11 Things You Might Have Missed From WWE Fastlane 2016
9. Owens Takes Cleveland
It's no secret that WWE has been particularly weak when it comes to handling talent over the past few years, and that many superstars who could have feasibly been main eventers have been wasted by the company. Perhaps no one competitor is a more egregious example of that than Dolph Ziggler. Between 2012 and 2014, WWE had numerous jumping-off points to make him a star, but company disinterest in what the fans want has led him to spend the past year floundering in the midcard. Even Ziggler's hometown crowd in Cleveland was tepid toward the former Intercontinental Champion (at least initially). Early in Ziggler's bout with Kevin Owens, a weak chant for the hometown hero arose, but it was met by another group of vocal fans chanting Owens's name. The Intercontinental Champion, always willing to add insult to injury, simply had to yell, "It's your hometown and they're cheering for me!"
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013