For seven years in a row, February was marked by the Elimination Chamber match.
To get to WrestleMania, you had to fight through that structure, and come out on the other side in order to reach your goal. But the Elimination Chamber is gone, likely moved to the summer, and in its place, we have Fastlane.
Fastlane has a surprisingly strong card despite the idea that it's simply a pay-per-view that will be used to build for WrestleMania. There are seven matches listed, and most have the potential to be decent matches.
Many of the matches do feel like setups for WrestleMania, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. The final two matches, Rusev vs. John Cena and Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan, are compelling matchups where how they get to the finish is as important as who ends up winning.
While some of the matches feel like they were rushed to put together, the builds, for the most part, have been strong. And you can bet that at the end of the night, the WrestleMania picture will start to become very clean.
So here's a look at Fastlane.
The Usos vs. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd for the tag team titles
The Cesaro-Kidd tag team has been a revelation. For those complaining about teams that just get thrown together, this is the reason why you can do it from time to time, because sometimes the pairs work. These two have jelled perfectly, and even though they were just thrown together, they feel like a tag team that have been working together forever. Cesaro, it should be noted, has pretty much always been better as a tag team wrestler than a singles wrestler, going back to his days as part of the Kings of Wrestling on the independent circuit. Having said all that, I don't think this is their time quite yet. I could see them winning at some point, but it feels slightly too early for it. I also feel like the WWE would like The Usos to be tag team champions to induct their father into the WWE Hall of Fame. So while I do think Cesaro-Kidd has a reign in front of them, and probably soon, I don't think it's here.
Winners: The Usos
Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan vs. Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane
This is the one match that really didn't have much build to it. Well, at least there hasn't been a lot of build over the past few weeks. They've been doing variations of this match since November. Hopefully this is the final stand of this brand of gang warfare, and after this, they figure out exactly what they're doing with Ziggler, Ryback and Rollins in particular going into WrestleMania. Of course, all six probably will end up in a battle royale or something similar. More than anything, I'm disappointed Kane and Big Show are in the match instead of Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury. They need to let those guys wrestle a little more often. Anyway, the winner feels relatively meaningless in all this. My guess is Ziggler ends up pinning Big Show and Kane, just because Big Show and Kane are pretty much there to take pins at this point. If you told me that Rollins pinned Rowan to win, that wouldn't shock me either.
Winner: Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan
Bad News Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental title
I'll say this about this feud. It's nice that it seems like the challenger actually cares about the belt. Too often there's just a random feud over the belt, where it doesn't seem like the challenger really cares. The WWE even randomly moves people from the United States title to the Intercontinental title picture. So for Ambrose to care not just about winning a belt, but this specific belt, is a bit refreshing. That being said, most of the rest of this feud has been grossly disappointing, including the ridiculous contract signing. Also, Barrett has lost to Sin Cara and R-Truth in the past month. That's not making the titleholder look very strong going into this match. So, just because they've been making a big deal about Ambrose wanting the title, I'll say they pull the trigger and give him the belt here.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Stardust vs. Goldust
I'm a bit disappointed that this match is on the card. This needed to be a WrestleMania midcard match. The build to this has been so good, and a brothers match would make for such a feel-good WrestleMania moment. We've been teased by the possibility of this match for several years now, so for it to be on Fastlane is a bit disappointing. I think it's because they don't want to have two tag team breakup matches at WrestleMania, and they're slotting Miz-Sandow in there, but I think they could have both. In fact, it wouldn't shock me if Goldust refuses to wrestle at Fastlane, and they manage to push the match back until WrestleMania. This feud is very likely the swan song for Goldust, so you have to think he puts over Stardust in it. If this is truly the big match between the two, then Stardust has to go over. I just can't see how this feud ends here. So I think there's a no-contest, or no match, but if there is, Stardust goes over.
Winner: Stardust
Nikki Bella vs. Paige for the Divas title
Both Paige and Nikki have been very good in this feud so far. Nikki has always been at her best when she can just be a bully, and Paige has played well off of her. That being said, I think even the WWE would agree that Nikki's title reign hasn't been quite as dynamic as they would have hoped, and they have to at least be entertaining the idea of taking the belt off of her to shake things up. But I don't think this is the time quite yet. I do think Paige gets the belt back sometime in 2015, maybe as soon as the summer, but not here.
Winner: Nikki Bella
The confrontation between Triple H and Sting
Not a match, but this is almost certainly going to take up about 15-20 minutes. If I have one hope for this segment, it's that they keep Sting quiet for the most part. Sting always has been at his best when he's not talking, and they've done a good job with him just lurking and being mysterious to this point. Clearly this will set up the WrestleMania match, and if I had to guess, I'd say that Sting ends up looking better at Fastlane. My one guess is that we'll see his trademark bat make an appearance for the first time Sunday night.
Rusev vs. John Cena for the United States title
The biggest takeaway from this feud so far is just how good Rusev can be. This is, without question, the best that Rusev has looked in a feud. When he started talking a few weeks ago, I think many fans braced themselves for Rusev to completely fall on his face. But starting a few weeks ago, in this feud against Cena, Rusev has shown that he's more than able to hold his own on the microphone. His timing is nothing short of fantastic. This doesn't mean he needs to get rid of Lana any time soon, but the added ability to talk for himself only can help him. The interesting thing about this match, besides Cena fighting for the U.S. title, is that the past few weeks has revolved around whether Cena would tap out to the Russian Wrecking Ball. Shining such a spotlight on that aspect of Cena is an interesting move, as nobody can imagine Cena tapping out for the first time in a decade. But I do expect it to come into play. Clean or not, this match screams to me that Cena is going to pass out in The Accolade, putting Rusev over, but not tapping out. I don't see Cena winning here, and if the tapout aspect doesn't come into play, then why bring it up on Raw? Most likely, it won't be completely clean. There will be a referee bump that leads to a foreign object coming into play, or outside interference, but I do think Rusev goes over here. But WrestleMania is another question.
Winner: Rusev
Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania
The high point of this feud definitely came Monday, when the show ended with the brawl between the two. The build has been interesting, as both Bryan and Reigns had noticeable changes to their characters. Reigns had gotten more serious, and shifted from the jokester Reigns we had seen in January. Bryan added some snarkiness to his character, a shift from the white-meat babyface that he has portrayed for the past year and a half. This could come back to haunt them down the road, but for this feud, it added a new dynamic that has kept the segments fresh, for the most part. The question is who should win. I can't see a way that Reigns doesn't end up in the main event at WrestleMania. They were confident about him four weeks ago, and minds don't change that quickly. But I could see a situation in which Bryan ends up in the match as well, in a triple-threat. There are a number of ways to get there: double-countout, double-disqualification, double-knockout, even interference. The question then becomes do they want Bryan in the main event of WrestleMania if he's not going to win. The answer to that, in my mind, is probably no. It's not impossible to see Bryan winning at WrestleMania, but it's a little hard to see at this point. So because of that, I will say Reigns wins here. Hopefully it's a solid match that will quiet the the boos and the "You can't wrestle" chants for Reigns. I think he has it in him, and likely we'll see much of what we saw Monday, with the two brawling around the ring. But in the end, I see Reigns winning.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Thoughts? Predictions? Leave them in the comment section, email me, or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster