A familiar sight ended WWE's Fastlane as, for the second straight month, Roman Reigns stood tall, pointing at the WrestleMania sign.
However, there was a far different vibe for Roman Reigns after his nearly 30-minute match with Daniel Bryan. The match was very good, with both wrestlers getting a lot of offense in. There was several false finishes, and it finally ended with Reigns kicking out of the running knee and then delivering a Spear for a win.
When it ended, there were very few boos from the crowd in Memphis (admittedly, there wasn't much sound at all from a crowd that was dead for a majority of the night). While there was some complaining online, there was as much praise for Reigns. Many thought that Bryan would need to "carry" Reigns, and while Bryan certainly did his part, Reigns absolutely held his own. By the end of the match, Reigns looked like the star that the WWE has wanted us all to see.
February has been as good for Reigns as January was bad. On the mic, he replaced goofy jokes and weird stories with intensity. In-ring, he traded matches where he delivered three or four big moves for a variety of offense, and he sold his opponent. If he had come into the Royal Rumble with this sort of build, you have to wonder if the crowd would have reacted the same way.
The WWE has seemed to find the right notes for Reigns to hit.
Nobody is going to confuse Reigns for an in-ring technician. However, he doesn't need to be. He needs to hit a variety of big moves, and hit them with intensity. At Fastlane, he hit several moves I've never seen him hit before, and some moves that you rarely see from anyone. He did a good job of pacing throughout the match, so every move seemed slightly more impactful. If he can put on a show like he did on Sunday, he'll be fine moving forward.
The question, of course, is whether he can put on the same show against someone like Brock Lesnar and, more importantly, can he hold his own on the mic. Paul Heyman will certainly put him over, but he's on his own now. The crowd was a lock to be split when he was going against Daniel Bryan and it didn't seem weird. A split crowd will not work as well against Lesnar. However, if he can just continue to do the same things that he has this month, then what seemed like a potential disaster at WrestleMania could go down almost as well as the WWE would hope.
Many thought the Rumble would be that defining moment for Reigns, on his path to win the title. It could prove to be that his match at Fastlane was what he needed to truly point him in the right direction.
The Rest of Fast Lane:
** While Reigns stood tall at the end of the night, Rusev may have had the best night. He was made to look like an absolute monster, kicking out of an AA, refusing to tap to multiple STFs, and breaking the holds through sheer power.
While he needed to resort to some underhanded tactics to keep John Cena down, he did eventually force Cena to pass out to the Accolade. The finish was executed well, and it fit the story perfectly. Cena couldn't keep Rusev down, and Cena wouldn't tap, just like he said he wouldn't.
This will likely head towards a rematch at WrestleMania, but Rusev getting a win, even a slightly tainted win, is a good look for him.
** The Triple H and Sting confrontation finally provided a physical moment between the two, and then officially set them on the road to WrestleMania.
After Triple H ran Sting down, he tried to attack Sting. Sting fought back, but Triple H was able to knock him down. Triple H went for the sledgehammer, but when he came back in the ring to attack him, Sting was there to cut him off with his signature bat.
Just like in WCW, he held the bat to Triple H's neck, while forcing him back to the corner. He then used the bat to point to the WrestleMania sign. They've been building this slowly, and Sunday's segment hit all the right notes.
** The other non-wrestling segment at Fastlane provided a bit of a surprise. The lights went out, and the druids came to the ramp. After they set up, Undertaker's gong hit as a casket was rolled down to ringside.
However, when the casket popped open, it was Bray Wyatt. He officially called out The Undertaker, instead of going with his vague references. So while it was long-assumed, it seems like that match is official for WrestleMania as well.
** We have new tag-team champions, as Cesaro and Tyson Kidd beat The Usos. The match wasn't a classic by any stretch, but the combination moves by both teams made the last third of the match pretty exciting. I'm a big fan of the resurgence of the double-team moves. It seems like most of the teams have added a few to their arsenal.
Cesaro and Kidd, while maybe thrown together, operate like a tag team that has wrestled for years. Hopefully their title reign goes well, because both of these guys deserve it.
** The Bad News Barrett-Dean Ambrose match was extremely disappointing. It was somewhat clunky, and the finish was terrible.
Ambrose has talked for weeks about how much he wants to win the Intercontinental title. He then puts Barrett in the ropes and attacks him until the ref is forced to call for the DQ. It makes absolutely no sense.
While this set up an easy rematch, possibly at WrestleMania, what happened from bell to bell had no logic to it, and ruined what could have been a good match.
** The Goldust-Stardust match was weird. And no, not just because of the competitors involved. The ending was Goldust catching Stardust in a backslide, and the ref calling for the bell, despite clearly not counting three.
It was weird that the ref would call for the bell, and it was also an odd ending for such a personal feud (though admittedly, it makes sense to some degree that Goldust would try to win without having to hurt Stardust). After the match, Stardust attacked Goldust backstage, while yelling at Dusty Rhodes.
Dusty is clearly going to have a big role to play in the rest of the feud, and it wouldn't shock me if there was a Stardust-Dusty match at some point.
** Nikki Bella beat Paige in a fairly standard women's match. Nikki did have to cheat to win, by grabbing the tights, so it sets up a potential rematch in the near future. It's hard to say exactly what the WrestleMania match will be here, as they usually try to involve all the Divas, but clearly Paige will still be prominently involved.
** Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show beat Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan after Kane pinned Ziggler. There wasn't much to say about this match, though it is worth noting that Kane picked up his first pay-per-view win in nearly two years. His last win had come at Wrestlemania 29, while teaming with Daniel Bryan.
After the match, Randy Orton made his long-awaited return. He cleared house and send Rollins scurrying to the back, likely setting up a WrestleMania match between the two.
Thoughts? Questions? Leave them in the comment section, email me, or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster