WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 27th August 2018 // Reigns & Strowman vs. Ziggler & McIntyre

This week's RAW was a weird one as WWE looked to build a number of big shows at the same time. We got a major surprise heel turn, a classic Intercontinental Championship match between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, Trish Stratus making a surprise appearance to confront Elias in her hometown, as well as Baron Corbin's first week as Acting RAW General  Manager. But was it any good? Lets take a look!

The opening segment was as pretty paint by numbers situation, giving us both a main event for the next PPV, Hell in a Cell, as well as the evening, as Braun Strowman officially announced he'd be cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase against Universal Champion Roman

Reigns in San Antonio on 16^th September, before Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre challenged the Monster and the Big Dog to a match. The interaction between Reigns and Strowman was decent enough, the two clearly still have some chemistry from their surprise hit rivalry last year, whilst the Toronto crowd reacted well to a few well-placed verbal jabs. After Ziggler & McIntyre interrupted though the segment lost any of it's sting. The pair seemed to talk for a long time without actually saying anything, firstly complaining about Ziggler losing to Seth Rollins and then rambling on about wanting to face Reigns and Strowman for reasons that they didn't really make clear, all while getting little to no reaction from the crowd. Things weren't made better when Acting General Manager Baron Corbin came out and made all the confirmed matches official, taking his sweet time in doing so. I get what they're going for with Corbin, with him attempting to take credit for the work done by everyone else, but he's got so little charisma that he ended up sucking more air out of a segment that was already dying. The entire segment went about 15 minutes, felt like 25 and could've been done in 8 or 9.

No Disqualification Match – Acting RAW General Manager Baron Corbin def. Finn Balor via Pinfall

Under the section labelled “Feuds that have gone on way too long”, we have Baron Corbin and Finn Balor in their fourth singles match since the middle of July. This wasn't a feud that anyone was clamouring to see in the first place. The match itself was okay, some good back and forth in the later stages, once we got past an endless stretch of the same weardown hold from Corbin. It was clear to see that the two have been working together regularly from the couple of slick sequences they put together during the second half of the match, with some good variations on stuff like Corbin's Bossman clothesline spot. The highlight came from a slingblade on the outside from Balor that lead into the ad break, whilst a Tope con Hilo in the closing stages also looked great. The finish was used as a way to establish Corbin as Acting General Manager further, with the Lone Wolf causing a Disqualification with a steel chair, only to announce he'd forgotten to make announce that the bout was No DQ, following up with another chair shot and an End of Days for the win. You'd expect that this feud is finally done now, but with Balor unable to get the victory without the Demon it's hard to see where he goes next, especially if Corbin is staying as AGM for any amount of time.

Despite the match being six weeks away still, we got a package looking at Triple H vs. The Undertaker at Super Show-down with Ric Flair, Christian, Mick Foley, Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash discussing what we could see and who they thought would win.

We learned that Dana Brooke would be facing Sasha Banks next in her first RAW singles match since November 2017 in a backstage segment with Titus Worldwide crew. There seemed to be some tension teased between Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews, with Crews confused at O'Neil's optimism for Brooke's chances.

Singles Match – Sasha Banks (with Bayley) def. Dana Brooke (with Titus O'Neil & Apollo Crews) via submission

In the first of a number of short matches on the show, Banks put Brooke away with the Banks Statement in two and a half minutes. For what it was, I found this relatively entertaining. Brooke going for a number of roll up attempts early made storyline sense, whilst the wrestler, who has consistently been towards the lower end of the female performers since debuting in 2015, actually didn't look awful here, hitting a nice looking enziguiri, pulling out some flippy type stuff, before going for her Samoan Driver finish and getting caught with a backstabber. I'm not quite sure what this match was for, with very little storyline development, but with Evolution not to far away it makes sense to give some depth to a couple of women at the far reaches of the division to fill out that card.

Backstage, there was an interaction between Dean Ambrose and Jinder Mahal that filled sometime and would eventually lead to a match in the third hour.

The first very good segment of the show was next as we got promos from Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, with the latter accepting an open challenge from the former. Rollins promo was alright, not offering much beyond crowd pandering, but effective enough to keep Toronto engaged and getting pops when necessary, before issuing the challenge. Owens on the other hand was on fire, full of anger at not having Sami Zayn by his side anymore, like Rollins had Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam, whilst also discussing how RAW hadn't been as much fun as he'd expecting. The Toronto crowd was super hot for their fellow Canadian, that is until he mentioned he's from Quebec and began speaking exclusively in French to a chorus of boos. It was timed to perfection with Owens spending enough time reeling in the crowd to get them to believe in his cause, only to turn on them just before the match began. Although with the skill and fire of the segment of his babyface promo it's curious that Owens has yet to be seen in this role regularly since his very first match with WWE at NXT Takeover: R Evolution back in December 2014.

Singles Match for Intercontinental Championship – Seth Rollins def. Kevin Owens via pinfall to retain

A superb television match here, with Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins putting on what was almost certainly their best singles match in WWE, and definitely the best match on the show. Part of why this match worked better for me than their series over the Universal Championship in Autumn 2016 was that Rollins has grown and grown as a babyface since that point, becoming arguably the best performer on the main roster since then, honing his moveset, whilst also making better use of his impeccable selling. That was on full display here as Owens targetting the Architect's shoulder, including a lovely senton onto the afflicted area. A couple of tremendous sequences in the middle of the bout with Rollins looking to hit either the Curb Stomp or the Ripcord Knee, only for Owens to block with an attack to the shoulder, would eventually string together into Owens locking in a Crossface and then modifying the submission to block Rollins arm reaching the rope, in a well-done dramatic moment was a personal highlight. Some back and forth series of reversals that would conclude with Owens hitting a Stunner as an answer to Rollins' Avadra Kedavra was brilliant in a completely different way, more reminiscent of their indy work than their early WWE series, as both men continued to show their versatility as in-ring performers. I would have liked to have seen Rollins' shoulder used further in the closing stages, as whilst Rollins still sold well the injury was put on the back burner in the final third, whilst playing very little role in the eventual finish. I think that with a little work on that this bout could've been pushed even further. However, it was super cool to see Owens pull out a double jump moonsault from his bag of tricks and, of course, missing the move would lead to Rollins retaining his belt at the first time of asking, collecting a W with a Curb Stomp to bring a stellar Intercontinental Championship match to an end.

