WWE Fastlane 2018: Star Ratings For All 7 Matches
4. Becky Lynch & Naomi Vs. Natalya & Carmella
The sort of match that instills in a reviewer a specific, word count-induced dread. Translated: this was a nothing match fought for nothing with little of interest happening throughout.
Becky Lynch, Naomi, Natalya and Carmella operated - by design, to save something for the feature bouts - in full Tuesday night mode. It was a filler match designed as filler. Cards require a low gear match to avoid fan burnout. This was a low gear match booked to avoid fan burnout. Judging it optimistically, Carmella was great value. A rare triumph of the Road Dogg Era, she continues to perfect her posturing heel character with small moments of pr*ck brilliance.
Pessimistically, she was at fault for a sloppy finishing sequence of the sort that contrived to take the crowd out of action they weren't particularly invested in in the first instance. You'd think, given the sheer amount of tag team matches the SmackDown Women's roster wrestle every week, such sloppiness wouldn't be possible. Those matches serve no purpose in the fiction of SmackDown - and worryingly, on this evidence, they serve no purpose in improving the division's limited resources.
Star Rating: *3/4