Fantasy Booking – Fastlane 2017

This is it… the last pay-per-view before Wrestlemania weekend! This is exciting. Smackdown’s pay-per-view was full of game changing moments that really changed up the card for Mania. Will Fastlane do the same? Hard to say but let’s make some predictions.

MATCH 1: Rich Swann and Akira Tozawa vs. The Brian Kendrick and Noam Dar (with Alicia Fox)

This is basically just a “throw people on the card” match. There’s no build to it really. Oh well.

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – Probably Tozawa/Swann because Akira is the big new focus in the Cruiserweights.

Derek – I haven’t exactly been following 205 Live as of late, but I have seen Kendrick be really mean to Akira on RAW numerous times. Naturally, this is going to be Akira’s best shot at revenge. He’s angry, he’s going to get the pin, and hopefully he’ll get to teach Kendrick a ‘lesson’ of his own.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – They will eventually build Tozawa up to a title match

Derek – Akira seems like a pretty big deal. I’d say there’s no way he doesn’t see a title shot in the next month.

MATCH 2: Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe basically murdered Seth Rollins and ever since Sami Zayn has been fighting in his honor because … Indie Wrestling Friendships or something? Either way this will be a good match.

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – I wish I could say Sami Zayn but the Sami Zayn story isn’t ready to be told just yet. There’s no way Samoa Joe isn’t walking away the victor of this one.

Derek – This has been a cool feud, and I think it’ll build right up to Wrestlemania (as Seth is naturally going to be busy with HHH).  As such, I think it’s a bit too soon to see Sami go over the super evil Joe, so Joe is definitely going to take this one home.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Samoa Joe is going to continue to dismantle the midcard and up. Rumor is he’ll be part of a new faction (which promises to be pretty awesome if it’s true). Sami is going to continue to fight with all his heart only to lose in the end but I really do believe Sami Zayn will be winning the Rumble and headlining Wrestlemania in 2018 … if they can tell the Underdog story correctly.

Derek – These two grow to hate each other more and more over the next 30 days, Sami finally gets some justice at Wrestlemania.

MATCH 3: Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

I feel like this battle has been going for like 3 months now. It’s been going so long I forgot how it started but I know that Nia has been attacking Sasha at random for a while now.

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – Nia needs to win this match. It’s important to my future predictions. Nia is going to continue to win for a few months but tonight she NEEDS to destroyed Sasha tonight. It needs to happen.

Derek – WWE has been booking Nia as the Braun of the women’s division, squashing foo’s left and right, and showing off her strength with some super cool spots. She’s been basically unstoppable for quite some time now, and while I’d love to see Sasha take her down, I don’t think it’ll happen at Fastlane. Reason? I think Roman will finally take down Braun, and we can’t have both monsters fall in the same night.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Sasha is turning heel baby. She’s going to be feuding with Bayley… why? I’ll tell you way.

Derek – Something gets built up that puts Nia at Wrestlemania, which is where she finally falls.

MATCH 4: Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair

Bayley beat Charlotte on Raw under some slightly weird circumstances. Charlotte demanded she hand her back the belt and Bayley refused and said she’d return it in a rematch only.

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – Bayley is breaking Charlotte’s streak. I know you think they’re saving it for Wrestlemania but you’re wrong. Bayley is going to do the thing that Sasha couldn’t do and beat Charlotte on a Pay-Per-View.

Derek -I’ve predicted Charlotte matches incorrectly for almost as long as we’ve been doing the Fantasy Booking column, but this time is going to be different!

Charlotte has an incredible PPV streak of 16 (the number of world titles that were won by her father). Announcers have been talking about this streak FOREVER, and Charlotte in kayfabe has not taken Baylee seriously to this point, constantly noting that she doesn’t belong on the main roster, and wouldn’t even be champion without Sasha’s help.

Sunday,  Bayley will prove her worth. Dayna isn’t going to touch Bayley, and Sasha won’t touch Charlotte. This time around, without any assistance, Bayley is going home with the belt.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Sasha turns on Bayley. I see us getting a women’s triple threat this wrestlemania. It stole the show last year why not try it again. Bayley will have to prove she’s good enough against both Sasha and Charlotte

Derek – Honestly, with the tiny women’s divisions of both Raw and Smackdown, I hope that the storylines start mixing as Wrestlemania approaches. I’d love to see some of the Smackdown talent take on those from RAW, if only to keep things interesting at this point.

