build to this match. The Usos seem to be being pushed as a modern day Team Extreme with Naomi by their side, whilst Cesaro, Tyson Kidd and Natalya are involved in some kind of kinky three way of sorts. These teams can certainly string together an entertaining tag match, if given enough time, it would be nice to see this one go, at least, ten minutes. Hopefully the involvement of the Diva's is kept to a minimum, as whilst Natalya and Naomi may be two of the strongest on the roster, their involvement will almost certainly detract from what could be a physical tag team tussle. I'm not sure WWE is that invested in the Kidd and Cesaro tag team going forward following a mixed bag of luck of the past few months, so I can't really look past The Usos in here.
Prediction - The Usos retain the Tag Team Championship.
Singles Match for the Diva's Championship
Nikki Bella (C) vs. Paige
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| Nikki Bella cutting another incredible promo. |
Head to Head Record - Nikki, 0 wins. Paige, 2 wins.
Paige says she's an Anti-Diva, The Bella Twins say Paige isn't an Anti-Diva. That's the long and short of it, but at least they've had time to build up an actual feud. Nikki has improved slightly in-ring over the last year or so, but like all Diva's pay-per-view bouts this will be harmed by a lack of time and a lack of crowd investment. WrestleMania tends to feature the Diva's in some kind of multi-person fracase, so it doesn't really matter who wins here.
Prediction - Nikki Bella retains the Diva's Championship
Singles Match
Goldust vs. Stardust
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| Gold...always believe in your soul. |
Head to Head Record - FIRST TIME MEETING
With Stardust finally turning on his brother on this week's Raw, thanks to Dusty Rhodes attempting to get involved in the pairs crumbling tag team. Personally, I was hoping we'd get to finally see these two go at it at WrestleMania, but hey ho, maybe we'll get a gimmick match at The Show of Shows? It's time for Stardust to cash in on all the promise we'd seen from him during his feud with The Authority in 2013 and break out of the shadow of his brother.
Prediction - Stardust wins.
Finally...
Whilst I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to Fastlane, there are a number of matches on the card that could prove sleeper hits. Barrett vs. Ambrose would be the standout amongst the possiblilities, due to the similar styles of the performers and the fact that the match could go either way. Many of the matches are dependent on the length of time they will recieve, so hopefully Sting and Triple H's confrontation is kept fairly concise to give the regular performers the best opportunity at putting on a good match. It's the last stop before WrestleMania, so hopefully we'll see a few twists and turns thrown into the PPV as well, with Seth Rollins, Kane and Dolph Ziggler all conspicious by their absence on this card.
Enjoy the PPV, look out for coverage on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, before our full review goes live on Monday.
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