Sunday, February 21, 2016

Fastlane Predictions


It's WWE's old faithful booking idea. Do the same match, over and over and over again until we're all sick of it. This will be the fifth encounter between Alberto Del Rio and Kalisto in under two months. They usually have good, but not great matches. I expect more of the same here. Unfortunately, these two were bumped to the Kickoff show, because the US Title isn't as important as the terrible Wyatt Family six man tag apparently. This is a tough call. Part of me sees Kalisto retaining because if he loses, his reigns seem worthless. I could see Del Rio winning and the WWE going back to the Lucha Dragons. I'm gonna be optimistic and say Kalisto retains.

Winner: Kalisto

When I attended the live NXT shows in Ohio last year, one person who had to unfortunately miss them was Becky Lynch. She is someone I've really wanted to see live and I'll finally get the chance here. Her and Sasha Banks are among the best women on the WWE roster and the two best on the main roster. Naomi and Tamina are much, much closer to the bottom of the WWE barrel. If the plan is to give us Charlotte vs. Sasha vs. Becky at WrestleMania, which is should be, then the former Team BAE needs the victory here. Hell, even if that's not the plan, there is no reason for Team BAD to win since they are...well, bad.

Winners: Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks

I'm actually going to be attending this Pay-Per-View. It'll be my first WWE PPV since TLC 2014. On that night, Ryback faced Kane in a dull Chairs match, while Erick Rowan wrestled the Big Show in an awful Stairs match. At the very least, the WWE combined those two shit matches into one, hopefully saving me some time. I sense this is the same old story we've grown accustomed to with Bray Wyatt. He'll kick ass at the end of the year and on the road to WrestleMania before ultimately jobbing at the Show of Shows. The Wyatts win here so Bray can look strong on the way to a loss to Brock Lesnar at Mania.

Winners: The Wyatt Family

Usually, I would be rather disappointed in this match being on a Pay-Per-View. Brie has only had a handful of good matches and Charlotte has been pretty lackluster since the main roster move. However, this kind of match works perfectly for a show like Fastlane. Sandwiched in between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, the February events don't usually get the major matches. This should work as a buffer, holding off on the Charlotte/Becky/Sasha Mania outing. Brie will have some sympathy cheers for Daniel Bryan's retirement, but outside of that, people don't really seem to care about this program. I could see Brie getting the sympathy win but it wouldn't be the right move. Keep the title on Charlotte so Sasha or Becky could dethrone her.

Winner: Charlotte

Take what I said about the Kalisto/Del Rio series and multiple it by a billion here. Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler are two talented individuals. Owens had a tremendous 2015, while Ziggler was consistently mediocre. A match between them would be fine. However, the WWE has booked them in SEVEN singles matches over the past few months, including about three straight weeks recently. This was all before they both participated in a five match for the Intercontinental Title, which is where Owens regained the title. This will be another in their seemingly endless Best of 54 series. To make Mania better, we should get Owens defending the IC Title against either Sami Zayn or AJ Styles. In order to do so, he should retain here because Ziggler doesn't belong anywhere near a championship at this point.

Winner: Kevin Owens

Surprisingly, I feel like the WWE has handled AJ Styles very well since his debut. He's won all of his matches except the rematch with Chris Jericho. He has been treated like a star even if some commentators call him a rookie. His matches have been good and he's been mostly protected on the microphone. Miz isn't getting anywhere near enough credit for his work in this program. Anyway, the rubber match between Jericho and Styles should be great. Their first match was good and the second ruled. Hopefully they continue to top themselves. Plus, I'm stoked to see Styles, the best that I've never seen live, for the first time. Styles needs to win this.

Winner: AJ Styles

If it weren't so predictable, this could be one of the more fun main events in recent memory. Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar had a great match at WrestleMania last year, while Dean Ambrose's interactions with Brock in the past few weeks have been the best things in the company. With Dean dropping the Intercontinental Title, I really wish he'd win. Ambrose/Triple H sounds better than Reigns/HHH to be honest. I don't see it happening though. The Wyatts will interfere and take out Brock (much like how Bray's feud with Cena started at the 2014 Rumble, died off and then picked back up at the February PPV), leaving Dean to take the pinfall loss to Roman.

Winner: Roman Reigns

2016 Prediction Record: 4-2
2015 Prediction Record: 60-35