6 Biggest Missed Opportunities From WWE Fastlane 2019
3. Lack Of Something Substantial For AJ Styles And Randy Orton
Heading into Fastlane, it looked like Randy Orton and AJ Styles were going to suffer a similar fate to the likes of Finn Bálor and Braun Strowman by not being featured on the final stop before WrestleMania. However, they managed to get some air-time when Orton, quite literally out of nowhere, silenced Elias with one of his most impressively stealthy RKOs to date, only to immediately eat Styles' forearm.
Though it was great to see the two legendary superstars remind us that, despite their lack of matches on the card, there is a program developing between them, this didn't really accomplish anything and could have just as easily taken place on a random episode of SmackDown.
It seems redundant to keep harping on about how Fastlane is WWE's final stop on the 'Road to WrestleMania' but since Michael Cole likes to keep doing it, you would think the creative team would be a little more self-aware. Orton and Styles are two of the company's top stars and perhaps more importantly, are among their most reliable performers, so they should have had something more substantial to do here.
For example, Styles could have competed in the U.S. Title Fatal 4-Way only for Orton to cost him the match (or vice versa). It wouldn't have just been a far more effective way to further the pair's feud, it would have also made the show more enjoyable while giving at least one of these stars the place on the card that they both deserve.