10 Must-See Moments From WWE Fastlane 2018

WWE pulled the proverbial rabbit out of their hat with Fastlane 2018. It's a show that I'm sure even the most diehard fan was expecting to plod through the motions on the Road To WrestleMania, but it didn't. While some of the results were more than a tad predictable as the Grandest Stage Of Them All's card starts to take shape, the action served up certainly made for a great evening of wrestling.

I know what you're immediately saying: "But Ross, how can you say such a thing when the Bludgeon Brothers robbed us of what was turning into yet another classic between The Usos and The New Day?" Simple. They gained heat - an all too rare occurrence these days - and gave the main event scene within the SmackDown Live a true sense of purpose and direction for the first time in a long time.

As for the rest of the card, it was just a bloody good show all around. Nakamura vs. Rusev had its moments, likewise with the women's tag team match. Ruby Riott proved that she can go with the best of them in her match with Charlotte, while Bobby Roode and Randy Orton served up a solid affair with the United States Championship on the line.

As for the main event, well that was filled to the brim with what Broken Matt Hardy would call 'Spot Monkeys,' and I loved it. The climax of that match had me reaching for a packet of cigarettes and I don't even smoke!

Here are 10 must-see moments from Fastlane 2018 - and I apologise to any good bits from the pre-show that should be on this list but aren't. I simply didn't see you so couldn't possibly include you among the elite.

10. MACHKA KICK!

As WWE continue to book Rusev in a weird phase of 'kind of heel but a little bit babyface too' he came within inches of defeating WrestleMania 34 main eventer Shinsuke Nakamura in a moment that was as beautiful as it was brutal.

Just look at the way the force of that Machka Kick forces the King of Strong Style's body to contort in mid-air, causing him to land on the side of his face. Could you imagine if Shinsuke overrotated the landing a degree or two more and was forced out of 'Mania by the Lion of Bulgaria? WRESTLEMANIA WOULD HAVE BEEN RUSEV DAY! It still will be Rusev Day but a little bit less than it would have been if Nakamura hurt himself...

I'm sad now... but this moment was still fantastic all the same.

9. Baron Cor, Blimey!

Baron Corbin is an utter bastard, but when that big bastard is in full flight there are few more beautiful sights in a WWE ring.

In terms of a moveset, The Lone Wolf has one of the most aesthetically pleasing on the main roster of those on the heavier side of 205 pounds - and this was displayed in exhausting detail during this flurry of offence.

Baron Corbin keeps on getting better by the match, it seems, with his knowledge of 

when

to shift through the gears becoming all the more apparent in recent times. It's a real shame he talks like a robot who is desperate for the toilet or that man would be enjoying the riches of true WWE Superstardom now...

8. Byron Directing Traffic He Wasn't Supposed To Be Directing

This is one of those moments you have to see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears to truly appreciate, so go and do that after you've finished looking at these pretty gifs.

Who on earth does Byron Saxton think he is?!

In a fit of excitement, SmackDown Live's self-proclaimed I

nsider

asks "Kevin" - whoever that is - to show a replay of a particular part of a beautiful Randy Orton Superplex off the top rope.

The worst part about all of this is Byron doesn't say please or thank you. There's is no wonder we hear about Kevin Dunn being a notorious pain in the behind to work with - for some, it must be said - when he can't even command respect from Byron bloody Saxton! Imagine working in a position like that for so many years and Byron Saxton of all people not respecting you enough to say 'please' or 'thank you'... unbelievable.

Byron, fix up look sharp!

7. Calm Down, John

When you build an entire pay per view around one match it has to start off with a bang. I don't think anybody watching Fastlane 2018 predicted this type of

banging

bang taking place, however.

John Cena wasted no less than FOUR finishers right at the start of the match which proves that last night's main event was being played outside of Universe Mode - the more we know the more power we have.

This start was as impactful as it was strange. It was different - which is good - but it also had the crowd booing what they were seeing inside the ring like they hadn't been for the rest of the night. It was one of those moments that felt like WWE were

flicking the Vs

towards the fans and smiling while doing so.

This fast start didn't work for Cena, though, who looks like having to actually spend some time with his wife-to-be Nikki Bella with all roads to WrestleMania 34 seemingly closed.

This is where you appear on Raw and call that lonely bugger out, Undertaker...

6. The Point We All Wanted To See

It happened, and I can't wait. Look at how mental Asuka looks. That look alone saw me go

'all in'

on this matchup as if the prospect of these two GOATs going at it wasn't enough.

