Fastlane 2017 time1/6/2023 Goldberg's return was one of the best stories in wrestling last year because it was a sideshow. When they show up, the enjoyment to be gained by their presence is in direct relation to how much the border between their bubble and the main storyline in WWE is blurred. The part-timers like Goldberg exist in a bubble of their own. Sunday's title match started with Kevin Owens pacing around the ring for several minutes this was framed as Owens playing mind games with Goldberg, but he was clearly killing time to make up for his opponent's inability to actually wrestle a match. Even David Arquette worked harder in his brief, bizarre reign as WCW world champion. It's hard to think of a comparable situation at a top company. WWE's top champion heading into its biggest event of the year is not just a man who won't wrestle or who isn't particularly good, but a man who physically can't. But there's something different this time around, and it's apparent to anyone watching the trajectory of Goldberg's return: the 50-year-old can't go anymore. Squashing opponents is kind of Goldberg's thing, and always has been even in 1998, when Goldberg was in his prime, he was famously prone to running out of steam after about 10 minutes. Pay-Per-View thing that had been working for Charlotte is now simply gone. The only redeeming aspect is that Sasha Banks interfered, setting up what will probably be a perfectly good match between the three women next month, but the Ms. Instead, Charlotte lost and, just like Strowman, what should have carried her into WrestleMania was thrown away for next to no payoff. FASTLANE 2017 TIME PROIt's predictable, but the predictable in pro wrestling is sometimes precisely the correct way to go. It's not the biggest reason to brag ever, particularly when she keeps losing on weekly television, but it was her story and fans seemed to be latching on to it.Įverything was pointing to her winning the title back from Bayley at Fastlane and setting up a rematch at WrestleMania, where Charlotte would finally lose on a pay-per-view to the triumphant, thoroughly saintly Bayley. Charlotte's claim to fame over the past year has been that she never loses on pay-per-view. The other story that got ruined at Fastlane 2017 was the ongoing feud between Bayley and Charlotte. But the outcome made no sense in terms of either selling tickets-which is ostensibly WWE's main business-or story. The match wasn't bad in terms of the actual wrestling WWE has established such a deep bench of talent that the in-ring stuff rarely descends to the realm of the terrible, and Reigns excels in matches involving furniture, weapons, and metal posts. Instead, we were treated to the sight of Roman Reigns once again winning, hand raised, barely emoting, after beating Strowman clean. Holding off on the loss for one more month-or even into the summer-would have made perfect sense. Strowman exists to be beaten, but not on a B-quality show with WrestleMania right around the corner. Which isn't to say that he would never lose. He doesn't cheat to win he beats the hell out of people, particularly small people. A former strongman and legitimately massive human, Strowman is still green, but WWE has meticulously built him up as a monster heel with a story that has been surprisingly thoughtful, albeit simply told. This is when the rules get thrown out the window, and at Sunday's Fastlane pay-per-view-the last big show before WrestleMania 33-they were helped on their way out by storytelling that was actively antagonistic to established wrestling norms. The main exception is WrestleMania season, the four-month stretch from December to April every year when the McMahons' craving for the eyeballs and credit-card numbers of lapsed WWE fans means we enter a strange alternate reality of part-time wrestlers and celebrity guests. Read More: Christopher Daniels, the Wrestler's Wrestler, Takes a Last Shot at a World Title That the story was so well regarded wasn't despite its simplicity, but because of it. WWE's best-loved story of the decade- Daniel Bryan's long quest for the world title-followed it to the letter. There are endless permutations to this formula, broadly sketched, but that's basically it.
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