10 Ways WWE Screwed Up At Fastlane 2017
6. Pure Filler
Rusev and Jinder Mahal weren’t supposed to compete last night, but they wound-up wrestling as part of their angle earlier in the evening. It started with Jinder vs. Cesaro, in which the former 3MB member performed the miraculous feat of making the Swiss Superman look boring. The duo produced a soul-destroying eight-minute match that completely drained the crowd’s energy, and had no business whatsoever hogging airtime on a pay-per-view.
Rusev beat the tar out of Jinder in the aftermath, then wrestled Big Show. Unfortunately, this match was just as bad. It was the worst kind of Big Show match - slow, plodding, and heatless - and a million miles removed from his brawl with Braun Strowman last week. The worst part? Show picked-up a totally needless victory, further cementing Rusev’s status as one of Raw’s least important superstars.
Booking these matches back-to-back completely killed a show that was struggling to get out of second gear. Again, they’d have been far better suited to Raw than on pay-per-view, and their only purpose appeared to be setting-up a feud that nobody wants to see: Rusev vs. Jinder. The rivalry has a very real chance of becoming 2017’s Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young, and who needs that in their life?