5 Ups And 9 Downs From WWE Fastlane 2017

8. Impromptu Filler Matches

cesaro jinder mahal
WWE.com

Why bother having these brand-specific PPVs if we’re going to get meaningless matches booked on the fly simply to fill time and pad out the show?

Case in point, Sunday we got not one, but two unannounced matches, as Rusev and Jinder Mahal disintegrated as a tag team and demanded singles action. Rather than booking the two of them against each other, GM Mick Foley gave them bouts against Big Show and Cesaro, respectively. Both bouts dragged on, with the surprise opponents winning both matches.

And thus, we have a tag team break up on PPV and neither man is in a better position. This would be like the Rockers breaking up and Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels putting both of themselves through the Barbershop plate glass window.

OK, maybe not quite, but the point is the same: A tag team broke up and then they both went out and proved both are losers, simply to take up time on PPV. This is a double whammy of stupidity.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.