Daddy’s Hangout Presents 2019 Fastlane PPV Review

We’re at the final stop before we head into WrestleMania. It’s hard to believe that WrestleMania is less than a month away. For Fastlane though, we had an impressive card and saw a couple changes also. Daniel Bryan was scheduled to defend his WWE Championship against the returning Kevin Owens. Charlotte battled Becky Lynch with the stipulation of Becky being added to the Charlotte/Ronda match if she wins. The Boss N Hug Connection defended their Women’s Tag titles for the first time against Nia Jax & Tamina. The Usos defended their SmackDown Tag titles against the Miz & Shane McMahon. While on the Raw side, the Revival battled the teams of Aleister Black & Ricochet and Bobby Roode & Chad Gable. We also saw the Shield together one final time to battle Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley. Let’s see how things turned out last night.

We kicked things off with the SmackDown Tag Championship match. The Usos defended against the former champs in The Miz & Shane McMahon. I’ll be honest, this match was a whole lot better than their previous encounter. The match was action packed as soon as the bell rang. There was a crazy spot in the match where Shane set up for the Drive-By and Jey was going for the splash on the Miz. Shane redirected and hit drop kicked Jey out of the air. The fans went crazy with a “Holy Shit” chant and you have to see it because it was awesome. In the end, Jimmy rolled up Miz to pick up the win to retain the titles. Winners and Still SmackDown Tag Champs: The Usos

Match Rating: 3.5/5- After the match, Miz looked dejected and went over to his dad with Shane following him. After embracing with the Miz’s father, Shane attacked the Miz from behind. Shane beat the hell out of the Miz and then went over to the father of the Miz and pushed him down. Shane went back over to the Miz and continued to beat on him laying in some stiff shots. As Shane left, the crowd boo’d him and started to cheer the Miz. The rating had a lot to do with the post-match situation.

We stay with SmackDown as Asuka defends her Women’s Championship against Mandy Rose. It seems like the WWE are really high up on Mandy Rose as they continue to push her. With the help of Sonya Deville, she’s actually pinned the champ on SmackDown Live. This match was kind of strange and it really shows that Asuka is miles ahead of Rose when it comes to in-ring work. Sonya Deville actually cost Rose the match as she left the apron up looking for a kendo stick. Rose ended up slipping on the apron which allowed Asuka to deliver a sick kick to the head for the win. Winner and Still SmackDown Women’s Champ: Asuka

Match Rating: 2/5

Kofi Kingston vs. The Bar

Earlier in the evening, someone told Kofi that the McMahon Family wanted to see him in the office. New Day came into the office with Kofi to plead Kofi’s case to be added to the WWE Championship match. Vince agreed and told Kofi to hit the ring because the match was about to start. Kofi hit the ring as the crowd went crazy, but it was announced he’ll face the Bar in a handicap match. The Bar was allowed to be in the ring at the same time and they beat the hell out of Kofi. Big E & Xavier Woods tried to come down to help, but they were attacked by Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev. The Bar eventually pinned Kofi while Big E & Xavier Woods remained laid out. Winners: The Bar

Match Rating: 2/5- This was basically a squash match! Fans are pissed, but this is all about putting all the odds against Kofi for his eventual match with Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania.

We had the Revival defending their tag titles against Aleister Black & Ricochet and Bobby Roode & Chad Gable. For months now, it has been rumored that the Revival wanted to leave because tag team wrestling isn’t appreciated. If the Revival wanted the WWE to put an emphasis on tag team wrestling, this match was a step in the right direction. All six guys did their thing and exactly what they supposed to do. The Revival is the classic old-school team. Aleister Black & Ricochet are the guys that can fly and wow the crowd. With Bobby Roode & Chad Gable, you have a mixture of both teams. Crazy spots in this match as the crowd went crazy for this match. The Revival hit the Shatter Machine on Chad Gable to retain the titles. Winners and Still Raw Tag Champs: The Revival

Match Rating: 3.75/5- Awesome Match! After the match, Roode attacked Dawson & Wilder and Black hit the Black Mass on Roode. Ricochet hit his signature 630 Senton on Wilder to finish the segment.