Backstage, Braun Strowman handed his Money in the Bank briefcase to Baron Corbin, signalling that his cash-in at Hell in a Cell is now official.

There was an intriguing angle post-match as a frustrated Owens, who has struggled for victories since moving to RAW in April, sat in the ring, muttered the words “I quit” before slowly walking to the back. Like most, I'm very intrigued to see what happens next, which is the most important part of any weekly wrestling show.

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre managed to improve on their promo from the opening segment in an interview with Renee Young. The pair bought a whole heap more energy to their performances, whilst also seeming to have a better idea of why they were challenging two of the most dominant performers on the RAW brand. This boiled down to the idea that Reigns' body wasn't ready to compete following gruelling matches with Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor last week, whilst Braun Strowman's mind wasn't ready to compete after two thwarted Money in the Bank cash-ins in the same time period.

Tag Team Match – The Revival def. RAW Tag Team Champions The B-Team via pinfall

The B-Team's undefeated streak finally came to an end at the hands of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder this week as The Revival went over Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas in a rematch from SummerSlam Kick-Off. This was a fairly basic tag match in structure, failing to get any real reaction out of the crowd. A lot of the action felt contrived and clunky, including a couple of roll-up spots that went on for way to long and killed an energy the match could have had. WWE seems to have no idea what made either team popular and even less of an idea about how it wants to present them to it's audience. Are the B-Team a comedy babyface act? Because there was very little in the way of shenanigan or attempted shenanigan from them here. This meant that the Revival's cutting off the ring schtick simply comes across as boring, because there's little to no promise of anything exciting or entertaining later on in the match. With The Revival's act, if the crowd aren't behind the face in peril then it falls flat. It's difficult to see how RAW's tag division can recover at the moment, as whilst there is some talent there, especially in Dawson & Wilder, the creative and attention to detail, both big and small, simply isn't there.

An entertaining segment saw Trish Stratus interrupt Elias, after The Drifter began ripping into Stratus' hometown of Toronto. Neither performer was without their slip-ups during their promos, but both has enough charisma to keep the crowd and the vocal talent to roll with their mistakes. There was a couple of really well-written lines in this with Elias making a reference to Torontonian Drake's song “Started from the Bottom”, whilst a pair of barbs from each wrestler later on in the promo got great pops from the crowd, even if it did feel like they were papering over that they had no legitimate chemistry. A Stratus slap closed the segment, with Ronda Rousey and Natalya's entrance for the next match being used as a way to swiftly move on from the fact that there wasn't any real ending in place.

Before, Natalya took on Alicia Fox, we got to here from Alexa Bliss, with the revelation that she was revoking or invoking or devoking perhaps, her rematch clause for Rousey's RAW Women's Championship at Hell in a Cell. Bliss also reintroduced Mickie James who hadn't been seen for quite a while, for a nice pop.

Singles Match – Natalya (with RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey & WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus) def. Alicia Fox (with Alexa Bliss & Mickie James) via submission.

A quick and simple win for Natalya in her home-country in her first match since her father, Jim Neidhart, passed away. Natty won with a Sharpshooter in a few minutes and whilst there was nothing of note in the bout, it's difficult to complain about WWE allowing for such a sentimentally sweet moment. This was made especially heart-warming/heart-breaking by Natty pointing to the sky and proclaiming the match was for her Dad afterwards. WWE doesn't always handle death well on it's television products, here's hoping that Jim Neidhart becomes an exception and makes a new rule.

Backstage, Natalya, Rousey and Stratus were met by the Bella Twins. Brie and Nikki talked awkwardly for a few seconds, before it was revealed they'd be returning to action on next week's show. Yay. (For fact fans, this will be their first TV match as a duo since the 17^th October 2015 edition of Main Event, where they went over Team B.A.D.'s Naomi and Tamina on a show that also included Stardust vs. Fandango and Ryback vs. Adam Rose!)

Another look at what various WWE alumni thinks about The Undertaker facing Triple H in Melbourne in October. This time we heard from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Booker T, The Big Show and Diamond Dallas Page, which was nice.

In a surprisingly entertaining segment, Baron Corbin informed Bobby Lashley that he had a match next, but that Corbin couldn't remember who he'd booked him against. I got a kick out of Lashley laughing it off, pretending to be pals with Corbin whilst slapping him on the shoulder. Corbin later informed Lashley that his match was a handicap match once the former Impact World Champion had got in the ring. I'm interested to see how long WWE pushes Corbin as the heel GM using his power irresponsibly and what the actual pay-off is, considering his boss is still the villainous RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon.

Two-on-One Handicap Match – Bobby Lashley def. The Ascension via pinfall

This was a thing. A rather stupid piece of booking, as Lashley going over two guys who haven't looked like a threat in years, but are also considered to have never been booked correctly since leaving NXT, isn't going to help him get over, whilst neither placing him in a feud with Baron Corbin. With the RAW tag team division a mess it's irresponsible to kill another team off in what was a pretty throwaway contest.

Singles Match – Dean Ambrose def. Jinder Mahal via pinfall

Completing a trifeca of short matches, Jinder Mahal's run at the top of the SmackDown brand seemed a distance memory as he lost cleanly to Dean Ambrose in under five minutes. Mahal had pretty much the whole match, controlling after a distraction from Sunil Singh, leading to dull and forgettable contest that offered very little in the way of entertainment. Ambrose's comebacks were repeatedly cut off by Mahal, the Lunatic Fringe reversed a Khallas attempt with a Dirty Deeds. Out of the three matches The Shield members had on the show, this was the weakest and ultimately most pointless, coming across as generic time-filler. I suppose Ambrose needed to be continued to be reintroduced to the audience and a quick win over a former World Champion is a solid way to do, but the delivery came off as lazy and unimaginative.

