Fastlane 2023 Review

Saturday, October 7th, 2023
Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, Indiana

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

We get a Pat McAfee intro to kick it off. 

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso vs. Judgment Day

The entrances are just so long these days. Not everyone needs the Undertaker length. We get the standard tag start with the faces looking good until Damian Priest hits an illegal kick to the head from the apron of Jey Uso. They isolate Jey until it's time to make the hot tag to Cody. He hits the Disaster Kick on Finn Balor, but it's not enough for the 3 count. We get a sequence of counters between of Finn and Cody, with Finn getting the best of it. He hits a running dropkick in the corner and climbs up top. Cody is able to get there before he gets all the way up and hits him with a superplex. Now it's time for Jey and Priest, with Jey looking a tad slower than usual for whatever reason. He hits a top rope crossbody, but Priest kicks out at 2. Priest connects with a kick to the head and a flatliner for a nearfall. Jey hits a dive to the outside on both opponents and then hits a Uso Splash that barely gets saved. Cody hits a Cody Cutter on Finn and Uso hits a Spear on Damian. Jey goes up top, but then out comes Dominik and Rhea Ripley. The distraction allows Priest to hit a hurricanrana and Balor hits a Coup de Grace, but Cody breaks up the pin. Cody tries to hit a superkick on a diving Damian, but they mis-time it and we get an awkward spot. JD McDonagh is out now and he gets a superkick. Jey gets hit in the face with the Money In The Bank briefcase, but he's able to kick out of the roll up by Finn. Cody ducks JD McDonagh and he hits Priest in the knee with the briefcase and then Cody hits Cross Rhodes on the table. Back in the ring, we get some chaos that leads to Cross Rhodes on Balor and new Undisputed Tag Team Champions. This was a pretty good opener and I'm a little surprised that Judgment Day lost here. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Wade Barrett and Booker T are talking about the show and in walks Xavier Woods. He's about to order some Pizza Hut in our product placement segment of the night. 

Bobby Lashley & Street Profits vs. Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar 

So I guess we are just having a handicap match. It looks like Lashley eats a lot of Pizza Hut, so it makes sense that they sponsored this match. Escobar hits a beautiful top rope hurricanrana on Montez Ford, who of course makes it look even better. They do a spot where Lashley catches the 619 from the ground and slams him to the mat. They work on Rey for a bit until Rey avoids a Lashley Spear, but then Montez rips Santos off the apron before he can make the tag. Zelina Vega then hits a dive on Montez  behind the ref's back. Rey still has no one to tag until Carlito's music hits. He's out and makes the tag in. We get some six man chaos and Carlito hits the Backstabber on Ford for the victory? That seems like a bad start for Lashley's new crew. The match was solid, but nothing to write home about. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Triple Threat Match For The WWE Women's Championship
Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka vs. Iyo Sky

Charlotte immediately gets mist to the face courtesy of Asuka and then my computer decides to be stupid and restarts. Charlotte sells the mist like it's death and has to go off to the side to get assistance wiping it off her face. I didn't pause the show, so that's all I can recall off the top of my head. Charlotte hits a double crossbody off the top rope and then hits some chops to both opponents. Charlotte then hits a double suplex and then hits a front walkover into a double clothesline. Asuka sends Iyo off the ropes and she decides to dive onto Charlotte instead. Asuka then hits a sliding kick on Charlotte and then Sky trips Asuka up on the apron. Sky hits a springboard moonsault, but barely touches her if at all. Enough so that the announcer make note of it. Charlotte then climbs up and hits a double moonsault. We then get a tower of doom spot, with Asuka orchestrating it. The pace and big time moves start to pick up here and Charlotte hits a Spear to get a nearfall. Out comes Bayley and she puts Sky back in the ring. Charlotte knocks her out of the ring and then Asuka almost picks up the victory after a top rope Codebreaker. Charlotte puts the Figure Eight on Asuka and Bayley distracts the referee. Sky hits a moonsault on Charlotte and retains her title. They worked hard here, I just didn't think the flow was as good as some of the classic these have been in. After the match, Bayley and Sky hug. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

Pat McAfee is out now and he basically just gets the crowd hyped up. He mentions that Indianapolis deserves a WrestleMania before introducing John Cena.

John Cena & LA Knight vs. Solo Sikoa & Jimmy Uso

I kind of thought this might be the main event here tonight. Cena basically gets destroyed from the get go and they play it for quite a long time. Out of nowhere, Cena hits an Attitude Adjustment on Jimmy and he starts crawling to his corner, but Solo gets there first. Knight finally gets the hot tag and the crowd is with him for it. Solo hits a Samoan drop on him, but then Cena hits a top rope crossbody. In comes Jimmy with an Uso Splash and all four men are down. Knight is up and hits multiple fists on his opponents. He gets dumped out of the ring and Cena goes for an AA, but they counter out of it with a superkick from Jimmy. Jimmy goes up top and Knight leaps up there and hits a superplex. It's time for the 5 Knuckle Shuffle on Jimmy and then Knight hits the BFT for the victory. Paul Heyman is not happy and this leads into Roman Reigns' return on SmackDown this Friday. The match was about what you would expect from these four. The goal was to get Knight even more over and they probably did, so mission accomplished.

Match Rating: **1/2

They show the Judgment Day backstage and Damian says that tonight's the night. Rhea Ripley says it isn't and takes his briefcase away. 

Last Man Standing Match For The World Heavyweight Championship
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins

The story has been very good for these two and they have done a nice job of re-building Nakamura. I'm also loving that this isn't going to be a 4 hour show. They go outside quickly and Rollins lifts up the pads. He goes for a powerbomb, but Nakamura counters out. Seth throws him face first into the steps though. Seth tries to go for some big blows, but Nakamura is able to avoid them. He hits a diving knee with Rollins hanging over the apron. Nakamura then starts hitting Rollins with nunchucks. They set up a table in the corner and Rollins is able to avoid a charging Nakamura and he goes through it. Rollins hits the Stomp, but Nakamura is able to beat the 10 count. Rollins goes under the ring and pulls out a ladder and rams it into Nakamura. They battle up into the crowd and up on the stairs. Nakamura hits a low blow and then kicks Rollins to the floor. Rollins is able to break the count and then Nakamura hits him in the back with a chair. Nakamura sets up Rollins on a table and hits a double knees off the apron through Rollins chest. The ladder comes back into play and they both start climbing. Nakamura blows the red mist in Rollins face and he then pushes Rollins off the ladder and through the announce table. Rollins is able to get up at 9 despite Michael Cole's plea for him to stay down. It's kind of surprising that they did 2 mist spots in the same night. Nakamura then hits Kinshasa and sends Rollins through a table. Rollins is able to roll out of the ring and land on his feet this time to break the count. They go back out in the crowd. They battle up on a crate and Rollins hits both a Pedigree and a Stomp. Rollins then hits a Falcon Arrow through a couple of tables next to the crate. Rollins beats the count and Nakamura isn't able to to give Rollins the victory. They kept up a really good pace for the type of match it was. They didn't overdo the count either, which is nice. This was a very good main event and better than their first match.

Match Rating: ****

This one didn't quite live up to my expectations, but it was a good show. The main event was the must see match and everything else ranged from pretty good to good. The only thing that really baffled me was Lashley and the Street Profits losing. The Bloodline losing should make for an interesting next step in their story and we'll see where LA Knight goes from here. 

Overall Rating: 76%