6 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Fastlane 2021

4. Crews, Big E Give Us Appetizer

Normally, this writer despises matches ending with a clean finish and then being retreaded weeks later. But Apollo Crews and Big E actually did something decent on Sunday night.

The two athletic powerhouses unloaded on each other from the opening bell, with E hitting a spear through the ropes to the floor, then nailing two apron splashes. He continued to lay in the badmouth while issuing a beating. Crews managed to take control and hit his own flurry of high-impact offense, as they methodically lobbed bombs.

But then E and Apollo traded finisher attempts before the Intercontinental Champion reversed a rollup to score the pinfall and title defense. Crews wasted no time in laying Big E out with a nice beatdown afterward.

The truth is, the match was just getting rolling before E lucked out with a rollup. If there’s any justice or actual storytelling here, Crews should be pushing for a Last Man Standing match, where the two can batter each other until one of them can’t stand up. No rollups, no lucky pinfalls.

So watch WWE manage to screw this up somehow. But it all seems to be building to a bigger match at WrestleMania 37.