How WWE Fastlane 2019 Must End

Cleveland, Ohio becomes Kingston town...

Daniel Bryan Kevin Owens
WWE

WWE bizarrely donated ample time to February's Fastlane across both brands during go-home week - jarring perhaps most of all because of how so many roster were staring straight past it towards the infamous WrestleMania sign that looms over all and sundry following the Royal Rumble.

It was a sign CM Punk captioned with an iconic depressed Dusty Rhodes line about 24 hours before his acrimonious WWE exit in 2014. A sign Randy Orton seemed intent on punting harder than Vince McMahon when he won the 30-man war in 2009. A sign that seemed to hate Roman Reigns as much as the Philadelphia crowd when it simply refused to fire rockets in time with his fist-pump pose at the end of the 2015 Rumble, even though there was already one strapped to his back.

It's the literal manifestation of every Superstar™️'s trajectory from January onwards, signposted for any member of the WWE Universe™️ that requires their hand holding on the Road To WrestleMania™️, where, if the main roster's best and brightest have built enough momentum™️ they'll have a WrestleMania Moment™️ to last a lifetime.

The sudden investment in the pay-per-view requests the sudden investment in several stars just weeks removed from the event that's framed as a long-awaited season finale. So how to WWE piece together the perfect set-piece for the beginning of the end?

CONT'D...

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett