WWE Fastlane Recap and Review

WWE. held their most recent Premium Live Event, Fastlane on October 7, 2023. Fast Lane was held in a packed crowd of 14,000 in the Fainbridge Fieldhouse located in Indianapolis Indiana. The event had five matches on the card for the evening and among them, three championship bouts. The Match card includes The Judgment Day vs Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed Tag Team Championship, The LWO vs The Street Profits and Bobby Lashley, Iyo Sky vs Asuka, vs Charlotte Flair in a Triple Threat Match for the Women’s Championship, John Cena and LA Knight vs the Bloodline, and Seth Rollins vs Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Finn Balor & Damien Priest vs Jey Uso & Cody Rhodes

Fastlane opened with the Judgement Day members Finn Balor and Damian Priest defending their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso. The matched started with Jey vs Damien and this one when back and forth between the two men. Uso and Rhodes held control in the opening minutes of the match by using quick tags. After sneaky heel tactics the Judgment Day took control over Jey Uso in the match. Uso was able to make the hot tag with Rhodes and immediately he took control over Balor. The two began countering each other’s finishers with Cody Rhodes getting the upper hand. Rhodes hit an amazing super plex on Balor off of the top rope. He held him up in the air for five seconds before dropping him. This was a phenomenal spot, that showed off Rhodes’ strength. Following this both men got tagged out so Balor and Rhodes could recover. As soon as Uso took control of the match Judgment Day member Dominick Mysterio, Rhea Ripley, and JD McDonough arrived for the distraction. This match continued to go back and forth until the four men all stood in the middle ring. With them staring each other down they started to brawl. The Judgment Day had the numbers to their advantage and hit Jey Uso with the briefcase to try and steal a victory, but he kicked out at almost three. When this happened the crowd when wild because it felt like the end of the match. With Uso injured Damien Priest tried to put Rhodes through the table, but JD accidently struck Priest with the briefcase, allowing Cody to hit the crossroads on the table. Immiditly after Rhodes and Jey Uso hit Balor with a modified 1-D followed by a Cross Rhodes. Rhodes then pinned Balor to become the new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions.

This match was a great way to start the show. Many fans wanted to see Rhodes and Uso win the match but were expecting The Judgement Day to steal a victory from them. Their antics did not work this, and no one saw it coming. It was filled with many close finishes that could have gone either way. From start to finish this match had you on the edge of your seat. This match was definitely the match of the night and a great way to start this show.

Escobar & Rey Mysterio vs Bobby Lashley Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford

The second match of the night was a six-man tag team match between the LWO which included a Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, and a mystery opponent vs Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford). The beginning of this match started out as a handicapped match because the LWO’s mystery partner did not show up. Escobar and Ford started this match. Escobar was able to take take control Ford was able to make a tag. The numbers game got to LW very fast and the street profits and Lashley were dominating Escobar and Mystery for a good portion of the match. The Street Profits and Lashley were using quick tags to take control of Rey Mysterio. Anytime that Rey Msyterio got any type of momentum, the Street Profits used their heel tactics to take out Escobar. When all hope was lost for the LWO their mystery partner entered the match. Carlito’s music dropped, and he came running in at the eleventh hour. Carlito came in evening the score in the match. He hit a backstabber on Dawkins to pick up the win for the LWO.

This match was quite predictable but was still enteraining. When the LWO’s partner did not show up it was very obvious that whoever it was would arrive late. I was expecting the mystery partner to be Thunder Liger not Carlito, So when Carlito arrived I was pretty excited. This match was filled with high flying moves from Mysterio, Escobar, Ford and even Zelina Vega. Overall this was the worst match of the night but by no means was it a bad match.

Asuka vs Iyo Sky vs Charlotte Flair

The third match of the night was the second Championship match of the night. Iyo Sky was defending her title against Charlotte Flair and Asuka in a Triple Threat Match. Immediately into this match Asuka blew poison mist into the eyes of Charlotte Flair and this match became a one-on-one match for the first few minutes. Flair remained outside with officials while Sky and Asuka fought in the ring. The two of them put on a great performance including high flying moves and quick pins trying to get the win. Flair then came back in the ring and took control of the ring. Asuka and Sky had to team up on Flair in order to even the match out. The match made its way to outside the ring and the three women all got to demonstrate their athleticism. Sky hit a moonsault out of the ring onto Asuka. Then Flair hit another moonsault onto Sky and Asuka. When the three women go back into, they performed a great spot in the corner of the ring. Flair held Sky up on the top turnbuckle and Asuka power bombed both women to get a near fall on them both. Asuka and Sky then put Flair in a double submission until Asuka began attacking Sky. Charlotte and Asuka began battling in the ring when Bayley arrived to help out Iyo Sky. Flair put Asuka in the Figure-8 but the ref was distracted and did not see Asuka tap out. Sky then hit a moonsault onto Flair and pinned her to retain the WWE Women’s Championship.

