WWE Fastlane review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

What we took away, what we learned and what the future holds for the superstars of Monday Night RAW following the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view on Sunday night.

At long last, the road to WrestleMania 33 is all clear following WWE Fastlane, which was the final pay-per-view before the biggest show of the year.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that this show really didn’t deliver like I’d hoped it would, but we at least got some entertainment from the superstars of Monday Night RAW and a few surprises in there as well, including the match of the night coming from two guys who really weren’t expected to put on the match of the night.

We’ll hit the main show in just a moment, but I at least want to give a brief mention to the cruiserweight tag match from the kickoff show that featured Akira Tozawa and Rich Swann taking on Brian Kendrick and Noam Dar. Given the time-filling monstrosity that happened later on, this match could and probably should have been on the main show, don’t you think? I think Tozawa is a great addition to the roster and brings a lot of intensity to the ring, which is quite obvious by how much he yells, and Swann may the best overall athlete in the division. This match could have been a little better but still worked well.

Let’s get to the main show.

Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe

What we learned: We learned that Sami Zayn can take a beating and will never give up. But how long have we known that for now?

I had really high hopes for this match as we’ve seen them put on some great ones in the past, but this one never really got going. Maybe it was just me, but it looked like everything seemed to be in slow motion. Don’t get me wrong, the storytelling accomplished exactly what it needed to, but this seemed like a bout that could steal the show and it just never happened.

There was no way that Samoa Joe was ever going to lose this match and he established his dominance early with some power moves and strikes, which Zayn tried to counter on a number of occasions but Joe always seemed to be one step ahead. Sami almost got a win with a rollup at one point but just couldn’t match up and ended up passing out to the chokehold after about 10 minutes. Now, is it just me, or does anyone else wish that instead of just grabbing at an arm, the ref would still make sure that it drops three times? Maybe that’s just the old school in me but I can’t remember the last time I saw that. And if you really paid attention, you’d have seen Sami wake up right after the bell rang. Oops.

What’s next: We all know Samoa Joe is heading for something big leading into WrestleMania. He’s heavily involved in what’s happening with Triple H and Seth Rollins but I’m hoping that he’s not just the muscle. He needs a high-profile match in Orlando, which is something that Sami Zayn is highly unlikely to get. Sure, there’s always room for a lovable underdog that just can’t quite get the job done in these big matches, but is that all Sami Zayn is good for? With no multi-man match on the books yet, outside of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal anyway, I’ll be interested to see where they take Zayn from here.