5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Fastlane 2023 (Results & Review)

4. Señor On-The-Sidelines

Heading into Fastlane, the smart money had to be on Damian Priest cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase at the conclusion of the Last Man Standing match between Seth Rollins and Damian Priest. After all, whomever emerged victorious was going to emerge severely knackered, making Saturday the perfect opportunity.

But a cash-in was not in the cards, and at least WWE acknowledged this and provided a solid in-universe explanation.

During their unsuccessful tag title defense, the Judgment Day enlisted the help of everyone to try to keep Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso down. In the melee, JD McDonagh struck Priest in his already injured knee with the briefcase. This took him out of the remainder of the match.

Later on backstage, Priest was fuming about losing the tag titles and declared he wasn’t leaving Fastlane empty-handed and went to walk off to cash in during the main event. But as he started to limp away, Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley interjected, reminding Damian that they had all agreed to not do anything rash with the briefcase and make sure he’s at 100% so he’s successful.

This wasn’t some A-plus storytelling, but it at least informed fans that there was a reason Priest wouldn’t be taking a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. It wasn’t perfect, but it made sense and removed what would have been a gaping plot hole in the program.