Fastlane (2016)
| Fastlane (2016) | ||||
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| File:Fastlane 2016.png | ||||
| Theme song(s) |
"Watch This" by Will Roush[1] | |||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | WWE | |||
| Sponsor(s) | Tapout | |||
| Date | February 21, 2016 | |||
| Attendance | 14,923 | |||
| Venue | Quicken Loans Arena | |||
| City | Cleveland, Ohio | |||
| WWE Network event chronology | ||||
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| Fastlane chronology | ||||
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Fastlane (2016) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE. It took place on February 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.[2] This is the second event in the Fastlane chronology. The event consisted of eight matches (including the pre-show). The main event saw Roman Reigns defeating Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match to become the #1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to face Triple H at WrestleMania 32.
Contents
Background
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Fastlane consisted of professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers portrayed heroes or villains as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[3][4]
At the Royal Rumble, Triple H won the Royal Rumble match by eliminating Dean Ambrose to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.[5] On the following night on Raw, Stephanie McMahon scheduled a triple threat match featuring Ambrose, the previous champion Roman Reigns, and Brock Lesnar at the event, with the winner facing Triple H at WrestleMania 32 for the title.[6]
At the Royal Rumble, Kalisto defeated Alberto Del Rio to win the WWE United States Championship.[5] Del Rio then invokes his rematch clause to face Kalisto for the title at the event.[7] The match was later announced to moved to the Fastlane pre-show, with Del Rio challenging Kalisto to a two-out-of-three falls match.[8][9]
On the February 1 episode of Raw, Brie Bella defeated WWE Divas Champion Charlotte in a non-title match, earning a title opportunity against Charlotte at the event.[7][10]
On the same episode of Raw, Sasha Banks split from Team B.A.D., causing her former teammates Naomi and Tamina to attack Banks during her match against Becky Lynch. Lynch assisted Banks, setting up a tag team match between the two teams for the event.[7][10]
Kevin Owens won his second Intercontinental Championship on the February 15 episode of Raw in a fatal five-way match. Tyler Breeze, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust, and the previous champion Dean Ambrose were also involved in that match. Ziggler, who had defeated Owens in the previous two weeks on Raw,[10] then challenged Owens to an Intercontinental Championship match at the event, with the match being confirmed for the event, despite Owens refusing the challenge.[8]
On the February 15 episode of Raw, it was announced that Edge and Christian will host The Cutting Edge Peep Show at the event, with The New Day as their special guests.[11][8]
The Wyatt Family began feuding with Big Show, Kane and Ryback, with The Wyatt Family attacking the trio, after Bray Wyatt's victory over Kane on the January 25 episode of Raw, Big Show's victory over Erick Rowan on the February 1 episode of Raw and Wyatt's victory over Ryback a week later.[6][7][10] On the February 15 episode of Raw, Big Show defeated Braun Strowman by disqualification after the Wyatt Family attacked Big Show. During the post-match, Ryback and Kane came out to assist Big Show, setting up a six-man tag team match for the event, with Big Show, Kane and Ryback facing Rowan, Strowman and fellow Wyatt Family member Luke Harper for the event.[8][12]
AJ Styles made his WWE debut during the Royal Rumble match.[5] On the following night on Raw, Styles defeated Chris Jericho.[6] Jericho then defeated Styles in a rematch on the February 11 episode of SmackDown.[13] On the following episode on Raw, Styles challenged Jericho to a third match at Fastlane, which Jericho accepted on the following episode of SmackDown.[8][14]
Broadcasters
The Fastlane Kickoff Show was hosted by Renee Young, with Booker T, Corey Graves and Jerry Lawler as analysts. Michael Cole, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Byron Saxton served as the English commentators, while the Spanish and German commentators also called the matches live at the arena. Lilian Garcia and Eden Stiles served as the ring announcers.
Aftermath
On the following night's episode of Raw, Vince McMahon presented the "Vincent J McMahon Legacy of Excellence" award and awarded it to his daughter Stephanie. As Stephanie was about to do her speech, Shane McMahon made his return to WWE to confront his father and sister over the current state of the company. He told Vince that he wanted the control of Raw, to which his father agreed if Shane would do one more match, which Shane accepted. Vince then revealed that Shane would face The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania 32.[15] Then the next week, Undertaker returned to RAW and interrupted Vince to say that Shane's blood would be on Vince's hands.[16]
On the following day, Brock Lesnar attacked Dean Ambrose upon his arrival to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for costing him the match at Fastlane by hitting him with a steel chair that forced him out of the ring. The attack sent Ambrose to a hospital. Later on Raw, Lesnar and Paul Heyman issued a challenge to anyone in the locker room to face Lesnar at WrestleMania. The still-injured Ambrose drove an ambulance back into the arena to challenge Lesnar to a No Holds Barred Street Fight at WrestleMania 32. Lesnar hit Ambrose with the F-5 and accepted the challenge.[15]
On the February 29 edition of Raw, Ambrose walked in on Triple H and issued a challenge for Triple H's WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Later that night, Triple H accepted Ambrose's challenge and attacked him. The match was set for WWE Roadblock.[15]
Ryback, Big Show and Kane faced The Wyatt Family in a rematch on the following night on Raw. During the match, Ryback walked out of the match, allowing The Wyatt Family to take advantage and win the match when Bray Wyatt pinned Kane. Ryback later explained that he is sick of being in tag team matches, but he doesn't have a bone to pick with Kane or Big Show.[15]
On the following night's episode of Raw, Chris Jericho called out AJ Styles and told him he finally earned his respect. The Social Outcasts then interrupt them, leading both Jericho and Styles to team up, which Jericho dubbed Y2AJ and defeated Heath Slater and Curtis Axel of The Social Outcasts that night. After defeating The New Day in two consecutive matches, Y2AJ challenged The New Day to a match for the Tag Team Championships on the February 29 episode of Raw. Y2AJ faced The New Day in a title match on March 7 episode of Raw which they lost after Jericho was pinned by Big E. After the match, Jericho attacked Styles with three Codebreakers, turning heel and breaking up Y2AJ in the process.
