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

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match

Charlotte Flair (c) defeated Ruby Riott

What we learned: With the outcome of this SmackDown Women’s Championship bout never in doubt for one second, I think we learned here that Ruby Riott is going to be a force to be reckoned with at some point, even if that point isn’t going to be anytime soon. I thought the leader of The Riott Squad looked very good in her first big pay-per-view singles match, especially since she had to keep up with one of the most talented women in WWE history.

As I mentioned in my preview, I really enjoyed Riott’s promo leading into this match and I thought she followed it up nicely with a solid performance here. This wasn’t the greatest match in the world by any stretch of the imagination but for a holdover match, it got the job done. The addition of Becky Lynch and Naomi trying to even the score for Charlotte took away from the match a bit and it got really distracting when those two, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan. But I understand why it was done and I’ll get to that in a minute.

After Mike Chioda ejected everyone from ringside, the finish was fun as Charlotte fought back and made Ruby tap to the Figure Eight. This was up and down and again, the added elements at ringside took away from it a little bit but what needed to happen here happened and that was good enough for me.

What’s next: Well, we all know what’s next for Charlotte Flair. What we’ve pretty much known for weeks was confirmed on Sunday night as Royal Rumble winner Asuka made her way to the ring following the match and did the obligatory point to the WrestleMania sign to signify she’s made her choice. That match is going to be fantastic, even if the build will only be a few weeks. As for The Riott Squad, I think Becky and Naomi were sent down to the ring to give them something to do moving forward. They can all blame those two for costing Ruby the championship and have a few mixed matches on Tuesday nights and take it from there. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Ruby to get back into the title picture.