MATCH 5: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass

Gallows and Anderson finally won the belts last month and now they have their first Pay-Per-View title defense against Enzo & Cass for reasons?

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – This feud has had very little build and there’s no reason to take the belts off Anderson and Gallows this soon. Unfortunately WWE left the belts on New Day for so long it hurt almost every Raw tag-team in the process. Anderson and Gallows are more dangerous than Enzo and Cass (because they don’t have Enzo as a tag partner) and I do really think that they will be turning Finn Balor heel when he returns and he’ll need the Club by his side. Why not give them some belts in the mean-time…

Derek -I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I really don’t understand the appeal of Gallows and Anderson. They have good chemistry, but nothing I’ve seen during their time in WWE has been overly impressive, and as soon as they separated from AJ brand-wise it seems as though the company hasn’t been sure of what to do with them.

I think that Enzo and Cass are taking the belts home, and I hope they keep them for some time (and drop them to New Day).

Really, it seems like The New Day held onto the titles for so long that now the company is giving everyone a turn.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – So I just came up with this idea but continuing my theory that this will build to a Finn Balor return/heel turn. I think Enzo and Cass have another match against the Club at mania that they lose due to a surprise Finn Balor return and helps them win.

Derek – Enzo and Cass become even more hilarious as champions, YEAH!

MATCH 6: Neville vs. Jack Gallagher

Nevilla is the champion that the Cruiserweights has deserved while Jack Gallagher is just a delightful human being.

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – Neville needs to win this one. I love Jack Gallagher but the cruiserweight needs to remain on a champion for more than 2 months. Neville should hold that belt until like Summerslam.

Derek – Neville has only been the king for about five minutes at this point, so there is no freaking way he’s losing it just yet. He JUST got an new intro and everything. The new-ish title has also changed hands so many times since its inception, so Neville is definitely hanging onto this belt for some time.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Jack Gallagher will continue to be amazing and hopefully reunite with his Mustache Mountain cohorts Tyler Bates and Trent Seven and be delightfully entertaining. Neville will keep being a great heel until like Summerslam.

Derek – Will we see a Cruiserweight match at Wrestlemania? With how much time they seem to give the division on Raw, and how much of a push the women have been getting over the past few years, I have to say that I doubt it. Neville is going to tear apart the division while Kendrick continues to be an annoying old man, and… that’s pretty much it.

MATCH 7: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman interrupted Reigns’ match against Kevin Owens so now he wants to fight the monster that is Strowman.

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – Strowman. Possibly via Undertaker interference if the Taker vs. Reigns match that’s been proposed is real.

Derek -Roman will finally be the one who can take down Braun, feeding further into everyone hating Roman. I like Roman a lot, and even I think that this would be a bad move for the character. Braun is an incredible monster and I’ve loved seeing him dominate over the past several months. It’s going to be insanely exciting to see someone beat him, but having Roman do it is just too freaking predictable.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Brawn will win the Andre the Giant battle royale most likely and supposedly Reigns will face Undertaker. It’s a tired complaint from anyone at this point but they just need to revamp Reigns. Maybe not necessarily turn him heel but he needs some type of change.

Derek – Honestly, I have no idea. I have no clue who Roman should or could be facing at Wrestlemania, and if Braun is beaten by Roman, how to they build him as anything more than a large midcarder?

MATCH 8: Kevin Owens vs. Goldberg

Kevin Owens former best friend Chris Jericho set this match up, Goldberg wants a belt to take with him to Wrestlemania.

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – I feel like everyone is getting involved in this match. Kevin will keep his belt but only because Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho both getting involved in this match.

Derek – This is probably the match I’m looking forward to the most. Everyone hates Owens after what he did to Jericho just a few weeks back, and we haven’t seen Jericho since.

Goldberg hasn’t done much with his return aside from squashing Brock multiple times.

I don’t think we’ll see another squash this time around.

I think Goldberg will definitely take it, but that Kevin is definitely going to look strong in this match. We’ll see Jericho for the first time in weeks, and he’s going to get some much deserved revenge on KO.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens will have a title for title loser leaves town match at Mania (or someone will beat Jericho prior to Wrestlemania) and Goldberg will have a loser retires match against Brock the same night. Owens and Brock will win these matches.

Derek – Naturally we’ll see the Brock and Goldberg feud continue to grow until April, and I really can’t wait to see just how much hate grows between Jericho and KO over the next month.