And Ronda Rousey, this is how you point at a sign without looking like you've got a coathanger lodged inside your leather jacket. Look and learn, friend.

There's not too much to say here other than we wanted it, and WWE gave us it.

5. Outta Nowhere

The foreshadowing was real, with this one. Earlier in the match, Bobby Roode went to that very turnbuckle to perform a Blockbuster and after some more ariel acrobatics was caught up in the sky one too many times.

As always with these kinds of RKOs, you have to wonder what move The Glorious One was going for in order to set up the spot but who cares about that really? The crowd loved it and Randy Orton now owns ONE OF the titles that has alluded him throughout his 16-year WWE run.

'Tis always a nice way to finish a match, is a Flying RKO...

4. How Do You Solve A Problem Like Repetition?

As we were all looking ahead to the latest in a long lineage of matches between The Usos and New Day we were all thinking to ourselves: 'just how are these lads going to keep the action fresh?'

Well, they did so by stealing each others' movesets, with each

steal

getting pettier by the move. It was brilliant one-upmanship from both sides that really added fuel to their collective fire.

It's a shame this match had its legs cut off by The Bludgeon Brothers when it was really hitting its stride, but as I mentioned in the intro, it's not all bad. The SmackDown Live tag team ranks has purpose and direction for the first time in a long old while, the BBs have heat, and we're gagging to see more. Let's see what new action the lads came come up with in New Orleans next month.

3. GO AWAY SHANE!

TWICE HE DID THIS! TWICE! TO TWO DIFFERENT MEN AS WELL! HE'S A MONSTER!

Kevin Owens accidentally kicked Shane McMahon in he mouth. It was as clear as day. The moral of this story is that Shane McMahon shouldn't stick his nose in other people's business otherwise he comes out looking like a bigger pillock than he did going in - hard to believe, I know. How did he not see that it was a mistake?!

SmackDown Live is a weird documentary about the life and times of Shane O'Mac when Shane O'Mac himself claimed the new era of the blue brand would be all about the Superstars rather than the same old tired managerial storylines. This match is quintessential SmackDown in 2018, with the Superstars doing a lovely job before Shane had to make it all about him.

Sami Zayn or Kevin Owens should be WWE Champion now and they aren't because of Shane McMahon. I'm not bitter about this, I just can't accept Shane being the centre of everyone's attention after all he's said and the plentiful plotholes I point out on WTF Moments each week.

Time to move on, Shane. You've become your sister and nobody wants to see that, unfortunately.

2. RIP, Xavier

Ouch... worked injury or a shoot, brother, this one looked like it killed poor Xavier.

Just watch and grimace, I guess...

1. How The Dream Match Was Confirmed

Thank the lord they didn't deviate from the script. Thank goodness. While I didn't like the way the SmackDown six got there because there was way too much Shane McMahon involved, I'm happy WWE are giving fans the main event they want to see. Having AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura taking place at 'Mania 34 kind of balances out the Brock Lesnar/Roman Reigns match nobody outside of Vince McMahon himself is invested in. We've got to give and take in these situations, people.

Following the Shane O'Mac nonsense, the journey to the final fall was excellent - as was much of that main event, it must be said. It seemed like the only thing standing between our proverbial dream main event for the WWE Championship was John Cena, a road, and a 20-year-old record that would have been broken if the leader of the Cenation won. And just look at the way he rolled through for a second AA - a finish we've seen more than once in recent times. It looked like the writing was on the wall, but firstly Kevin Owens and then AJ Styles arriving outta nowhere provided

wholesome

edge of the seat stuff.

Well done, Fastlane. You exceeded expectations!

10. The Two Man Power Trip

The 2001 heel turn of Steve Austin is generally regarded as a major creative misfire and is often cited as a key reason why WWE's business slumped in the wake of WrestleMania 17, but there were reasons to celebrate Stone Cold's jump to the dark side, such as his dastardly alliance with fellow villain Triple H.

The so-called Two Man Power Trip caused havoc on WWE programming, starting with their formation on the post-WrestleMania Raw.

The Cerebral Assassin and the Texas Rattlesnake had some great, albeit short, feuds with Team Extreme and the Brothers of Destruction and looked set to start a programme with Chrises Jericho and Benoit, when disaster struck and Hunter tore his quad.

Just like that, the duo were no more, which is a shame because it felt like they had at least a few more months left before they inevitably began warring with each other.

