5. Match Quality
One of the only areas disenchanted fans have been able to take solace in over the last few years has been that, despite the stories and angles leaving much to be desired, the in-ring work has usually ranged from good to excellent. Even meaningless throwaway matches between midcarders are good for some quality action. For those that rate matches with the standard star system - something everyone can agree is subjective - there wasn't one single Fastlane bout that broke the four-star mark. Even a show as universally panned as the Royal Rumble still delivered an all-time classic with the championship triple threat. But the match that headlined Fastlane featuring the soon-to-be anointed top guy in the company against one of the absolute best workers on the planet was barely above average. Most of the other stellar performers on the card were either bogged down in matches with inferior workers (Rollins, Ziggler), given very little time to shine (the tag match) or uncharacteristically sloppy (the Rhodes brothers). This was an event that desperately needed some outstanding wrestling to buoy it's lackluster booking and it didn't deliver at all.
Brad Hamilton
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Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
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