After Sasha Banks defeated Naomi the following night on Raw, Charlotte announced that both Banks and Becky Lynch will face each other to determine who will face her for the Divas Championship at WrestleMania 32. Banks and Lynch faced each other in a No.1 contenders match on February 29 episode of Raw which ended in a draw after both women's shoulders were pinned. The two faced each other again in a rematch on March 3 episode of Smackdown which ended in a double disqualification after Charlotte attacked both women. After Charlotte claimed that no one deserves the Divas Championship, she was informed that she will defend her Divas Championship against both Banks and Lynch in a Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania.
Reception
Like the previous year's event, Fastlane received generally mixed reviews from critics. Aaron Oster of The Baltimore Sun reviewed the pay-per-view as "solid", but noted that the show was "received so poorly" by fans that it led to "#CancelWWENetwork trending on Twitter once again". Regarding the main event, the fan "response has been instantly negative" despite a result "many expected". While the "match itself was good for the most part", the finish was questioned by Oster: "Why was Reigns able to jump right up after he got hit several times with a steel chair?" Styles-Jericho was "great" but Oster also questioned "why Chris Jericho was kicking out of the Styles Clash so early into Styles' WWE career." For the women's title match, "Brie looked OK" but was not on the level of Charlotte's previous opponents, Paige and Becky Lynch. Both the women's tag match and Owens-Ziggler were "good", with praise for Owens' "short-arm pop-up powerbomb". Meanwhile, Del Rio's disqualification was a "great piece of psychology that added to the match" for the U.S. title. Lastly, the Wyatt's loss was a "mistake" because "if they can't beat this thrown-together group, who can they beat?"[17]
Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net "felt letdown by the overall show until the main event". This was in spite of "some good matches", because the entire Fastlane event failed to leave Powell "anxious to see WrestleMania", with "the Hunter vs. Reigns match just doesn't feel main event worth". For the matches, Powell was high on the main event ("very good" and without "a dull moment"), Jericho-Styles ("good drama down the stretch... Jericho did a really nice job of acting like he was in agony as he sold the Calf Crusher") and the Divas Championship bout ("an entertaining match with Brie using a lot of her husband’s moves"). Additionally, the Wyatts losing was "very surprising". For the negatives, Powell suffered network streaming issues for the women's tag match and the Intercontinental title match, Edge and Christian's segment "was terrible", and for Axel-Truth, Powell said, "I watched a pay-per-view and a Superstars match broke out".[18]
James Caldwell of PWTorch.com reviewed the event, with three matches being rated 3.5 out of 5 stars: the main event, Jericho-Styles and Owens-Ziggler. The main event match was described as "WWE main event-style roller-coasting with ups-and-downs and twists and turns playing off the TV, but it was inevitable Reigns was winning, taking some of the steam out of the match". Caldwell criticized the "tone-deaf", "Super Cena booking" of Reigns as WWE failing to change the "presentation for a non-main-eventer masquerading in a main event role". Styles-Jericho had "few slip-ups on big spots", but a "very good, clear story" and "a very strong finish". Owens-Ziggler and Brie-Charlotte (2 stars) were both described as bouts where "the audience didn't really buy the babyface challenger having a shot to win". Del Rio-Kalisto was rated 3 stars and the women's tag match 2.5 stars. The six-man tag match was rated 2.25 stars, with Caldwell questioning if the Wyatts needed to resort to "another promo/sneak-attack trying to save face after another big loss". Caldwell was also negative on Edge and Christian's segment as "none of this made any sense from a character alignment perspective", as well as the Axel-Truth match for even happening, writing that "the PPV has gone off the rails, like a third hour of Raw".[18]
Dave Scherer of PWInsider.com praised the main event match as "really, really good", but criticized the match result as Vince McMahon ignoring "the voice of the people... especially when the crowd made it really clear that of the two, they wanted Dean" over Roman Reigns. Scherer was most positive regarding the Styles-Jericho match, describing it as "freaking awesome. AJ did what AJ does and WWE let him do it... And kudos to Jericho for being a veteran stud here". For the women's matches, Scherer wrote that the title match "could have been the best match I have ever seen Brie have", while the tag bout was "good, solid". The Intercontinental title match was "great", as was Kevin Owens' performance in it. The United States title match was "solid", but Scherer criticized "how they are booking ADR" as "wasting him". Lastly, Scherer dismissed Edge and Christian's segment as an "in show ad".[19]
Results
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[18] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1P | Kalisto (c) defeated Alberto Del Rio 2–1 | Two-out-of-three falls match for the WWE United States Championship[20] | 15:12 |
| 2 | Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks defeated Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina) by submission | Tag team match[21] | 9:50 |
| 3 | Kevin Owens (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler | Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship[22] | 16:10 |
| 4 | Big Show, Kane and Ryback defeated The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman) (with Bray Wyatt) | Six-man tag team match[23] | 10:37 |
| 5 | Charlotte (c) (with Ric Flair) defeated Brie Bella by submission | Singles match for the WWE Divas Championship[24] | 12:26 |
| 6 | AJ Styles defeated Chris Jericho by submission | Singles match[25] | 16:20 |
| 7 | Curtis Axel (with Bo Dallas, Adam Rose and Heath Slater) defeated R-Truth | Singles match[26] | 2:23 |
| 8 | Roman Reigns defeated Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) | Triple Threat match to determine the #1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 32[27] | 16:04 |
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See also
References
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