This match was great and showed off each performer well. Charlotte demonstrated her strength on the others while Asuka and Sky showed off their high flying and technical abilities. It was quite surprising that Charlotte took the pinfall in this match. I predicted that Iyo Sky would retain it by pinning Asuka. There were many cool spots that were featured in this match that utilized three people.

LA Knight & John Cena vs Solo Sikoa & Jey Uso

Following the Women’s triple threat match Pat Macafee entered the ring and discussed the attendance in the building and tried pushing for WrestleMania to be held in Indianapolis. Following this he made his way to the announcers table where he would commentate on the next match, John Cena, and LA Knight vs the Bloodline members Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso in a Tag Team Match. John Cena and Jimmy Uso started this match out and the Bloodline immediately took control over the match. Solo Sikoa entered the ring and began man handling Cena in the ring. Anytime Cena got close to tagging LA Knight in he was dragged away by the Bloodline. Cena continued getting a beat down in the ring for a while unable to get a tag. John Cena was able reverse Sikoa and make the tag to LA Knight. The crowd lost their minds when LA entered the ring on the fast tag. He began an assault on Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa. He then reversed an Uso Splash by Jimmy and his him with a big elbow. LA knight and Cena took control over the ring after Knight leaped onto the top turnbuckle preventing Jimmy from leaping onto Cena. Cena then hit a Five Knuckle Shuffle onto Jimmy followed by a Blunt Force Trauma by Knight. LA Knight pinned Jimmy Uso for the victory.

This tag match was your typical John Cena match and played out exactly how everyone thought it would. John Cena gets dominated for much of the match but never gives up. It was pretty annoying how long it took Knight to get tagged into the match but that was the story that were trying to tell. The pop that Knight got when he finally obtained the tag was the loudest of the night. This match definitly sets up a Roman vs Knight match later down the line.

Seth Rollins vs Shinsuke Nakamura

 The main event of the night was Seth Rollins defending his WWE World Heavyweight Title vs Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing Match. This was the third match the two of them had in this program. Immediately after the bell rang Seth Rollins went under the ring and grabbed a kendo stick but Nakamura was able to counter by attacking Rollins injured back. The crowd immediately began the “We want Tables” chant as soon as Seth went under the ring. This match really used the no DQ rule to their advantage. Seth grabbed all the weapons he could find including the steel steps, multiple chairs, kendo sticks and tables. This, however, gave Nakamura time to recover and he took control of the match outside the ring. It was now time for Nakamura to go under the ring for weapons where he grabbed himself nun chucks. He began beating down Seth with the nun chucks and attacking his lower back. Seth Rollins was able to make to his feet after a six count and Shinsuke continued his beat down of Rollins. He placed a garbage can on his and began hitting it with a kendo stick. Seth Rollins was able to rally after the beat down that he was receiving and began beating Nakamura down with a kendo stick. After Rollins gave Shinsuke a Frog Splash the ref began his count but Nakamura made it back up after the count of 8. Nakamura then reversed Rollins and placed the table in the corner turnbuckle. He tried to spear Rollins through the table but missed. He went through the table, but the table did not break. Rollins followed up with a curb stomp but was unable to win the match. Seth then cleared the announcement table and set up a ladder right next to it. He placed Shinsuke on the table and climbed the ladder, but Nakamura ran away. Rollins chased Nakamura into the crowds, and they began fighting on the stairs. Nakamura hit Rollins with a low blow then threw him to the ground below. At the count of 9 Rollins was able to make it to his feet. When this didn’t do the trick Nakamura began unloading chair shots to the back of Rollins. The two made their way back into the ring and Seth Rollins was able to take control of the match with a super kick and a pedigree. Following this Nakamura continued to take advantage of Seth’s lower back. He put him through a table on the outside followed by multiple chair shots. When Seth able to rally again as the two men climbed the ladder. Nakamura blew red mist in the eyes and Rollins fell through the announcement tables. This still was not enough to keep Rollins down for the ten counts, so Nakamura slammed Rollins on a chair and kicked him through the table that was in the corner. Nakamura then dragged Rollins through the crowd again while Rollins taunted him. Rollins was able to counter Nakamura and hit him with another pedigree stomp combination in the crowd. This was still not enough to take Nakamura out, so Rollins hit Shinsuke with a Falcon Arrow off the handrail through two tables. The referee made his count to 10 and Seth Rollins retained his WWE World Heavyweight Championship.