Here are my predictions for tonights WWE ppv FASTLANE:
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (c) vs. The Miz and Shane McMahon
-> No automatic rematch clause, but this is happening anyway, because why
not? This in Cleveland, so either WWE plans on having The Miz and Shane
win the titles back and get a major babyface pop, or they want to have
The Miz or Shane turn heel to play with the crowd. I haven't quite
figured which side I lean.
PREDICTION: The Usos retain. Hardyz vs Usos at WrestleMania
WWE Championship Match: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kevin Owens
-> This started off as Kofi Kingston before it was changed to Kevin Owens.
The only way I can see that being justified in their minds is that they
wanted to go with KofiMania and had originally planned on Owens, so they
just swapped the two.
PREDICTION: Daniel Bryan retains the title.
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Match: The Boss & Hug Connection (c) vs. Nia Jax and Tamina
It won't be an "easy" victory for Sasha Banks and Bayley, but it's an "victory" for those two, for sure. There's no way they're dropping
the titles right now. They're carrying them at least into WrestleMania,
if not after that point.
PREDICTION: Bayley and Banks retain the titles.
SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Asuka (c) vs. Mandy Rose
Wow, they really don't care about Asuka heading into WrestleMania, do
they? One pin from Mandy Rose is going to be the only thing they bother
with to set up a match between those two for filler. Then, they're probably going to have Lacey Evans fight Asuka at
WrestleMania
.
PREDICTION: Asuka retains the title.
The Shield vs. Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley, and Drew McIntyre
I can understand why they went with The Shield against those three, but I
also think it's weird that they looped in Elias on the heel side and
Finn Balor, Braun Strowman and Kurt Angle on the babyface side. Seems to
me like it would almost make more sense for Lashley to fight Balor for
the Intercontinental Championship, while Elias teams with Corbin and
McIntyre, right?
Anyway, the story here is The Shield reuniting. Unless there's a turn
from Dean Ambrose to set up a match between he and Roman Reigns, I have
to imagine the babyfaces are winning this.
PREDICTION: The Shield wins.
Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch
So for the sixth time, I've had to change this. Now, it's back to the
thing I had said it would be months ago, wherein Becky Lynch wins and
she gets inserted in the WrestleMania match, but if she loses, it's just
Ronda Rousey against Flair.
PREDICTION: Becky Lynch wins with the help from Ronda Rousey.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Revival (c) vs. Aleister Black and Ricochet vs. Bobby Roode and Chad Gable
Despite how poorly The Revival have been booked since...well, pretty
much ever...I don't think they're dropping the titles here. In fact, I
think the entire purpose of Roode and Gable being in this match is to
give Dash and Dawson people to pin to avoid having to beat Black and
Ricochet.
PREDICTION: The Revival retain the titles by pinning Roode/Gable.
Kickoff: Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade
Nothing on the line? No stipulations? Very strange that they'd go ahead
and do that when they still have the Intercontinental and United States
titles without any matches on the card, but okay, at least we know this
match will be good.
PREDICTION: Flip a coin. Since there are no stakes, it doesn't
matter. Let's go with Andrade winning to offset his pinfall loss to
Samoa Joe on SmackDown.
Kickoff: The New Day vs. Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura
I still don't get the booking philosophy behind these kickoff matches.
Why is this happening here instead of on SmackDown? Is it to do
something with Kofi Kingston? If not, then it's just an odd mistake, as
we don't have Finn Balor, Braun Strowman, Elias and others on the card
who would have made more sense. Rusev and Nakamura weren't even
interacting with Big E and Xavier Woods on this week's SmackDown, they
were up against The Hardy Boyz and Aleister Black and Ricochet. Am I
missing something here, or am I just applying logic to WWE while knowing
that the company doesn't follow logic all the time?
PREDICTION: The New Day wins.
pics (c) WWE