In the lockeroom, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns had a confrontation, although seemed to be on the same page before the main event.

Tag Team Match – WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & “Mr. Monster in the Bank” Braun Strowman vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre ended in a no contest

Less of a match and more of a set-up for a shock conclusion to the show, as Braun Strowman turned on Roman Reigns, appearing to side with Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre as the trio turned away both Dean Ambrose and Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, before inflicting further punishment on Reigns. The match was alright up until this point, as Reigns battled against Ziggler and McIntyre as the face-in-peril with McIntyre and Ziggler continuing to work well as a team and showing plenty of intensity and physicality throughout as they thwarted various Reigns comeback attempts. But I'm not sure how effective the angle was or if it was the right decision to turn Strowman at this point. The Toronto crowd didn't seem to know what to make of what was happening, especially at the start, when it was very unclear where the angle was heading, but even then the reaction from them didn't match what was going on in the ring, mostly because nobody wanted to see a Braun Strowman heel-turn just 10 months after he became a babyface. Following the Becky Lynch heel-turn at SummerSlam, this feels like another case of WWE being out-of-touch with what it's core audience wants to see and how it is connected with the performers in the ring.

There's intrigue from this reviewer in how this plays out next week and going forward and it has been a while since RAW ended with a genuinely surprising moment. There is also potential in a Strowman/Ziggler/McIntyre vs. The Shield match to main event RAW with variational singles match also having promise whilst also filling valuable minutes of content. Like any good episodic TV ending, I was left asking questions about how the relationships between the characters were effected and whether there was an full and proper alliance between the villainous trio or whether this was one-off or month-long partnership, but I was also left questioning whether the timing was right, whether the correct person had made the turn and how WWE's insistence of keeping Reigns as the babyface star of the show could negatively impact on not just Strowman, but on Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose also.

Finally...

As episodes of RAW go, this was high on big impact moments and talking points, but low on good quality content across the three hours, with some horrible booking seen throughout. Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins stole the show with their Intercontinental Championship match, whilst Owens' walk-out was probably the most interesting storyline development. Alongside this we had Braun Strowman's questionable heel turn and alignment with Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, whilst we also got a surprise appearance from Hall of Famer Trish Stratus in a fun appearance with Elias. We also got a look at Baron Corbin in the role of Acting General Manager for the first time, something which feels like it could be fun in the short term, but could get tiresome if a pay-off doesn't come by Survivor Series at the very latest. A nice moment for Natalya and a surprisingly competent performance from Dana Brooke aside, the rest of the show was a mix between filler matches and dull matches with bad booking as WWE continued to struggled to know what to do with it's tag teams and Bobby Lashley.

Try to check out the gem of a match between Rollins and Owens in full, but I'm sure all of the moments worth seeing from the rest of the show are available on YouTube.

Review by James Marston

WWE SmackDown Live Review // 20th March 2018

With three weeks until WrestleMania, this week's SmackDown was perhaps the most important episode on the road to WrestleMania and will almost certainly prove to be the most memorable for the majority of the fanbase. This week saw Daniel Bryan announce his return to in-ring competition and call out Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn for their assault on Shane McMahon last week, Charlotte Flair and Natalya renew their rivalry, SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso go one on one with the Bludgeon Brother's Harper, Shinsuke Nakamura face Rusev in a rematch from Fastlane and Jinder Mahal talk about being added to the United States title match at WrestleMania...but was it any good? Here's our review. 

Daniel Bryan addresses being cleared to compete 

If it's possible to feel all of the emotions at the same time, then that's exactly what I experienced whilst watching Daniel Bryan speak about being able to wrestle again on SmackDown this week. Honestly, Bryan could have come out and said absolutely anything and everyone would have been over the moon because he can wrestle again, but what happened on 20th March was so much more than that. Obviously this being a very real situation helped a lot, but listening to the emotion in Bryan's voice as he talked about how his wife, Brie Bella, had helped him to keep fighting and to keep pushing to get back in the ring, as well as the passion with which he talked about professional wrestling was wonderful and left me somewhere between being one big pimpley goose and a human tear. Whatever happens next is a bonus for me, as the story of Bryan's return is strong enough to drive multiple storylines for years and I'm not sure it will ever be matched. Also all the crowd pointing at the WrestleMania sign when Bryan said he didn't know when he'd get to wrestle his first match might be my favourite thing that has ever happened inside a wrestling arena. 

After the segment - Charles Robinson congratulated Daniel Bryan on his return, before Dolph Ziggler told Bryan that he couldn't wait to beat him - Daniel Bryan was informed that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn had arrived at the building.

Daniel Bryan calls out Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn 

Wow, what a rollercoaster this segment was, moving from comedy heat for Kevin Owens saying "everyone's dumber in Texas" to a vicious assault on Daniel Bryan on his first night back as an active competitor all within the space of ten or fifteen minutes. There was a lot packed into the fifteen minutes, but the segment essentially boiled down to Owens & Zayn assaulting Bryan because he was forced to fire them for attacking Shane McMahon on last week's episode, but because of Bryan's lengthy absence from anything resembling physicality it ended up being so much more than the sum of its parts. Watching Bryan nailing running dropkicks in the corner, like he'd never been away became an emotional experience the likes of which I never thought I'd experience watching some hit a dropkick or two, whilst the beatdown from Owens and Zayn that came after the pair had regained control got a great deal of heat as they threw punches at the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The conclusion with Owens hitting a powerbomb onto the apron was difficult to watch, a good piece of booking to throw doubt over Bryan will be able to compete at WrestleMania, with the whole picture involving the three and Shane McMahon being wide open at the conclusion of the show. A special note on Owens performance here, as as always Kevin's attention to detail was wonderful and him screaming repeatedly, showing confliction and frustration with his action was a lovely touch that added to an already brilliant segment.

SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya

Before the match - We got a hype package for Asuka, who seemingly isn't on the show tonight - Natalya tried to wind up Charlotte Flair, saying she was scared about facing Asuka at WrestleMania, with Flair agreeing to a match with Natty later on the show. 

An intriguing development at the end of a good match between Natalya and Charlotte Flair saw Carmella attempt to cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase and whilst Flair nailed Carmella with the Queen's Boot before the cash-in could occur it did allow Natalya to pick up a surprise victory with a school-boy roll up. I'm not quite sure how this factors into Flair's match with Asuka at WrestleMania, but its at least WWE trying to do something different on SmackDown, rather than what could have been a paint-by-numbers victory for Flair. The match itself took a while to get into, mostly because there was a feeling that I'd seen it all before, with the having competed in eleven TV singles matches in the last two years, but the build towards the interference featured some lovely action between the pair. Natalya pulled out a gorgeous spinning sit-out powerbomb, but the highlight was a superb sequence involving the figure four leglock, that would conclude with Flair holding onto the move whilst hanging outside of the ring, after the two had rolled to the ropes. I would suspect we could see Natty & Carmella vs. Flair & Asuka at some point over the next two weeks, with Natalya's victory perhaps being used to make her Asuka's first challenger after the Empress wins the belt at WrestleMania.

Jimmy Uso (with Jey Uso) vs. Harper (with Rowan) 

Before the match - The Usos cut one of signature fiery promos, promising to not lie down when faced with the threat of the Bludgeon Brothers as they looked for their first match on the main card of a WrestleMania. 

The match was a fairly straight-forward affair with Jimmy Uso able to stay in the match by using his speed, before Harper put him away with a pretty weak looking lariat. The match was raised past a regular squash thanks to a stellar near fall from Uso, which saw the SmackDown Tag Team Champion able to dodge distraction from Rowan, before that same distraction allowed for both Usos to hit superkicks for a long two count on Harper

Rusev (with Aiden English) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Whilst not as good as their clash at Fastlane, Shinsuke Nakamura's victory over Rusev with a roll-up still provided a solid slice of television wrestling. The match ended up coming up a little short time-wise, with only around five minutes airing on TV, but still got a few decent moments and sequences in there. A lot of it was either going over ground covered in the PPV bout and using a couple of signature spots like the "Come on" thing that Nakkers does, but there was also a nice forearm sequence and a surprising amount of dominance from the Bulgarian Brute, including a near fall off a big kick after Nakamura escaped the Accolade. The finishing sequence was very well done, with Nakamura missing a couple of roundhouse kicks, before going for his rolling crossarmbreaker and then being able to reverse a Rusev roll-up (major alliteration scenes) to pick up a straight-forward victory. Not quite good enough to go out of your way to see, but enjoyable if you're a regular watcher of the product nonetheless. 

After the match - Rusev & Aiden English assaulted Shinsuke Nakamura, with AJ Styles taking so long to make the save from the guest commentary position that Nakamura ended up being able to fight off both of his attackers - Backstage, Shinsuke Nakamura told AJ Styles that he didn't need his help and that he'd beat him at WrestleMania with a "knee to face" 

Jinder Mahal addresses his United States title shot at WrestleMania

More of the same from Jinder Mahal, Bobby Roode and Untied States Champion Randy Orton this week, after Mahal had addressed being added to the US title match at WrestleMania. Honestly, I was over this storyline about a month ago and I'm looking forward to being able to move passed it in April, because the booking continues to be lazy, the writing continues to be juvenile and the performers continue to look like they'd rather be doing anything else (well, Roode and Orton do, I suppose Mahal is just buzzing to still be riding the wave of his awful WWE title run). Mahal left Sunil Singh to Roode & Orton, with Singh taking DDTs rope-hung and Glorious, before Orton and Roode tried to hit their finishers on each other and still nobody gave a fuck. 

Also on the show

- Baron Corbin squashed Tye Dillinger in a few minutes, with the match going a little longer because Corbin botched his own finish and they had to do it again. 

- Becky Lynch & Naomi squashed the Riott Squad's Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan with Lynch tapping out Morgan with the Dis-armer after a nothing match 

- The "Hungry for Mania" moment was the entirety of WrestleMania I.

ATPW Scale Rating // 

5.88 out of 10 

Written by James Marston //

@IAmNotAlanDale

WWE SmackDown Live Review // 13th March 2018

2 days after Fastlane, WWE's SmackDown brand set its sight on WrestleMania. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura came face to face before Styles took on Rusev, Shane McMahon had an announcement to make about WrestleMania, Randy Orton celebrated his first WWE United States Championship before Jinder Mahal faced former champion Bobby Roode, The Bludgeon Brothers challenged any fit members of The New Day and The Usos to a match, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair shared a ring with WrestleMania opponent Asuka and "Ms. Money in the Bank" Carmella went one on one with Naomi. But was the Indianapolis show any good? Lets take a look!

On-Air Personnel 

Commentary - Corey Graves, Byron Saxton & Tom Phillips 

Interviewers - Dasha Fuentes & Renee Young

Ring Announcer - Greg Hamilton

Order 

1. Face-to-Face: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles vs. Rusev

2. Shane McMahon's WrestleMania Announcement 

3. Randy Orton's US title Celebration and Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal 

4. The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Big E & Jimmy Uso 

5. Face-to-Face: Charlotte Flair and Asuka

6. Carmella vs. Naomi

Face-to-Face: AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura

A solid opening segment between the competitors in SmackDown's main event at WrestleMania, as Shinsuke Nakamura interrupted WWE Champion AJ Styles. We didn't really learn a lot from either man's promo, but it was cool to see the two finally share the ring, after their WrestleMania match had been rumoured for so long. In fact, I think it was the fact that we've waited so long to see it that actually managed to carry the segment, because the crowd was super hyped for it, with duelling chants and all that jazz. Styles' promo went over some old ground about his road to get to WWE and what it means to go into WrestleMania as champion, whilst Nakamura's was limited to explaining his dream was to knee Styles in the face and become champion, whilst the crowd "What"'ed him because English isn't his first language. The interruption by Rusev just as things looked to be escalating between Nakamura and Styles was well-placed and should help to rise the interest in the WWE title match at WrestleMania a little more as we begin to anticipate what the clash might look like when it finally happens. 

