It’s time once again! Tonight we celebrate the final single branded PPV in the foreseeable WWE future, and hopefully have a little fun while doing it. As a special treat, my fiancé, Rabeka, will be adding her predictions in as well. She’s a casual fan who always adds an extra perspective to matches when I get stuck in focusing on the smarky things that I do about the WWE. Without further ado…FASTLANE 2018 predictions!
· Rusev vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Buuurch: This is a last minute, thrown together match with one of the most over guys in the company…and Shinsuke Nakamura. I love Shinsuke by the way, I can recognize when he is struggling and his main roster run has been that, a struggle. I doubt they’d have the 2018 Royal Rumble winner take the L before his big match against AJ Styles at Wrestlemania, so I’m going to go with Shinsuke on this one.
Rabeka also chooses Shinsuke because she likes him.
· Becky Lynch and Naomi vs. Natalya and Carmella
Buuurch: I forgot about this match actually. Seems like another throw away match so I guess I’d go Natalya and Carmella just because I think Carmella needs a win before she tries to cash in at Mania
Rabeka picks Becky and Naomi because they’re friends with the Champion (Charlotte)
· Bobby Roode vs. Rand Orton (United States Championship)
Bobby Roode win due to some sort of interference by Jinder Mahal. Randy Orton RKO’s everyone, including commentary staff, crowd leaves happy.
Rabeka: Randy Orton because he’s been sedimentary lately and she thinks they’re bringing him back to do something import.
· The Usos vs. The New Day (SmackDown Live Tag Team Championships)
Bludgeon Brothers interfere, match is a No contest. This sets up Triple Threat for Mania between the teams.
Rabeka: New Day because she wants them to be 5 times champions!
· Charlotte Flair vs. Ruby Riott (SmackDown Live Women's Championship)
Charlotte retains. Ruby Riott is good but not ready for a championship run, plus I'm still holding on to hope that Asuka will show up and challenge Charlotte to a match.
Rabeka: Ruby Riott because she wants the Riott Squad to win everything and knock Charlotte down a peg.
· AJ Styles vs. John Cena vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler (WWE Championship)
AJ Styles will retain, setting up for the match we all want, Shinsuke vs AJ Styles. I will accepting nothing less.
Rabeka: She wants Sami Zayn to win because he needs a title *finally* annnnd she likes his theme song.
Ideally, tonight will have some good twist and turns to keep some floundering storyline from dying a quick death before Wrestlemania. We still have tons, and I mean tons, of wrestlers who have nothing to do for the Show of Shows. Some of these wrestlers are well past the level of being relegated to the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. Plus, assuming John Cena loses, we need to find some sort of resolution to his Road to Wrestlemania problems. Annnnd we could possibly see Asuka cross over and finally challenge the Queen to a match at Wrestlemania.
That’s all we have for this week, stay tuned tomorrow for my weekly Raw Report, then catch a Smackdown Review on Tuesday. Follow me on the twitter machine @buuurch1 and as always, Take care!
· Rusev vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Buuurch: This is a last minute, thrown together match with one of the most over guys in the company…and Shinsuke Nakamura. I love Shinsuke by the way, I can recognize when he is struggling and his main roster run has been that, a struggle. I doubt they’d have the 2018 Royal Rumble winner take the L before his big match against AJ Styles at Wrestlemania, so I’m going to go with Shinsuke on this one.
Rabeka also chooses Shinsuke because she likes him.
· Becky Lynch and Naomi vs. Natalya and Carmella
Buuurch: I forgot about this match actually. Seems like another throw away match so I guess I’d go Natalya and Carmella just because I think Carmella needs a win before she tries to cash in at Mania
Rabeka picks Becky and Naomi because they’re friends with the Champion (Charlotte)
· Bobby Roode vs. Rand Orton (United States Championship)
Bobby Roode win due to some sort of interference by Jinder Mahal. Randy Orton RKO’s everyone, including commentary staff, crowd leaves happy.
Rabeka: Randy Orton because he’s been sedimentary lately and she thinks they’re bringing him back to do something import.
· The Usos vs. The New Day (SmackDown Live Tag Team Championships)
Bludgeon Brothers interfere, match is a No contest. This sets up Triple Threat for Mania between the teams.
Rabeka: New Day because she wants them to be 5 times champions!
· Charlotte Flair vs. Ruby Riott (SmackDown Live Women's Championship)
Charlotte retains. Ruby Riott is good but not ready for a championship run, plus I'm still holding on to hope that Asuka will show up and challenge Charlotte to a match.
Rabeka: Ruby Riott because she wants the Riott Squad to win everything and knock Charlotte down a peg.
· AJ Styles vs. John Cena vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler (WWE Championship)
AJ Styles will retain, setting up for the match we all want, Shinsuke vs AJ Styles. I will accepting nothing less.
Rabeka: She wants Sami Zayn to win because he needs a title *finally* annnnd she likes his theme song.
Ideally, tonight will have some good twist and turns to keep some floundering storyline from dying a quick death before Wrestlemania. We still have tons, and I mean tons, of wrestlers who have nothing to do for the Show of Shows. Some of these wrestlers are well past the level of being relegated to the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. Plus, assuming John Cena loses, we need to find some sort of resolution to his Road to Wrestlemania problems. Annnnd we could possibly see Asuka cross over and finally challenge the Queen to a match at Wrestlemania.
That’s all we have for this week, stay tuned tomorrow for my weekly Raw Report, then catch a Smackdown Review on Tuesday. Follow me on the twitter machine @buuurch1 and as always, Take care!