WWE Fastlane 2021 is scheduled for March 21, 2021 from inside the WWE ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Follow along here for spoilers and information on the event's card, lineup of matches and news regarding the pay-per-view.
The following are my predictions for the 2021 WWE Fastlane PPV. Check back for Fastlane 2021 results and review coverage here when the time comes.
WWE Fastlane 2021 Spoilers |
Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
They took a winding road to get here, but the whole idea of the Elimination Chamber easy victory that would lead into a rematch at Fastlane did end up being the true idea. Obviously, Daniel Bryan isn't winning this. Absolutely no chance. But the match should still be good and I'm looking forward to it.
This Friday night on SmackDown, we'll figure out who the special enforcer will be. My guess is Edge beats Jey Uso, who just ends up being ringside and interfering anyway.
PREDICTION: Roman Reigns retains.
Women's Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks
Remember how they just did this match at Elimination Chamber?
Remember how Lana and Naomi have been No. 1 contenders for weeks, and then only randomly got a match on Raw out of nowhere just before this as if they had to just get that out of the way?
Remember how Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez won a title shot, got screwed out of it in obvious fashion that WWE wants us to realize and not let go meaning they deserve a rematch, but were just given tag titles instead, and then immediately dropped them to Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart to defeat the entire purpose of the tournament and the title match and the nonsense with Adam Pearce?
This is so blatantly obvious that WWE has ZERO CLUE what to do with the Banks and Belair storyline and many more elements of creative these days. It was obvious before with how Reginald was the anchor, for whatever reason, despite being Carmella's associate. Now, it's even more clear, because they're just repeating the exact same thing that serves no purpose whatsoever.
And if you say "it's because Banks/Belair are going to turn on each other in this match", then I present to you the argument of "So why didn't that just happen at Elimination Chamber?"
If your answer is "Because WWE had to stall and didn't know what else to do to fill up the remaining couple weeks between Elimination Chamber and Fastlane if that happened earlier", then I present to you the argument of "They're writers. They're supposed to write that and figure it out. That's their job. They're being paid for that. Their job isn't to think of one week's worth of story that stretches out for 3 months just by copying and pasting."
Goddamn this type of laziness annoys me. People get paid for this! They earn actual money to put such little thought and effort into this job. It took me literally 2 and a half minutes to plot out an alternative idea for Banks and Belair to do for the next SIX WEEKS of programming. None of this is that hard if you actually give a damn.
Intercontinental Championship Match: Big E (c) vs. Apollo Crews
I'm
digging the new character shift for Apollo Crews. I'd be much more into
this match if they hadn't already fought like 6 times in the past month
or so. Typical scenario with WWE dragging things out. Shinsuke Nakamura
had been part of this feud, but I guess he doesn't factor in anymore.
If they were to put the belt on Apollo, I wouldn't be opposed to it, but
I'd also be kind of shocked that Big E dropped the title. I have to
assume Big E is in the IC title scene for WrestleMania and he might as
well defend it, rather than drop it and have to fight to get it back.
Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon
If WWE doesn't have a better plan for WrestleMania than doing this again, but with a stipulation, then I think they shouldn't do this match at Fastlane at all.
I'm 99% sure that's the case, though. Shane McMahon will goof around and not actually have the match, just like what happened on Raw. He'll maybe win the match through some sort of shenanigans that will make it so Strowman can challenge him to a No DQ match or a gimmick of sorts for the "real" match at WrestleMania.
PREDICTION: Shane McMahon wins through some nonsense.
No Holds Barred: Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus
Why did WWE announce McIntyre against Lashley for WrestleMania ahead of time? This could have easily been a No. 1 contender's match to make it feel more important. It baffles me how they don't see that stuff ahead of time.
McIntyre obviously wins. He has to. He's the one who needs to get revenge and be built up to challenge the champion. If he were to lose, it would be a detriment to WrestleMania, rather than a bonus.
PREDICTION: Drew McIntyre wins.
Alexa Bliss vs. Randy Orton
You know what bums me out? I'm not the type of person who "hates everything" despite how some people have that perception. For instance, if you listen to the A Review to a Kill podcast, you'll hear me gush about how many things I love about the James Bond series.
But I hate this. I hate it so much. I hate everything about it, for the most part...except Alexa Bliss and Randy Orton. I just hate this entire feud, how much WWE has dragged it out, the very fact that it is even happening to begin with, where I imagine it's leading, and everything between.
Why are Bliss and Orton fighting? There's NO WAY this is good. It's either not going to be a match at all, or it's not going to be a good match.
I'm not a fan of spending weeks (or in this case, months) of stretching a storyline out on television just to "build" to a segment on a pay-per-view that will undoubtedly exist mostly just to tell you to tune in to Raw to see what happens afterward so that they can "build" to the "real match" on the NEXT pay-per-view.
Orton vs. Wyatt wasn't something I was into from the start. I've seen it. They haven't done anything to make me want to see it again. The Fiend isn't a different enough character for my tastes. And this has gone on since November. I'm bored with Orton making an angry face at Bliss, who smiles and then makes her mean-mugging "I'm also evil" face.
I don't want to see Bliss and Orton stare at each other at Fastlane until the lights go out, Wyatt attacks Orton, and the commentary team goes "WOOOAAAH. THE FIEND IS BACK! OMG YOU GUYZZ. I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING! WHAT IS GOING ON?" Then, Orton cuts a promo on Raw talking about how he wants The Fiend in a match at WrestleMania. Then, Wyatt cuts a promo in return about how he's going to torture Randy and show him his Firefly Fun House and blah blah blah.
Maybe...and I mean "maybe"....that would have been interesting in December. But you dragged this out so long that I DO NOT CARE anymore, and this Fastlane "match" is undoubtedly not going to surprise me and change my mind. I guarantee it. I want desperately to be proven wrong.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins
This is a logical stop-gap to set up Cesaro facing Seth Rollins at WrestleMania.
In a perfect world, this is a bigger deal. In a less perfect world, this is a SmackDown match, not a pay-per-view match, because WWE didn't book Fastlane at all (since this event isn't necessary and most of what happens here could have happened at Elimination Chamber). But in the current circumstances, I'm glad this is at least happening on the pay-per-view, rather than television. All too often lately, the special events have been pushed aside with nothing but rematches, at best, which makes up most of this card. At least this serves a purpose and progresses things forward a bit.
Rollins wins here. Next week on SmackDown, we get Cesaro and Nakamura against Rollins and Murphy. Eventually, Cesaro against Rollins at WrestleMania. That works.
United States Championship Match: Matt Riddle (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
Ali scored a pin over Riddle. That's WWE's way of being like "See!? Story! Okay, now title match!" It's the simplest, easiest, and admittedly laziest way of developing a No. 1 contender, so WWE does it all the time.
Sadly, that was followed up not only with that, but the even more problematic scenario where WWE already did the match on Raw and then, just had Ali say "I want another."
I hate rematches like this. This should have just been at Fastlane and not on Raw.
PREDICTION: Riddle retains the title.+ more matches TBA, possibly
This page will be altered on a regular basis to reflect changes to the show including any new matches added to the lineup, adjustments to the card, revised predictions and any other information about this event. Stay tuned for the latest updates!
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