Obviously, there was nothing WWE could do about it ending when it did and there wasn't a chance to revisit it following Triple H's recovery, since both he and Austin were back in the babyface ranks by then.

9. The Devil’s Advocate

Sean O'Haire really had just about everything you could want in a WWE superstar.

He was big, jacked and athletic and, with the Devil's Advocate character, had a winner of a gimmick, too. The gimmick was introduced via a series of intriguing vignettes where O'Haire encouraged viewers to break the law, cheat on their spouse and skip church, among other hedonistic instructions.

Those vignettes spilled over onto SmackDown, as The Devil's Advocate used his powers of persuasion to convince Spanky to streak through the arena and Dawn Marie to flash the crowd. His scheming could have gone way beyond getting his co-workers to bear flesh, but the storyline was hastily dropped.

Turns out those effective vignettes were expertly edited and helped mask O’Haire’s flaws on the microphone and, when his shortcomings were exposed at non-televised live events, WWE changed direction and got Roddy Piper in to do his talking for him.

The Devil’s Advocate presented an untold number of possibilities as far as angles and feuds but, alas, it wasn't to be.

8. The Black Hart

One of the surprising positives to come out of the Montreal Screwjob was the creation of the nefarious Mr. McMahon character.

But while the now-former WWE Chairman got the opportunity to play the bad guy, the situation really should have led to Bret Hart’s brother Owen emerging as an uber babyface seeking revenge against Shawn Michaels.

Owen had taken a brief hiatus following the 1997 Survivor Series, but returned at the next pay-per-view as ‘The Black Hart’, intent on making The Heartbreak Kid suffer for his actions. The new, edgy Owen continued to attack Michaels and even got into a confrontation with Vince before receiving his WWE Title opportunity on the last Raw of the year.

The Black Hart won via disqualification and, frustratingly, never got another crack at HBK’s gold. He instead moved onto a dispute with Triple H over the European Title, as WWE cooled off Owen’s anti-authority stance.

Rumour is that backstage politics courtesy of the DX camp played a part in the Black Hart getting shut down before it could truly get going.

7. Kane vs. Kane

The execution may have left a lot to be desired, but Kane feuding with his former self in 2006 was a wacky premise that could have resulted in some very entertaining stuff.

The imposter Kane, decked out to resemble the 1997 version of the character, continually got the better of the real deal leading to a clash of the Big Red Machines at Vengeance.

Fake Kane won that one – convincingly, too – ensuring that a rematch would no doubt take place.

Well, it would have, had Kane not beaten up and thrown his tormenter out of the arena on Raw the next night, quickly and unsatisfactorily ending the not-so-epic saga.

According to Mayor Jacobs himself, the feud would have gone longer but Vince was so upset at Fake Kane’s frizzy wig during the first confrontation that he decided to put the kibosh on it early.

As goofy as the storyline was, there were a thousand directions they could have gone in (had it progressed) and you have to feel a gimmick match or two was in the offing.

Hell, they could have even drafted in a fake Undertaker and had the Stepbrothers of Destruction run riot.

On second thoughts…nah. A fake Undertaker would never work.

6. The Tyranny of King Regal

William Regal, as well as being a first-class wrestler, was a totally believable authority figure.

After a spell as Commissioner in 2001, Regal reclaimed power in the summer of 2007 when he won a battle royal to become General Manager of Raw.

Britain’s finest was a riot as GM and did lots of memorable things to put his stamp on the role, even little stuff like constantly pronouncing ‘Umaga’ as ‘YOU-MANGA’. He gained even more control in the spring of 2008 when he became the King of the Ring, last defeating CM Punk in the tournament final.

The power went to Regal’s head and, on the same night as his coronation, he demanded that the broadcast of Raw be taken off the air prematurely after commandeering the production truck.

The week after, he turned the lights out on Punk’s match with Randy Orton. He continued to meddle with and torment WWE stars and it looked like it could be leading to Regal challenging for, and possibly winning the WWE Title.

But then he got popped for a second Wellness Policy violation and was sent home for 60 days, bringing a regicidal end to proceedings.

5. Who Ran Over Stone Cold Steve Austin?

Though WWE deserved scorn for continuing to advertise Steve Austin for the 1999 Survivor Series (despite knowing his neck was knackered and he couldn’t perform), they at least set up an intriguing storyline for his eventual return.

