10 WWE Fastlane 2018 Impulse Reactions
2. Packed
The company have been in expert form with multi-person matches over the past couple of years, building in the finisher-heavy style that has at times polluted singles matches to add grandiose flavour to star-filled battles.
John Cena - as he's won't to do - liberally exploited the concept in the early stages as a way to earn comical comeuppance as the match progressed, whilst a host of nearfalls late on expedited the panic whilst AJ Styles lay prone on a broken announce table. Bettering Raw's riotous SummerSlam 2017 four-way, the hanging WrestleMania sign again provided the literal emotional heft in place of nuanced storytelling. The end goal was literally in sight of each man, even drawing semblances of desperation and determination from busted flush Baron Corbin and the perpetually penalised Dolph Ziggler.
Shane McMahon's involvement with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn may trigger another triple threat at the 'Show Of Shows', but the idea felt the most palatable as it had in months after the breathless exchanges between the three.
Styles' cathartic victory came with a fourth-wall smashing camera shove from John Cena. One man complete and the other totally broken. Those themes will likely act as crutches for both on their respective roads to WrestleMania.