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Fastlane VI - 3/21/2021


Dolfan in NYC

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As a Brit, finishing a show by 1:30 was a blessing. I actually stayed up to watch for the first time in years.

 

The womens tag was TV-level with an absurdly dumb finish. Is Sasha supposed to believe Jax wasn't about to break up the submission? Everything about this program is so hokey and cliche. Feuding tag team partners leading to a title match jumped the shark years ago.

 

I actually missed the finish to Big E vs Crews. Glad they are getting a WM Match seemingly to blow this off, though this innings was clearly a letdown. The Nigerian accent is another one for the 'thats so hokey' list.

 

Braun vs Elias - woof. How many times have these guys matched up? Even the squash matches are stale as hell.

 

Rollins vs Nakamura got decent by the end, but if I never watch a Rollins match with him talking his way through things it'll be too soon. WWE trash talk is the dirt worst.

 

Drew vs Sheamus was good. I'm not sure it was better than their first RAW match, all of their bouts have been fun but none have blown me away bell-to-bell. Sheamus continues his awesome gatekeeper run and carried Drew to a really stiff, hard-hitting match. All of the prop stuff felt cliche and rote, and the electrical equipment bump never looks good, but everything with them just tarring each other was good shit. 

 

Bliss vs Orton... tremendous stuff. Here's a zombie rising from the dead - up next another wrestling match! Amazing to see Orton on the Stone Cold show next talking about he's at the best he's ever been in his career and this is what he's doing.

 

Main event was really great, even with the Edge screwery. We all knew there was going to be over-booking guff and it was predictable how it went, but I thought it was reasonably well executed (minus Edge selling a chairshot to the arm like it KO'd him) and I can buy Edge as a whiny bitch throwing a temper tantrum over Bryan stealing his spotlight. Glad they've gone with the triple threat, even if this build is SHOCKINGLY similar to Orton and Batista fueding with Bryan getting inserted into it. The match itself I thought was awesome. Really great technician vs powerhouse stuff early, Reigns's stuff all looked really hurty and he put in his best shift since returning last year, and even with the predictable finish they put together some tremendous nearfalls and sequences in the close. Even if Bryan is the in the 'twilight' of his career, he's still arguably the best wrestler in the world. 

 

 

Edited by killsteve
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So based on what little of Fastlane I watched on Peacock, the first impression are:

1.  No issues with the feed dying or stopping.  Although it seemed like it was a good 3 minutes behind the version on the Network.  at least in the Roku version.   I assume it was because of the commercials.  I was thinking this is going to suck for people who watch wrestling and frequent Twitter but it didn't seem bad

2.  No rewind feature on these live shows really suck

3.  I can't tell if the increase of commercials were Peacock added or WWE added.

 

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7 minutes ago, w. josh said:

If we no longer have to call a large adult man "T-Bar" anymore I'll consider this PPV a rousing success.

I will be glad that SlapJack name will be gone because I can't stop calling him SlapNuts 

 

Edited by hammerva
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RIP "Slapjack," 2020-2021. We never really knew ye. I'll miss laughing every time someone says it out loud.

I know they're telling Riddle to act high but in this moment with Nakamura he's bordering on disabled. Like, "he's on a scooter because he's not allowed to be issued a driver's license" disabled. He failed to notice that someone standing two feet away from him in an empty, quiet hallway had walked off. He's supposed to be a face but it's way too much.

If I ignored that the Old Spice ad was part of a wrestling show it was kind of hilarious.

Why has Seth Rollins bored me since he came back from his knee injury in 2016? Going on five years I haven't really cared about anything he's done and he's supposed to be one of their top guys!

Sheamus and Drew did what I thought they'd do, and it was good. Drew's leg slap had to have been an accident. These workers have done these moves so many damn times it's probably hard to unlearn shit like that.

These closeups of Fiend's hand coming out of the mat were ruined (besides the obvious ruining this whole fiasco has been) by seeing the commentary team in the background staring at their monitors instead of the supernatural thing happening RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM

Daniel Bryan is so awesome he didn't even need rebelling crowds to put him in the Wrestlemania main event this time. 

EDIT: This company is going to be fucked creatively for a little while when live crowds are back. Waaaaay too much reliance on us hearing what the wrestlers are saying during matches/angles to move things along right now.

Edited by Sex Machine Gun
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Just watched Reigns/Bryan in full rather than just highlights and I LOVED this. The first ten minutes or so were perfect. It looked legitimate, it looked like how a smaller but skilled wrestler would approach an arrogant sledgehammer of a champion, fucking awesome. Bryan is amazing as always but this match showed that Roman knows how to work too and has been in his position for so long for a reason. I was converted to the "Roman can work" camp back at Wrestlemania XXXI against Lesnar. He's not incredible but can be given the right, motivated opponent. Lesnar at Wrestlemania XXXIV was shook by the crowd reactions and if there's anyone whose effort can be dialled up or down like a switch, it's Beefy Brock.

Anyway, this match showed why these two in a one-on-one at Wrestlemania was the way to go. Is this year a foregone conclusion? Roman's been dominating one of the two shows for months now, surely he loses in three weeks. Or does he? Do you want to have someone finally take this bad motherfucker down at Mania or do you keep up the domination until, say, SummerFest, er, SummerSlam? Would it have the same impact? 

