The Shield vs. Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley & Drew McIntyre
Prior to this match, another WrestleMania bout was all but set, as AJ Styles and Randy Orton finally got physical. Orton came in with a beautiful RKO to shut down Elias’ Cleveland rants (really good stuff from him and his three songs) and Styles flew in right after to nail The Viper with a Phenomenal Forearm. So, go ahead and book that for New York.
As for The Shield reunion, this was exactly what we knew it would be and exactly what it should have been. There are times in this business to go with a sentimental match at the end of a night and this was one of them. Fastlane certainly isn’t the most important pay-per-view by any stretch of the imagination, so having this six-man tag as the main event didn’t hurt.
This was a brawl right from the start. We got the crowd entrance from Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, all of whom were in the tactical vests for an added touch, and the chaos started quickly. The match did get a little slow at points as this was about five minutes too long, but it still worked as intended. The Shield was methodical in taking out the trio of Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre. Corbin especially looked good, particularly when Rollins, Ambrose, Lashley and McIntyre made their way into the crowd. He took the fight to Reigns, his reward for taking the pin.
After taking out Lashley, The Shield then turned their attention to McIntyre (who had another excellent showing) and gave him the triple powerbomb through the announce table before ganging up on Corbin for the finish. Corbin knew he was screwed as Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose surrounded the ring and he was ultimately felled by another triple powerbomb. All of the emotions were on display. Reigns looked great in his first official match back, Rollins was so fired up that he got bleeped right at the end and Ambrose seemed to choke up after the match ended. The three embraced after the match and the fade to black came just after the three-fist salute. This was perfectly done.
What’s next: Is that really the final appearance of The Shield? Yes, Ambrose is supposed to be leaving the company but as much as they’re talking about it now, perhaps it’s going the other way. We don’t quite know at this point if that’s true or if Ambrose has changed his mind and will stay with WWE. But we do know that we won’t see The Shield together at WrestleMania as Rollins is obviously set for his WWE Universal Championship opportunity against Brock Lesnar. Reigns will eventually find a big spot somewhere in the show as well.
As for the heels, it’s time to break this thing up. It does give Corbin something of substance to do but it’s holding McIntyre back, in particular. He’s been great these last six months and it feels like he’s in line for a big push later this year. Lashley is still chasing the Intercontinental Championship and has a match with Finn Balor on Raw so we’ll see how that turns out and where it heads.
Overall, Fastlane was a good show. It wasn’t perfect by any means and the women’s division took a little bit of a hit but they’ll bounce right back considering how much is ahead for the company. There was a lot of tag team action on this show, which isn’t something to complain about. The division has been hurting over the last year, especially on the red brand, but it’s slowly but surely fighting its way back into importance. There were some feuds continued and other programs started, making for an entertaining four weeks as we ride down the road to WrestleMania 35. See you in New York.
What’d you think of the 2019 edition of WWE Fastlane? What was your favorite match? What does WrestleMania 35 look like to you? Please feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section below.