SHOWN IN CLUB 69 FLIRTS
SUNDAY MARCH 10 2019
FROM 10pm
CONFIRMED MATCHES
WWE Championship -- Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kevin Owens: Vince McMahon pulled Kofi Kingston out of the match Tuesday night on SmackDown with fans raining down boos on the WWE chairman as he announced Owens as the replacement. This despite Kingston pinning Bryan twice, including once in one-on-one competition. With Kingston's massive rise in popularity, it appears that WWE has flipped its WrestleMania plans with Owens fighting at Fastlane and Kingston getting the opportunity in New York.
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair: It appears we've found our path to the triple threat match at WrestleMania -- likely in the main event -- for the Raw women's title. The former best friends will square off one more time, and if Lynch should emerge victorious, then she will officially be added to the bout that's currently set as Flair vs. champion Ronda Rousey. After Rousey's heel turn and subsequent beatdown of Lynch on the go-home Raw, though, "The Man" will most certainly not be walking into this one at 100 percent health. One way or another, Lynch should earn another victory over Flair, and we can then put all our focus into the triple threat we've seen coming our way for weeks.
The Shield vs. Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin & Bobby Lashley: With Dean Ambrose set to leave the company following WrestleMania, we're getting one final Shield reunion. The trio reunited on the go-home edition of Raw at the request of Roman Reigns, and this bout will serve as the Big Dog's first match back after his leukemia went into remission. Should be a feel-good moment seeing Reigns, Rollins & Ambrose take apart some competition one last time.
SmackDown Women's Championship -- Asuka (c) vs. Mandy Rose: Though it was through heelish tactics, Rose holds a pinfall victory over the champion on SmackDown. Rose will now receive a title opportunity now at Fastlane, but the outcome may be very different this time around.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship -- The Usos (c) vs. The Miz & ShaneMcMahon: Although automatic rematches aren't supposed to be the norm these days, McMahon went ahead and gave his team another shot at the tag titles they lost to The Usos at Elimination Chamber. With Fastlane taking place in Miz's hometown of Cleveland, some sort of shenanigans will be in order.
Women's Tag Team Championship -- Boss 'N Hug Connection (c) vs. Nia Jax & Tamina: This was officially announced Monday on Raw, and it looks like the women will trade off singles matches until the PPV. Hopefully this will mark Sasha Banks's first successful title defense on the main roster with Boss 'N Hug getting a more enticing opponent at 'Mania.
Raw Tag Team Championship -- The Revival (c) vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet vs. Bobby Roode & Chad Gable: This triple threat match was added Tuesday after Roode & Gable interfered in Black & Ricochet's title shot on Raw. It will be interesting to see where WWE goes from here with the Raw titles.
Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade (Kickoff Show): Tensions between these two have increased for weeks, and it was announced after SmackDown on Tuesday that they would go head-to-head once again at Fastlane. Unfortunately, the match is being given pre-show billing, which should give it a good runtime but not the eyeballs or respect it deserves.
HIGHLIGHTS
RESULTS
New Day def. Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall (Kickoff Show): Big E and Xavier Woods represented New Day in the match as Kofi Kingston was asked to visit the McMahon family office to discuss the WWE championship match. Despite a glaring lack of storyline between the four competitors, the match had some fire and saved it for the finish thanks to a handful of near falls. After Lana interfered while the the referee was distracted to stop Woods from landing his tandem Up Up Down Down finisher, he combined with Big E to hit it on Rusev moments later for the pin.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship -- The Usos (c) def. The Miz & Shane McMahon via pinfall: Shane-O-Mac's road to WrestleMania 35 begins. McMahon's brilliant post-match heel turn was set up perfectly by The Miz getting a hero's welcome in his hometown while wearing a "Cleveland is Awesome" shirt in Browns colors. While the match was a good one, it was what took place after that raised things to a whole new level. Egged on by the crowd and his father George Mizanin sitting in the front row, The Miz attempted an ill-advised frog splash that caught Jimmy Uso's knees into a roll-up finish as The Uso's defended their titles. After The Miz helped McMahon out of the ring and both members embraced Mizanin outside, McMahon took the Miz out with a clothesline from behind. He proceeded to beat Miz down while taunting Mizanin before choking Miz out on the floor. McMahon added insult to injury by grabbing Mizanin by the mouth and pushing him after uttering, "That's your son!" All in all, this was great work by McMahon, who earlier in the match produced the biggest spot when he intercepted a Jimmy Uso top-rope splash by dropkicking him from an opposite turnbuckle.