When Stone Cold came back the best part of a year later, he set about finding out who ran him over, interrogating (and Stunning) a sizeable part of the roster over the course of several weeks.

But just a few weeks after Austin started his crusade, Mick Foley revealed that Rikishi was, in fact, the wheelman.

Not only was it an underwhelming culprit, but WWE had prematurely let the cat out of the bag and robbed us of weeks of further intrigue.

WWE could have easily prolonged the suspense by, say, having an unnamed heel continue to taunt Stone Cold about his involvement or, for example, have Austin ‘find out’ who mowed him down only for it to come out that he had actually gotten it wrong and that the real guilty party was still out there. 

4. The Kurt Angle/Stephanie McMahon/Triple H Love Triangle

Not too long before Steve Austin made his triumphant return, the most intriguing storyline on WWE television was the love triangle developing between Stephanie McMahon, Triple H and Kurt Angle.

In fact, it was at Unforgiven 2000, the same show where Stone Cold came back, that the love triangle storyline concluded, probably a good month too early.

It had all started in the build-up to SummerSlam when the Olympic Hero kissed a possibly concussed Billion Dollar Princess (Steph had been carried backstage by Kurt after inadvertently taking a bad knock).

Naturally, The Game was furious at Angle’s meddling and gave him a hiding, but Kurt continued to stir the pot and sow doubt as to whether Vince’s daughter had hots for him or Hunter – even though Steph herself maintained that they were ‘just friends’.

That led to the blowoff match, with Commissioner Foley as guest referee, where Stephanie showed her true colours by ensuring Triple H won.

Afterwards, the Cerebral Assassin gave his gal the most aggressive kiss ever captured on film, drawing a very weird line under the disappointing conclusion.

3. CM Punk Leaves WWE

WWE expertly blurred the lines between fantasy and reality with the storyline that saw CM Punk win the WWE Title right as his contract was set to expire.

The Straight Edge Superstar really did only sign a new deal just prior to downing John Cena in a classic at Money in the Bank 2011.

For weeks, Punk had claimed he’d bag WWE’s biggest prize before taking it home to Chicago and looked to make good on his promise by staying off WWE’s flagship.

For eight days, anyway.

Two Raws after taking off with the title, the champ came back to confront newly-crowned interim champ Cena.

There was a lot of potential for WWE to make Punk’s absence more meaningful.

He could have made appearances on shows for other companies, such as Ring of Honor, and fought the war against WWE from afar, before deciding to come back (or being baited to come back) in order to defend his crown. The anticipation for his re-emergence would have been huge, had WWE kept him away for at least a little while longer.

2. The Death of Vince McMahon

Just before the June 11th, 2007 episode of Raw went off the air, Vince McMahon blew up.

After acting noticeably a bit off (even more so than usual), the former Chairman went to his limo in the parking lot, closed the door and promptly went kaboom.

This was supposed to be the start of a summer-long storyline where the McMahon family, in conjunction with the authorities, tracked down the responsible party (or parties).

On the subsequent episodes of Raw, SmackDown and ECW, WWE talent shared their disbelief at the boss’s demise via testimonials.

Two weeks after his supposed death, the June 25th episode of Raw was set to be a special, three-hour memorial tribute to the Genetic Jackhammer.

But after the very real Benoit tragedy took place, WWE dropped all pretences and had Vince open a very different type of show out of character, ending the whodunnit storyline.

WWE couldn’t (obviously) in good conscience continue, given what had happened and so drew it to a close by having McMahon say that he had faked it all, before segueing into the illegitimate child storyline instead.

1. Shawn Michaels' 2005 Heel Turn

When Shawn Michaels returned to WWE in 2002, he did so as a reformed character, having cleaned up his act after finding the lord.

With his new outlook on life, The Showstopper was hesitant to revisit his previous evil ways and endeavoured to perform as a consummate babyface. His mind was changed, though, when offered the chance to have a programme with Hulk Hogan and HBK went rogue once more (albeit temporarily) in the summer of 2005.

It led to some of the best work of Shawn’s career, as he was clearly having the time of his life during the infamous Larry King parody and teasing Montreal with a phantom Bret Hart appearance.

Sadly, once Michaels had done the job at SummerSlam and Hogan has gone on his latest WWE hiatus, Shawn immediately reverted back to his previous character.

Which was fine and all, but a couple more months him as a heel would have been something to savour. Might have happened, too, if the Hulkster hadn’t backed out of the planned rematches.