AJ Styles vs. Rusev (with Aiden English)

AJ Styles and Rusev battled in a good match, until Aiden English interfered to give Styles the disqualification win as Styles looked to locking in the Calf Crusher on Rusev. This a physical clash with slight elements of power vs. speed in places, but was mostly centered around the pairs various strike based offence, with plenty of forearms and kicks in this one. The best stuff of the match was a minute or so that was used to build for the Ushigoroshi from Styles, with the Phenomenal One attempting the move three or four times, before a Pele Kick would eventually allow him to it, only for Rusev's weight across Styles' knee meaning he couldn't get a pinfall. This was a nice example of making a signature move mean something and there was even a good near fall thrown into the mix when RuRu dropped off Styles' shoulders for a Roundhouse Kick that looked super snug. The little sequence before the interference was also quite lovely with Styles going for what would have been an impressive Styles Clash, Rusev escaping and going for the Accolade and Styles reversing and eventually being able to roll-through into a Styles Clash. A bit more time and bit more importance and these two could have a great match together. The finish seems to be to extend the feud a little and pad sometime for WrestleMania, because of what would follow.

After the match - Rusev & Aiden English attempted to beatdown AJ Styles, before Shinsuke Nakamura would make the save with a pair of Kinshasas, I guess we'll see Styles & Nakamura vs. Rusev & English next week - Backstage, Shinsuke Nakamura told AJ Styles he would protect him til WrestleMania so he could beat him with "Knee to face" 

Shane McMahon's WrestleMania announcement

Before the segment - Sami Zayn blamed Shane McMahon's obsession with Kevin Owens for him not being WWE Champion right now, before promising to never be guilty by association to Owens ever again. - Kevin Owens replied to Sami Zayn, blaming Shane McMahon and calling Zayn a liar and delusional. 

A surprisingly violent angle to close the show as Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens' hatred for Shane McMahon united them once more as they laid waste to the SmackDown Commissioner, moments after McMahon had announced he was taking time away from the position and placed Owens against Zayn at WrestleMania. McMahon's promo was a little rambling, seemingly thinking out loud as he wondered whether he crossed the line at Fastlane and honestly lacked the emotion that it needed to be genuinely interesting. However, once we got past McMahon's detached rhetoric and we got two performers out there in Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn the segment was energised and became a fascinating and uncomfortable piece of television. Owens & Zayn taking out referees (including a ridiculous bump to the floor by Ryan Tran) got a great shocked pop from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the vicious assault including a Pop-up Powerbomb and McMahon getting sent into the post with a steel chair around his neck, grabbed you and made you pay attention, because it felt different to the usual WWE beatdown. But the most bracing moment came when Owens & Zayn began dragging McMahon up the ramp and into the back, with an increasing sense of foreboding that some real shit was about to go down. That real shit was a nasty looking powerbomb onto some big hunk of metal, that looked super painful to take for McMahon. If you look past the fact that no one came to McMahon's aid apart from a few referees, this was a great angle, that opened up a number of questions to be answered over the next three weeks. How will McMahon look to gain his revenge? What does this mean for Owens & Zayn's friendship, that appeared to be in tatters? Will we get Owens vs. Zayn on the biggest stage? 

Randy Orton celebrates United States Championship win 

A thoroughly unnecessary segment here, as no one said anything and Jinder Mahal continued to be a drag on the blue brand's product. Out of the three promos, Randy Orton's had the most behind it as he gave Bobby Roode props after their US title match, whilst also putting over what it meant to be a grand slam champion. Roode's promo revealed that he wanted his title rematch at WrestleMania, so at least there was that development, I suppose, even if it easily could've been handled in a thirty second backstage interview. Then we get to Jinder Mahal, who manages to make me want to turn off the TV every time he pops up, especially during this storyline. Why is his character that of a school boy? The quality of the writing for Mahal here has been especially poor, but he's not exactly blessed with great promo skills either. This segment saw Mahal try to stir the pot again between Orton and Roode, by mentioning that Roode had held the US title before Orton and that was something Orton was never going to change. Why the fuck would 13 time World Champion Randy Orton give a fuck that Bobby Roode had held the United States title before he did? Get in a bin, Jinder. Get in a bin, whoever "wrote" that promo. 

"The Glorious" Bobby Roode vs. "The Modern Day Maharajah" Jinder Mahal (with Sunil Singh) 

Not much to talk about in this match, as Jinder Mahal managed to beat the former WWE United States Champion, to supposedly set-up a triple threat at WrestleMania, after Sunil Singh had provided the distraction. There was one nice sequence here with the pair reversing each other's signatures, with Roode managing to counter a counter with a sunset flip for a decent near fall. 


After the match - Randy Orton gave Jinder Mahal an RKO.

Jimmy Uso & Big E vs. Harper & Rowan

Before the match - Big E & Jimmy Uso cut a pair of very good promos about the Bludgeon Brothers attack at Fastlane, as they spoke about Harper & Rowan had taken away from them  and promising to bring the attack to the pair tonight - Absolute chaos before the match began as Big E & Jimmy Uso attacked Harper & Rowan as they tried to take their jackets off, but the Bludgeon Brothers were able to take control later on despite Big E & Uso holding steel chairs.

The match itself was absolute domination from The Bludgeon Brothers, as they controlled the whole match, before sending Big E into the steel steps and pinning Uso with a Harper powerbomb. 