SmackDown Women's Championship -- Asuka (c) def. Mandy Rose via pinfall to retain the title: After causing calculated distractions early on, Sonia Deville went on to accidentally cost Rose in this short and uneventful match. Deville pulled the ring skirt onto the apron in order to grab a kendo stick from underneath. Seconds later, Asuka reversed Rose into the ropes which caused her to stumble. Asuka followed with a stiff kick to the chin for the 1-2-3 to defend her title. Rose shook off multiple attempts by Deville to apologize after as the two walked up the ramp.
The Bar def. Kofi Kingston via pinfall in a handicap match: Kingston entered the ring waiting for Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens to be announced. Instead, the ringside staff scurried to give ring announcer Greg Hamilton the news that it would instead be a 2-on-1 handicap match against The Bar. The last-minute nature of Kingston getting screwed by McMahon produced an expected level of boos throughout. In fact, after Kingston absorbed a fairly thorough 2-on-1 beating, things escalated into a "This is boring" chant from the crowd. Kingston's brief rally was easily snuffed out as The Bar began to tease the crowd by not going for a pinfall. Finally, the remaining New Day members came running out, only to be attacked from behind as Rusev hit a Machka kick on Woods and Nakamura laid out Big E with a Kinshasha. Cesaro and Sheamus teamed up for a double White Noise to finish Kingston, adding insult to injury by standing on him during the count. The good news for Kingston fans is that this likely means big plans ahead at WrestleMania.
Raw Tag Team Championship -- The Revival (c) def. Bobby Roode & Chad Gable (via pinfall) and Aleister Black & Ricochet to retain the titles: Credit the booking here for WWE making sure its pair of NXT superstars were able to be presented as stars without needing to win the titles or take the pinfall directly. WWE even took it one step further after the match by allowing Ricochet and Black to stand tall after taking out the other two teams followed by Ricochet landing a 630 splash on Dash Wilder. The ending to this beautiful disaster was frantic and spectacular. Ricochet stood out brighter than the rest thanks to his insane aerial ability. Not only did he take out all four of his competitors by hitting a hurricanrana on Scott Dawson off the top rope and onto the floor, Ricochet followed it up by clearing the ring post with an insane splash onto Roode outside. The Revival caught Gable with Shatter Machine shortly after for the 1-2-3.
United States Championship -- Samoa Joe (c) def. Rey Mysterio (via submission), Andrade and R-Truth to retain the title: As far as car-crash spotfests are concerned, this one was fantastic. There wasn't a whole lot of storyline holding this one together, but the insane work rate and succession of exciting moves was never-ending. At 44, Mysterio continued to impress with a handful of creative huricanranas. Multiple pin attempts late summoned last-second dives from multiple competitors to keep the match alive. Even R-Truth had a fun sequence mimicking the move set of his "idol" John Cena. The finish came after Mysterio hit a 619 on Joe before missing a springboard splash. Joe grabbed the fallen Mysterio, applying his Coquina Clutch to quickly choke Mysterio out.