This match was originally supposed to be Rey Mysterio taking on Andrade. Earlier in the evening, Samoa Joe agreed to take on those two along with R-Truth for his newly won United States title. The match on SmackDown Live between these four was really good. When it comes to this match, it was even better than the one on SmackDown. Crazy spots in this match especially from Andrade and Mysterio. Samoa Joe hit a suicide dive on the other 3 guys early in the match and took the all out. We had R-Truth pulling out the five knuckle shuffle from John Cena. We had Carmella and Vega fighting on the outside after Vega hit Truth with a superkick. In the end, Samoa Joe locked in the Coquina Clutch on Mysterio to retain his title. Winner and Still United States Champ: Samoa Joe

Match Rating: 3.75/5

We had the Boss N Hug Connection finally defending their Women’s tag titles against Nia Jax & Tamina Snuka. Two weeks ago, Bayley pulled off the upset over Nia Jax and Tamina beat Sasha last week. The Boss N Hug Connection haven’t defended the titles, but they’ve appeared everywhere including NXT. The match was somewhat sloppy because Tamina isn’t near as good as the other ladies in the match. Bayley picked up the win for her team after reversing a powerbomb from Nia Jax to pin her. Winner and Still Tag Champs: Boss N Hug Connection

Match Rating: 3/5- I’ve bumped this rating for the post-match actions. Tamina & Jax destroyed the tag champs, which got Beth Phoenix up from the announce table. Phoenix & Tamina were face-to-face and Phoenix unloaded on Tamina. Jax attacked Phoenix from behind and tossed her into the ring. Jax hit the leg drop on Phoenix as Tamina went to the top rope, but Natalya hit the ring. They ended up laying out Natalya also and garnered a lot of heat from the fans.

We suppose to have Daniel Bryan defending the WWE title against Kevin Owens. Mustafa Ali was inserted, and the crowd went crazy because they wanted Kofi Kingston. The entire match the crowd chanted for Kofi Kingston and understandably so. One question, if Mustafa Ali didn’t get injured, would he be in Kofi’s position right now? The match showed that Mustafa Ali is the truth and he was undoubtedly the MVP of this amazing match. Ali hit the 450 splash on Daniel Bryan as he was on the apron. Ali also took a crazy bump when Bryan dropkicked him off the top rope onto the barricade. In the end, Ali tries a springboard, but Bryan hits the Busaiku Knee as Ali is in the air for the win! Winner and Still WWE Champ: Daniel Bryan

Match Rating: 4/5- Awesome match! Look I’m with the fans when it comes to Kofi Kingston. If they were to focus on the match, they would’ve been fully invested into a really good one. Like Daniel Bryan says, the fans are fickle at times because the WWE is playing with their emotions. Wouldn’t you want Kofi to have a WrestleMania moment instead of one at Fastlane?

We had the match between Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. If Becky Lynch wins, she’ll be added to the WrestleMania match between Charlotte & Ronda Rousey. As expected, Charlotte toyed with Lynch as she targeted the bad knee. Lynch got some shots in, but Charlotte continued to work on the injured knee throughout the match. Charlotte locked in the Figure Eight after reversing the DisArmHer. As Charlotte locked in the Figure Eight, Ronda Rousey hit the ring. Rousey punched Lynch in the gut and just stood there. Winner by DQ: Becky Lynch

Match Rating: 3/5- We knew that Lynch was going to win somehow, but this caught me by surprise. Elias had another in-ring segment but was interrupted by Lacey Evans. When she left, Orton hit the RKO on Elias out of nowhere. As Orton turned around, A.J. Styles nailed him with the Phenomenal Forearm.

We have the main event featuring the last reunion for the Shield. The Shield battled Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley. Like all matches involving the Shield, this match was all over the arena. Rollins hit a crazy spot from the stands onto Lashley & McIntyre as they held Ambrose. In the ring, Corbin hits the End of Days on Reigns. Ambrose and Rollins break up the pin. The heels clear off the announce desk for the table bomb. Ambrose and Rollins save Reigns. Lashley tries to chokeslam Rollins through the table. Reigns Superman punches Lashley to save Rollins. Rollins Curb Stomps Lashley on the table. The Shield triple powerbombs McIntyre through the table. The Shield surrounds Corbin. Rollins superkicks Corbin. Reigns Superman punches Corbin. Ambrose drops Corbin with the Dirty Deeds. The Shield triple powerbomb Corbin for the win! Winners: The Shield

Match Rating: 4.25/5- Incredible way to finish the PPV as they crowd was into this one also. If this is the end of the Shield and Dean Ambrose is really leaving, this was a wonderful way to finish things. For some reason, I’m thinking Ambrose isn’t leaving because WWE mentions it too much.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10- Honestly, I enjoyed the Fastlane PPV. My expectations weren’t that high, but things turned out a lot better than expected. Below are my top 5 matches of the night and the expected WrestleMania card as of now.