After the match - The Bludgeon Brothers went back after Big E, with Harper throwing E into a Rowan crossbody on the floor.

Face-to-Face: Charlotte Flair and Asuka

Similar to the Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles segment earlier in the night, this segment held the attention because it had been so anticipated. The two women arguably did a better job than the men did with their promos, but this was more about introducing the match scheduled for WrestleMania, rather than anything too complex or creative. Flair's promo in particular was laden with cliches, like "iron sharpens iron" and "I've never anyone like you, but you have never faced anyone like me", which she performed well, but it was hardly to get anything excited about. Asuka's performance was a step above, as she overcame the language barrier and had the crowd reacting nicely as she explained she "bows to no one". Having the two interrupt by Randy Orton as he came to the ring for his match was a strange decision and gives out the wrong signals regarding how WWE views its women's division. Had Randy had enough of the women talking about their match and decided to hit the ring so he could talk? I get that WWE needed a way to finish the segment without the women coming to blows and it would've been weird to have just cut away without any action, but was this the only way to reach that point? I'm not convinced.

Naomi vs. "Ms. Money in the Bank" Carmella

Before the match - Carmella announced that she'd be taking part in the Fabulous Moolah battle royal at WrestleMania, declaring herself the modern day equivalent to Moolah...perhaps not the person you want to be comparing yourself to, Mella. 

Carmella picked up a big win over Naomi in a disappointingly short match, that the pair managed to fill with physicality and a couple of really nice sequences. Carmella repeatedly ducking roundhouse kicks, only for Naomi to counter a forth duck with a massive knee to the face was particularly well done, before a creative finish was Mella trip Naomi as she went for a springboard, before hitting a hair-aided rope-hung neckbreaker for the win. 

Also on the show

- Kid Rock is going into the WWE Hall of Fame and we get the same look at his relationship with WWE that was aired on RAW. 

- WWE played the promo package for the Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal again...will they actually keep the name?

- Rusev & Lana and Bobby Roode & Charlotte Flair cut promos ahead of their Quarter Final match in the Mixed Match Challenge.

ATPW Scale Rating // 4.79 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

WWE Fastlane 2018 Review

Fastlane 2018 was the final WWE PPV before WrestleMania XXXIV, coming four weeks before the Showcase of the Immortals, as the SmackDown brand hosted their final solo PPV before dual events return. The show was main evented by AJ Styles defending his WWE Championship in a six-pack challenge involving John Cena, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, as The Phenomenal One looked to head into WrestleMania as WWE Champion. But how did it all go down in Colombus? Lets take a look! 

Commentary - Tom Phillips, Corey Graves & Byron Saxton
Kick-Off Panel - Renee Young, Booker T, Sam Roberts & David Otunga
Ring Announcer - Greg Hamilton
Interviewer - Charly Caruso

WWE Championship // 

John Cena vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles (C)

Before the match - Dolph Ziggler answered questions from social media, saying he didn't regret dropping the WWE United States title, put himself over for not getting injured and then Sam Roberts asked him if it would be his last chance at the WWF Championship. Fuck - Sami Zayn tried to convince Kevin Owens that they were still pals, but KO walked out on him - Shinsuke Nakamura wished AJ Styles good luck ahead of the six pack challenge.

AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship, pinning Kevin Owens with a Phenomenal Forearm, in a thrill-ride of a scramble main event. The bout took in a number of different storylines, drifting from one section to the next smoothly, keeping a ridiculous pace with a feeling that there was something going on from the very beginning. John Cena's attempt to find a Road to WrestleMania, tension building between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens and an escalation of their issues with Shane McMahon once more, as well as AJ Styles' doing anything he could to hold onto his title, reprising the sweeper role he played on Tuesday night, whilst Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler made up the numbers (with both men doing great jobs in this role, featuring in some lovely sequences throughout the match) there was a lot of narrative to play with. All the stories could have ended up dragging the match down, but they ended up blending together well, highlighted by a sequence involving Styles, Cena, Owens and Zayn on the outside that saw Styles initially try to put Owens through the announce table, only to eventually end up taking a massive Attitude Adjustment from Cena, after a number of twists and turns thanks to Styles looking to take out as many people as possible. 

The strongest story of the bout was Zayn/Owens/McMahon stuff, with the trio involved in a rich interplay that left a number of questions open for Tuesday's SmackDown with just four episodes before WrestleMania. A sequence where Zayn offered to lay down for Owens as promised two weeks' earlier, with Owens grabbing his friend to attempt a Pop-Up Powerbomb, only to get caught with small package for a near fall was handled beautifully by both men, with Zayn particularly owning the moment as he took his time to lie down, seemingly hoping that someone would recover in time to make the save. McMahon's involvement was teased throughout the match, through a number of funky over-the-shoulder camera angles as he sat ringside, but it wasn't until Zayn got in the Commissioner's face and a stray Owens superkick connected with that face that things got truly interesting. Two very good near falls followed with Owens coming close with Pop-up Powerbomb on Ziggler and Zayn with a Helluva Kick on Owens, but on both occasions McMahon pulled the ref and Zayn respectively out of the ring. He looked a bit of a dick and there's arguments to be made for the character abusing his power, but after a kick to the face he also has clear motive. The near falls also keep Owens & Zayn looking strong heading into WrestleMania, whilst barely denting Styles' reputation as he was down after the Attitude Adjustment through the table. I'm not sure where this goes, but I'm at least interested to see what they do on Tuesday! 