Women's Tag Team Championship -- Boss 'N Hug Connection (c) def. Nia Jax & Tamina via pinfal to retain the titles: Sasha Banks & Bayley won the match, but it was Jax and Tamina who started a whole new war. The first title defense for the new women's champions (and the first for Banks of any main roster title) was largely overshadowed by the post-match activities which followed Bayley's reversal into a roll-up three-count on Jax. The pair of heels brutally attacked the champions immediately after before Tamina hit Bayley with a super kick on the floor and Jax tossed Banks over the announce table. WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, who was sitting in on commentary, got up out of her chair and was approached by Tamina. Two-way trash talk ensued until Phoenix punched Tamina and Jax attacked her from behind. A 2-on-1 beating in the center of the ring followed, which summoned a run-in from Phoenix's former tag team partner Natalya. Jax and Tamaina fought them off and stood tall after it took a handful of referees to break things up. While the title match was brief and unoffensive, the melee was fairly intense and well-handled, even if it took the shine away from the champions.
WWE Championship -- Daniel Bryan (c) def. Mustafa Ali (via pinfall) and Kevin Owens to retain the title: It was announced that the WWE title would indeed be defended in a triple threat match, and Ali entered the ring last to the dismay of fans still hoping for Kingston. The Cleveland crowd may not have seen their "We want Kofi!" chants come to fruition in this one, but Ali's late addition helped it play out spectacularly just the same. This had all the high-flying spots and dramatic saves one could imagine but it also had three superstars seemingly raising their game time and again as the match evolved. Ali showed the full package with everything from a top rope Spanish fly and 450 onto the apron to an incredible tornado DDT off the top rope and onto the floor. Rowan played a key role in helping Bryan defend the title by breaking up numerous pin attemptss and taking a few key bumps along the way. Rowan's biggest move, however, was taking out Owens late with a spinning kick. Bryan, who was at his heel best slapping Ali while audibly telling him he doesn't deserve to be here, finished him off with a running knee that caught Ali in mid-air as he attempted a reverse splash off the second rope. Bryan escaped with the title after the pinfall and set the stage for what should be an epic title feud (almost certainly involving Kingston) entering WrestleMania.
Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair via disqualification, earns Raw women's title shot at WrestleMania 35: Despite a knee injury that Flair targeted throughout a largely one-sided match, Lynch secured her spot in a triple threat title bout at WrestleMania thanks to Ronda Rousey. The Raw women's champion, dressed in all black after her recent heel turn, ran in after Flair applied her Figure Eight leg lock; after a brief pause, she leaned down and punched Lynch in the face to purposely force the DQ ending. The relatively brief match was void of big moments and spots in a way that was smartly booked to keep expectations high for April 7. In fact, WWE's decision to allow Rousey to exit without an attack from Flair felt refreshing in that regard. The result may have been badly telegraphed, but the result is still what's best for business. After a few missteps along the way, including McMahon's insertion and subsequent disappearance from the storyline altogether, it's time for the women to rightfully close the show on the biggest night in sports entertainment.
The Shield def. Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre & Bobby Lashley via pinfall: Should this really serve as the last hurrah for Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose as a legendary trio, The Shield went out with a bang. In Reigns' first match since announcing on Feb. 25 that his leukemia entered remission, it was Ambrose's uncertain future (and debate as to whether the whole thing is merely a work) that created such a need for The Shield to reunite the band. WWE certainly allowed them to play the hits in this main event showcase which featured a heavy amount of brawling outside the ring. Chaos quickly became the norm after the structure of this six-man tag match became unraveled. Little happened from the standpoint of escalating a story although there were plenty of big spots. After Ambrose's running dive off the kickoff show announce table was caught by McIntyre and Lashley, Rollins leaped from the crowd high above to splash down on all three. A handful of near falls extended the match's length without teasing that any outcome short of a babyface victory would be in store. The Shield ultimately delivered their triple power bomb on McIntyre through the announce table outside. After all three yelled "one more time" in the direction of the crowd, they hit one more on Corbin inside the ring immediately after all three members landed finishing moves. The pinfall was a mere formality as The Shield joined fists for what might be the final time. The result was certainly predictable as WWE decided against showed its hand in the direction of WrestleMania plans for Reigns and Ambrose.