I wish the triple threat at Mania was under elimination rules but if that were they case they'd probably job Bryan out in five minutes.

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Adding Bryan to the match definitely decreases Roman's retaining odds. (Insert Steiner math joke here.)

The fury of Roman losing his title, especially if Edge is the one taking the fall (or the other Uso costs him), could be a lot of fun.  Bryan's hitting his stride perfectly and I can absolutely see them giving him one last run with the belt, before Roman takes him out for good. 

Of course, we have to wait and see if Bryan even gets added in or if he gets slotted with... I don't know... Otis?  

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Surely Bryan is being added to take the fall so Edge can win without Roman being beaten? Everything seems to point to Vince deciding that the big story for this year's Wrestlemania is the legendary Edge's triumphant return from injury, epic rumble win from the #1 spot and big crowning moment at the show itself. I hope not though. And I guess it's possible he's changed his mind since then anyway.

Edited by Tuna Boss
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1 minute ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Bryan's hitting his stride perfectly and I can absolutely see them giving him one last run with the belt, before Roman takes him out for good. 

I hadn't thought about that idea and if anyone would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of getting over the top guy, it's Bryan. It'll be incredible if they do it too, no way he'd go out in some underwhelming way.

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You know what makes a lot of sense? Having the babyface beat another babyface a bunch of times in a row, turn the loser heel, have the babyface beat him again, and then continue the feud. (Also, this was a dual brand show, right? New Day should've been there to save Big E damnit)

Alexa and especially Bray have both proven to be good at playing these hooky supernatural characters, but good fucking Lord it's amazing how the story gets worse every time.

Bryan/Reigns was incredible before the terrible finish.

Edited by Brian Fowler
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4 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

You know what makes a lot of sense? Having the babyface beat another babyface a bunch of times in a row, turn the loser heel, have the babyface beat him again, and then continue the feud.

Yeah, Eddie/Rey was pretty great.

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10 hours ago, username said:

Yeah, Eddie/Rey was pretty great.

One of the best wrestling promos ever by Eddie Guerrero:

It's one I've never forgot like Jake Roberts at WrestleMania VI/Survivor Series 1991, Ric Flair after winning the WWF Championship in the 1992 Royal Rumble match, Steve Austin winning the 1996 King of the Ring and CM Punk's pipebomb promo on RAW, June 2011.

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1 minute ago, Lawful Metal said:

It just occurred to me that if Bryan is added to the match, all it guarantees is the winner will be booed (unless Bryan wins)

WWE doesn't like to make the fans happy. See RAW as proof ;).

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Are they have trouble moving the limited Mania tickets, or are not as many people moving to Peacock as promised? As much as I like Bryan and as uninterested I was in Roman/Edge, it really doesn't make a lot of sense to switch to a triple threat, other than as a desperate move to rope in the core audience.

Sheamus/Drew was pretty awesome, though. Best Sheamus has looked since the Cesaro series from 13 or 14?

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7 hours ago, Lawful Metal said:

It just occurred to me that if Bryan is added to the match, all it guarantees is the winner will be booed (unless Bryan wins)

I'm curious to see what the reaction is with fans there. Are people really that out on Edge already? Won't there be some cool factor to Reigns' character among a certain section of fans? It's hard to say for sure.

Even with Lashley and Drew, I have so many questions about where people actually are with them after a year. Based on online buzz or lack thereof, we kind of have a clue. But I want to see how loudly those dynamics play out with live audiences back 

Edited by John from Cincinnati
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13 minutes ago, Go2Sleep said:

Are they have trouble moving the limited Mania tickets, or are not as many people moving to Peacock as promised? As much as I like Bryan and as uninterested I was in Roman/Edge, it really doesn't make a lot of sense to switch to a triple threat, other than as a desperate move to rope in the core audience.

Sheamus/Drew was pretty awesome, though. Best Sheamus has looked since the Cesaro series from 13 or 14?

Time is weird and everything runs together. That was 2016.

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I just watched the Drew vs Sheamus match. I really enjoyed it, Drew he really brings it when he's on PPV anyway, Sheamus is still really good too. He is very snug especially when he's working other guys that like to work like that. He's another guy that doesn't age. Just too years ago he was supposedly almost at spinal stenosis but here he's bumping. Drew throwing him around. I havent seen their TV matches so that my be why I enjoyed this so much. I havent watched Bryan vs Reigns yet in full I'm sure it's the match of the night 

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1 hour ago, John from Cincinnati said:

Time is weird and everything runs together. That was 2016.

Oh man, I thought it was before his title win, which I know was 2015. I used to think WWE 2002-07 was blur with how same-y all the presentation was, but it has nothing on WWE 2008-2019.

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6 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

Are they have trouble moving the limited Mania tickets, or are not as many people moving to Peacock as promised? As much as I like Bryan and as uninterested I was in Roman/Edge, it really doesn't make a lot of sense to switch to a triple threat, other than as a desperate move to rope in the core audience.

Sheamus/Drew was pretty awesome, though. Best Sheamus has looked since the Cesaro series from 13 or 14?

I believe I saw Meltz say they sold out most of the tickets during the presale and that it seemed like sure sellout.

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