The finish had a real kinetic feel to it (as did the majority of the match, tbh) as Corbin cleaned house with the steel steps, before taking an Attitude Adjustment on the metal for a near fall with Ziggler taking the save, leading into Cena no-selling a superkick, hitting an Attitude Adjustment then rolling through for another, only for Owens to re-enter and nail a Pop-Up Powerbomb, leaving himself open for a Phenomenal Forearm for the finish. Whilst the match didn't fall into the same tropes (tower of power etc.) as usual multi-mans, it was nice to see as many guys as possible crammed into the final sequence, with a feeling that by the end of the match everyone's stock had risen for taking part in it and their paths to WrestleMania had been enriched for their involvement. Even guys like Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin came out better off, because their performances were polished and they featured in a handful of the matches best sequences (Ziggler's Fameasser reversal out of an Attitude Adjustment was gorgeous), whilst Zayn & Owens looked to have the match won and furthered their issues, Cena looked devasted at the loss after the match and AJ Styles looked every inch of the brilliant World Champion that he is ahead of his big clash with Shinsuke Nakamura in four weeks time. All over this match was real good fun to watch and did a lot for everyone involved, thumbs up.

After the match - Shane McMahon turned up on Talking Smack, putting in a good performance, whilst actually not saying a whole lot at all. The character was non-commital over whether he felt bad about his action and also repeated some stuff about how he feels Daniel Bryan is trying to live vicariously through Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn.

WWE United States Championship // 

"The Viper" Randy Orton vs. "The Glorious" Bobby Roode (C)

Before the match - Jinder Mahal joined the Kick-Off panel and stumbled through a promo, whilst getting loud "Jinder sucks" chants. 

Randy Orton won the United States Championship for the first time, catching Bobby Roode with an RKO as Roode dived off the middle rope, at the conclusion of a good, yet flabby, contest. I'd spoken in my preview that I was worried that this match could turn out being a little dull and large swathes of bout confirmed my worries. Both men being babyfaces, but not really wrestling like babyfaces hurt the match, as the crowd was unsure who they wanted to cheer for and the action went through the motions for, at least, half of it's run length. Without an aggressor or the classic pacy face vs. face style, I found myself zoning out of portions of this and it seemed the crowd did too as they began a small chant for Bryon Saxton at one point. Both Orton and Roode are great professional wrestler, but can often can be overly clinical, meaning that whilst their moves are performed near perfectly, the X Factor that makes a great match is missing. Without a different type of performer to bounce off, the match ended up feeling a little cold and detached. 

Now, after reading the previous paragraph, you're probably asking the question "James, why did you call it a "good match"?" Well, constant reader, that's because the match had a nice story that built up well throughout and brilliant finish that I wasn't expecting. The main thrust of the narrative was based around the similarities of the performers, with both attempted their respective finishers three or four times only to have it quickly reversed, whilst we also see Orton have a number of signatures blocked before being able to hit the move a few moments later, hinting that the Viper might've had the upperhand over the Glorious One. It was subtle little hint at what was to come and a nice take on a familiar trope. There was also a handful of nice sequences, usually focused around the Glorious DDT and RKO, where the pace quickened before one of the lads would hit a signature or get a roll-up near fall. The finish with Roode getting caught with an RKO got a strong reaction from Columbus, because it felt like the match had another five or so minutes left due to the previous pacing. I hadn't expected Roode to lose the title so early, but it was a cool moment to see Orton win the only title missing from his collection, which creates a talking point that WWE can push to media outlets.  

After the match - Jinder Mahal attempted to attack Randy Orton, but Bobby Roode made the save, only to nail Orton with a Glorious DDT moments later, seemingly setting up a triple threat at WrestleMania and laying the foundations for a heel turn - Randy Orton appeared on Talking Smack, saying he'd have done the same as Jinder Mahal and Bobby Roode if he'd had the chance and putting himself over as the newest member of the Grand Slam club. Orton was also asked about John Cena's Road to WrestleMania, which was an interesting moment, with Orton putting over Cena, but also commending Renee Young for the interview on RAW Talk last month where Cena cried after losing the Elimination Chamber.

WWE SmackDown Women's Championship // 

Ruby Riott vs. Charlotte Flair (C)

In what was Charlotte Flair's best match since moving to SmackDown, the Queen retained her SmackDown Women's Championship over Ruby Riott, using the Figure Eight to get the submission victory. The match was packed with big spots, dramatic moments and featured a base of good solid wrestling, with the pair putting on one of the most technically sound WWE women's bouts for quite a while. Whilst the pacing was a little off kilter due to a Riott Kick near fall coming a bit too early to be convincing, the rest of the match was well put together as we saw Riott's Riott Squad stablemates Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan appear and get countered by Naomi & Becky Lynch, leading to a clever distraction spot, that would eventually see both pairings ejected from ringside by referee Mike Chioda. Spots wise there was a number of impressive bumps, including the two spilling through the middle rope early on, Flair bumping from the top rope into the barricade and an exploder suplex into the barricade all looked very good, adding an intensity and feeling of importance that the match didn't have in the build up. The highlight for me was Flair pulling out a spot that Drew McIntyre was using a lot on the indies, as Flair blocked a reverse rana attempt and hit an inverted alabama slam into the top turnbuckle, which would eventually lead to her hitting a spear and locking on the Figure Eight for the win. The two (alongside Logan, Morgan, Lynch and Naomi) did a stellar job of making this match feel like something valuable, rising above the lazy booking of the feud and creating a match that remained exciting for the duration and almost certainly raised the stock of Riott, even in defeat. 

After the match - Asuka arrived for a staredown with Flair before pointing at the WrestleMania sign, confirming Asuka vs. Flair for the Show of Shows. #EmpressVsQueen - Charlotte Flair was interviewed on Talking Smack, putting over Ruby Riott for her performance and putting over Asuka for her dominance whilst pushing their WrestleMania match. Flair also had to work hard to make a number of shitty questions from Sam Roberts sound good.

WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship // 

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods (with Big E) vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso (C)

Before the match - The New Day cut an entertaining promo on The Usos, managing to shift quickly from pancakes to serious chatter about winning tag titles and proving they're the best tag team, as they continued to show a much rougher side than we've seen in the last six months.

