WWE Fastlane 2019: Star Ratings For All 10 Matches
8. Asuka Vs. Mandy Rose - SmackDown Women’s Title Match
At WhatCulture Wrestling, we don’t do a weekly Every RAW/SmackDown Live Match Ranked From Worst To Best series because we’d have to copy and paste as flagrantly as WWE’s road agents do. TV Match X is wrestled in a certain gear, some basic and not particularly well-received action happens, your brain’s limbic system does the ‘Nope’ spot, and we return, as RAW rolls on. Necessary filler that is every now and then dispensed with to reward us with a total banger, it is just an acceptable byproduct of WWE’s ridiculous schedule.
“It’s not [Mandy’s] fault that Asuka is easily distracted,” Corey Graves remarked at one point. No, it is the fault of cheap WWE booking.
This was TV Match X, on pay-per-view, compromised by a rubbish finish even by WWE’s non-committal standards. Before that, Rose squealed and sold Asuka’s terrifying offence far better than WWE has in recent weeks, but it didn’t sway the crowd—though the missed butt bump into a V-Trigger did generate a pop.
Aside from one iffy bump, it was a perfunctory performance on Rose’s part. And then, after Sonya Deville located a kendo stick—convenient and not at all conspicuous, just use some brass knuckles for f*ck’s sake—that was that.
If this does lead to a Mandy Vs. Sonya series—Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush “broke up” at Elimination Chamber, remember—why do this now?
Even if, as expected, WrestleMania 35 runs for 12 hours, this won’t make the card.
Star Rating: **1/4