20 Reasons Why WWE Fastlane 2019 Was An Absolute Mess

18. All Elias Everything

Nia Jax Tamina Shite
WWE

Fastlane was an unnecessarily long B-tier pay-per-view at almost four hours, and adding useless Raw Lite rubbish like the three Elias segments was a big reason for that.

The first saw the former 'Drifter' show up to shoot barbs at The Miz, his father, and the city of Cleveland for losing LeBron James last summer. So far, so weekly TV. In the second, Elias mocked The New Day and the Cavs again. Then, finally, he showed up just before the main event, facilitating another weird Lacey Evans walk-out, and a short angle in which he ate an RKO from Randy Orton, before AJ Styles battered his new SmackDown rival with a Phenomenal Forearm.

This colossal waste of airtime should've been held back for TV. Any heat drawn from Elias' diatribes as too cheap to last, and the AJ/Orton bit came, much like Randy himself, outta nowhere. Pay-per-views shouldn't house such fluff.

Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.