A tremendously fun SmackDown Tag Team title match was unfortunately cut short, with the Bludgeon Brothers hitting the ring and leaving the match as no-contest between The New Day and The Usos. Prior to that, the match had been an entertaining affair, that saw both teams essentially swap roles and pull out a number of the opposite teams signature moves (I can only imagine the groups had just watched ATTACK! latest Press Start show). It was a simple idea, based of the two teams familiarity with each other, but one that was extremely effective, with all four lads bringing lots of energy and despite what could've been a fairly lightweight structure, they also brought barrel loads of intensity from the very beginning as Xavier Woods and Jimmy Uso traded strikes. Particular highlights included a Boom Drop from Jimmy Uso, Kofi Kingston and Jimmy both missing Trouble in Paradise before The Usos hits Midnight Hour and The New Day getting a near fall after multiple superkicks from Woods and a splash from Kingston. It's a shame that we didn't get to see the idea reach its conclusion, but what followed was fun in a different way. 

After the match, Harper & Rowan cleaned house with all five wrestlers involved in the match, in a well-orchestrated beatdown. Whether the pairs new gimmick has fully clicked is up for debate, but they both looked great when bodying the Usos and The New Day here, with a number of big spots to emphasise the destruction. Harper nailing a blackhole slam on Kingston on the floor and Rowan catching Big E with a charging crossbody were memorable, but the highlight was a bodyslam spot involving the Usos. Both twins took slams on the floor, before Harper slapped Rowan and demanded he be slammed onto the Usos, with Rowan hitting an aided splash for the exclamation point. I've similar spots on the indies, but it was nonetheless cool to see these two big lads pull it out in a moment that put over their style and relationship well. Woods also took a powerbomb onto the steel steps and sold the move like it was the end of his life, twitching on the steps as he was loaded onto a stretcher. The team seems to be following a similar path to how WWE built up Braun Strowman over on RAW, which could eventually turn them babyface, because watching them smash through blokes is more fun than it should be. This would seem to set-up a triple threat at WrestleMania, but we'll have to wait and see.

After the match - Xavier Woods left on a stretcher, whilst the rest of the teams had to be helped out by WWE staff.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev (with Aiden English)

Before the match - Aiden English performed a special Rusev Day rap/song, ripping on Nakamura and the crowd with a delightful ditty. 

Shinsuke Nakamura picked up momentum ahead of his WWE Championship match at WrestleMania in a very good match with Rusev, with a pair of Kinshasas getting the pinfall for the Artist. There were times where I was worried that the match was a little slow, with plenty of stalling from Rusev as an attempt to seemingly slow down the Bulgarian's roaring popularity, but the final five minutes or so here featured some great action. In arguably Rusev's best match to date, the former WWE United States Champion stepped up to the challenge of putting over a WrestleMania title challenger, looking smooth on the offence, selling well for Nakker's strikes and even more so for a mid-match heel hook. Beyond his novelty "Rusev Day" popularity, this performance should be enough to earn Rusev a more sustained push coming out of the Granddaddy of Them All. The best action came off the back of a good strikes sequence, which leads into some wonderful action as both men got near falls of roll-ups and Rusev attempted to apply the Accolade to a nice pop. Despite the match feeling like a forgone conclusion throughout, the two lads worked a strong false finish into the mix as Nakamura ran straight into a Machka Kick, with the kick-out being left just long enough to allow the audience to suspend disbelief and imagine that Rusev could've pulled off the upset. Hopefully, this match was promising precursor for WrestleMania and we'll Nakamura kill it on the Grandest Stage.

Naomi & Becky Lynch vs. "Ms. Money in the Bank" Carmella & Natalya

Carmella pinned Becky Lynch with a superkick to pick up a big win for her and Natalya in mixed-bag of a tag team match. The bout featured a number of nice ideas, whilst sticking a simplistic tag team formula, but often those ideas would result in sloppy wrestling. The biggest culprit of this was surprisingly Natalya, who made a number of slip ups with Naomi in their pacy sequence early on, before later seemingly forgetting that she was supposed to be sent to the floor by Becky Lynch with the moment taking a unnecessary amount of time as Natalya fumbled around. The Queen of Harts did however hit a nice sitout powerbomb that folded Naomi end over end. Carmella continued to impress me with her fundamental heel work and sound moveset, as she used Naomi's braid to control the match, with a couple of nice spots involving that, whilst also pulling out the handstand frankensteiner and a Candylicious, whilst Becky Lynch also looked solid when coming in for the hot tag. The finish was a little scrappy after Natalya dicked around with the briefcase on the apron, but it was good to see Mella get the win and see WWE actually build some momentum behind the Money in the Bank winner.

Tyler Breeze, Fandango & Tye Dillinger vs. Shelton Benjamin, Chad Gable & Mojo Rawley 

Before the match - In a clip from the Fashion Files, Mojo Rawley, Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable challenged Tyler Breeze, Fandango & Tye Dillinger to a match.

Tye Dillinger picked up the win for his team with bringing back the Perfect 10 to pin Mojo Rawley in a weak six man tag team match. The match actually started alright, with some comedy from Breezango, whilst the crowd was hot for their first match of the evening, getting loudly behind Dillinger, whilst also pulling out a loud "You can't wrestle" chant for Breezango. The pop for the hot tag from Tyler Breeze to Dillinger got a big pop, but unfortunately everything after the tag had been cut off was poorly put together. There was a lot of energy and movement, but most of that movement was sloppy, including a poor looking O'Connor roll from Gable, as all six men looked like they were rushing to get their shit in, resulting in a number of strikes that looked way off the mark. I'm surprised to see Rawley take the pin to Dillinger, as it had seemed like WWE had something planned for Mojo after his break-up with Zack Ryder a few months ago, but that's clearly not the case anymore. 

Also on the show

- For some reason we got a look at the feud between Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey and Triple H & Stephanie McMahon, despite that having absolutely nothing to do with this PPV. 

- The New Day auditioned to be the host of next year's Nickolodean Kids Choice Awards, only to end up getting gunged by this year's host, John Cena.

- We also got a look at the story between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, despite that match having nothing to do with what was on this show. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 6.32 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale