Kevin’s WWE Fastlane 2021 Review

WWE Fastlane
March 21st, 2021 | Tropicana Field in Tampa, Florida

WWE United States Championship: Riddle [c] vs. Mustafa Ali
Kickoff match, baby! The main focus of this match was Mustafa Ali talking smack to Retribution to try and prove to them that he was a winner. You could see where it was going. I dug Ali countering horrible person Riddle’s senton by getting his boots up as it was quite different. They did make me bite on a near fall when Riddle got his offense going and hit a powerbomb into a flash knee. I thought that was it but Ali kicked out and got his knees up on the Floating Bro. There were some cool bits like the way Ali busted out the Koji Clutch. Riddle secured the win with a Bro Derek from the second rope after 9:16. This was better than I expected and they did some really entertaining things with their time. [***¼]

Post-match, Ali yelled at Retribution until they walked out on him, with Mace and T-Bar attacking him.

Main card!

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler [c] vs. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair is like, a slam dunk to build towards but WWE has to go the convoluted route. Reginald was out with the champs. I can’t believe WWE hasn’t given me Sasha vs. Shayna in a legitimate match. The concept here was that the champs are still an argumentative duo while the challengers also weren’t on the same page given WrestleMania on the horizon. I was surprised that they had Bianca take the heat and do the hot tag to Sasha. The action in the match was strong but the finish was a hot mess. After Bianca’s sweet 450 splash, Reginald distracted the referee. Then, Bianca was knocked onto Sasha, who got pissed at her and called her a rookie. Shayna rolled up Sasha to retain in 9:42. It was every tired WWE trope thrown into one ending despite the match itself being solid. [**¾]

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Big E [c] vs. Apollo Crews
I love that Big E came out with fire since this has gotten personal in recent weeks. He hit the apron Spear in the opening minute. Big E was also all about the trash talking to start, though it cost him as Apollo reeled off triple German suplexes. That great start was wasted as Big E caught Apollo with a pin that seemed to only get a near fall but the referee apparently counted three in an awkward moment at the 5:39 mark. That was a flat finish and ruined the match. Apollo assaulted Big E after the match like he’s not 0-3 or something in title matches. [**]

Braun Strowman vs. Elias
This was supposed to be Braun against Shane but Shane supposedly hurt himself while training and he made Elias replace him. Other than an elbow off the top, Elias did next to nothing here and Braun won in a match that nobody cares out. It lasted 3:50. [NR]

Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Potential for something good. I really liked their Survivor Series match a few years ago. They had some good back and forth early. I liked Seth being upset about Cesaro swinging him so he tried to do the same to Nakamura. That failed and it got Nakamura going for a really good few bits offense, including a sweet sliding German suplex. Seth grew frustrated that he couldn’t put Nakamura away even when HE DID THE DEAL. Eventually, Seth was able to get it together and put Nakamura down after a pretty great closing stretch. He won with the Curb Stomp in 12:56. That was good but felt kind of bland at points and never fully engaged me. [***]

No Holds Barred Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus
BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT! That’s just what I got. I will admit that my stream froze in the early portions of the match so I missed a bit but returned to see them beat on each other with kendo sticks, with one of them being driven into Sheamus’ eye. They fought into the “crowd” and did a few decent spots, including a particularly nasty looking suplex onto the floor. I did get a kick out of Sheamus being thrown into the Thunderdome TVs and it blowing up. The explosion was indeed better than the one at Revolution. Once back in the ring, they wrapped hit up with Sheamus eating the Claymore in about 19:42 (can’t be sure due to freezing). That was two lads beating the stuffing out of each other and I honestly can’t ask for much more. I do think I preferred at least one of their Raw matches though. [***¾]

Alexa Bliss vs. Randy Orton
There wasn’t much of a match here. Alexa toyed with Randy, making him spit up black goo, have fire shoot at him, and have lights nearly fall on him. Then, a burnt to a crisp Fiend returned by coming up from under the ring. He hit Orton with Sister Abigail and Alexa pinned him in 4:37. [NR]

WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Daniel Bryan
This should be great. I loved their Fastlane 2015 match (****¼) and Roman is WAY better now. This got off to an excellent start. Bryan was actually toying with Roman. He wasn’t scared and knew he had the upper hand in terms of mat wrestling, so he would stick and move. it was similar to how he opened things against Brock Lesnar a few years ago. Of course, once Roman managed to get a real grasp of him, Bryan was in trouble. He got his ass kicked but found just enough little openings to get offense going. His hope spots were great as they felt realistic and made you believe he had a shot. He started really gaining momentum and Roman was in trouble. He even got trapped in the Yes Lock but, as he said in the buildup to this, he’d rather lose his arm than tap out. Peacock freezing made me miss a ref bump because special enforcer Edge was now in the ring. Bryan had another submission on and Jey Uso showed up to superkick Edge and then Bryan, saving his cousin. It ended up backfiring somewhat as Bryan used a chair to take him out. However, Bryan’s attempt to use it on Roman missed as he hit Edge in the arm by mistake. He then countered Spear into the Yes Lock and Roman tapped out lightly with his hand, only for Edge to not see it as he hit Edge with the chair multiple times. Reigns covered to retain in about 29:57 (again, freezing issues). Outstanding match between two of the best in the world. The finish was a bit cheap but it should set something up going forward. [****½]

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

That show had some glaring issues. The Bianca/Sasha stuff was a total flop, I don’t care about Braun/Shane, and the Big E/Apollo ending was a huge mis. The US Title and Seth/Shinsuke matches were good and the Fiend angle was at least mildly entertaining. Then, you get a banger of a Sheamus/McIntyre match and a killer main event that made this worth a recommendation.