10 HUGE WWE Fastlane 2018 Predictions You Need To Know

2. Phenomenal Relief

AJ Styles
WWE.com

WWE deserve credit for tapping into the insecurity of their own fanbase in order to build suspense for their Fastlane main event.

Just a fortnight earlier, there wasn't a single soul willing even to enter into a sportsman's bet that AJ Styles was losing the WWE Championship. Watching this week's SmackDown Live! implies that even the 'Phenomenal One' is worried about it himself. His galvanising speech to the audience about the collective 'need' for his singles battle with Shinsuke Nakamura was powerful and poignant and expertly brought the hammer down on Cena's own Raw monologue.

'The Champ's posited late interruption into the Championship match of choice is such a huge source of consternation that the company can now build an entire angle around it less barely a month out from their biggest show of the year.

In the end, everything will just about be okay. Capitalising on the dissolution of 'Kami', the collected failings and inabilities Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin and a timely John Cena distraction, Styles will strike. To the ecstasy of the live crowd and the WWE social media team dreading '#CancelWWENetwork' trending in the immediate aftermath, AJ will yet again make it one more for the good guys. Long live the dream...

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett