WWE Fastlane 2023 is in the can and it was about as “B-show” as a B show can get.
Nothing was outright terrible. Nothing was outright amazingly-brilliant or must-see either. Some news was made, but nothing groundbreaking that couldn’t be found on an episode of Monday Night Raw and Smackdown.
It was a fine night of pro wrestling from a company that’s clicking and gets how to make even minor events like this one seem bigger and important than they really are.
Here are my Brass Ring Ratings for the show and here’s how they work … I call it like I see it and am always happy to discuss.
The Judgement Day vs. Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso - WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship
A fun opener with quite a bit of action. Overall though, the idea here was to further along two stories with the match itself. With JD McDonagh costing Judgement Day the match and the titles, there is an entirely new layer of storytelling to be done within that angle beginning with this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.
Cody and Jey Uso are attached at the hip now, too. The biggest reason for that at this point seems to be two-fold. First, he can cross brands, which means he can renew his rivalry and feud with Roman Reigns. Second, he’s more connected with Jey on Raw, which leaves him open to stories with everyone who is a bit skeptical of Jey.
A lot coming out of this, so thumbs up there. That said, the stories coming out were more interesting than the match itself.
Sidebar: Not liking Cody’s first title in WWE being the tag titles and not Roman’s. I’ll rant more on this later for members on the WWE Fastlane Post-Show.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 1/2
LWO vs. Bobby Lashley & Street Profits
Ehh. Not much here outside of Carlito’s debut. I know they wanted to make that feel special and all, but you really cut the legs off of the Lashley/Profits team by having them job out here. Not a fan.
As for Carlito, I think he has a lot to give WWE if he’s motivated. He’s got a special charisma and while he’s not world title material at this point in his career, he can still do some top work with some top talent on Smackdown.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 1/2
Iyo Sky vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka - WWE Women’s Championship
Not a great build to this one and the match didn’t save thing either. Sky, Flair, and Asuka hit some decent spots, but a lot were sloppily executed. With the fans essentially without a rooting interest here, the match could not get out of second gear. Sky winning was the only call they could make.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO1/4
John Cena & LA Knight vs. Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa
This was not a great match, but it was the exact match that had to happen. Cena isn’t doing much in the ring these days, so when he’s in there, he has to do business another way. In this case, that way was LA Knight. The entire bout was built to feature Knight with Cena selling for a countless amount of minutes and thus building the hot tag. Cena sold like a pro wrestling caricature, which was a main reason why the match itself was bad. It was effective, though, Knight won it, and that was the entire point anyway.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 3/4
Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE World Heavyweight Championship Last Man Standing Match
One of the better Last Man Standing matches in recent memory and the match of the night. The match started slow, but that was effective in setting the table for the Rollins back and leg injury that was the foundation for everything that happened after it. This had some fun high spots and it was interesting to see the Falcon Arrow win it for Rollins.
Sidebar: WWE did a nice job of addressing a potential cash-in by Damian Priest with a backstage segment early in the show that focused on Priest being too hurt to do it and his Judgement Day group convincing him not to. This took away expectations of a big moment, but would have made that moment an even bigger surprise if it happened anyway.