WWE Fastlane 2018 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

WWE United States Championship Match

Randy Orton defeated Bobby Roode (c)

What we learned: We learned here that Randy Orton and Bobby Roode certainly haven’t seen the last of each other and I think we also learned here that this first-time matchup probably would have been better five years ago. That’s not to say there weren’t some fun moments in this United States Championship match but this went on for way too long and it wasn’t nearly as good as I wanted it to be.

They established a good story early on as neither wanted to get caught in the other’s finisher but as the match went on, the pace never really picked up and the crowd seemed to lose interest after a while. At least Randy Orton looked like he wanted to be there, which certainly hasn’t been the case all the time over the course of the last year or so.

The result did surprise me and I will say that I thought Jinder Mahal would get involved during the match and not after. The finish was solid with Roode jumping off the ropes right into an RKO, giving Orton the one championship that’s eluded him his entire career. Jinder, who had a valid claim to be the number one contender coming in, did get involved afterwards by attacking Orton and Roode recovered enough to hit both guys with the Glorious DDT.

What’s next: If it wasn’t already obvious that we were going to get a Triple Threat Match for the United States Championship at WrestleMania, it is now. Mahal can say that he just beat Orton recently (and for most of last summer) and Roode can get his automatic rematch. We’ll talk more on the Triple Threat situation in New Orleans in a little bit.