6 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Fastlane 2021

There seems to be a recurring theme with WWE PPVs in recent years: Whenever expectations are set really low – often by virtue of late injuries or the calendar not allowing a proper build – the shows tend to over-deliver in a way that makes them genuinely entertaining.

Fastlane really was a nothing show on paper. Oh sure, the Universal Championship and “main event” of WrestleMania was on the line, and there were three other title matches on the card, but no one was expecting anything big to happen. And truthfully, nothing monumental did happen outside of the main event.

But by and large, the wrestling on this show ranged from competent to excellent, with the big matches delivering in spades, and the lesser bouts being minimized. The negatives, though more numerous, were not deal-breakers.

A lot of the stupidity comes in the company’s inability to tell logical, linear stories – which is ironic given that WWE brands itself on storytelling and yet royally sucks at it. An opportunity to have two lifelong friends kill each other for a WrestleMania title shot? Nah, we’ll just announce one of them as the challenger a week before the PPV. Let’s tell the story of tag partners who can’t get along for the 837th time! And let’s make one of our champions such an idiot that no one could reasonably like him.

And that’s to say nothing about Randy Orton, Alexa Bliss and The Fiend.

Uggh. Well, let’s get to it…