8 WWE Fastlane 2021 Impulse Reactions

8. Riddle (c) Vs Mustafa Ali

What a strange company WWE is.

Mustafa Ali's split with his Retribution group has been coming a little while now, thanks mostly to his (fairly reasonable) accusations that they're totally sh*t.

He's the guy that brought them all together. He's the guy that impresses the most bell-to-bell. And he's the guy that finally got them within touching distance of their first piece of WWE gold. Of course, he does little to strengthen any of those argument by always, always losing.

He's as bad as the rest of them, which is probably why they all turned on him following yet another defeat to Riddle.

When this was good, it was great. The escalation in efforts by Riddle to beat Ali came after the Retribution gaffer got violent by folding his opponent's head around the post. It took a super Bro Derek to get it done after several gripping submissions too.

So, the usual fare from the United States Champion - objectively fantastic but subjectively tough to emotionally connect with thanks to Riddle's naming in the Speaking Out allegations. Meanwhile, Reckoning and Slapjack walked before Mace and T-Bar levelled Ali with a double chokeslam.

The stable that never worked in front of a crowd fell apart on a Kickoff show twenty days before WWE got some butts back in seats. Harder to find a more fitting conclusion.