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I watched what I thought was a decent offering from WWE last night. They debuted a new special event with a shiny new name in FastLane, and it had some surprises and some serious duds for matches, too. Let’s dive in.

The best thing 0n this card was Rusev vs. John Cena. We got a human John Cena who wasn’t shoved down our throats in the main event and he actually lost to the Russian monster via the Accolade submission maneuver. He did his best Steve Austin impression and refused to tap soon passing out. He was kicked in the Jimmy after Lana distracted the referee allowing Rusev to cheat and lock in the submission hold. It was the setup for what will hopefully be a highlight at Wrestlemania. Cena will come out tonight and decimate someone to regain his Superman image, but he lost and that should have happened. Great job WWE there and I look forward to John Cena hopefully carrying the US title and making it mean something.

Stardust and Goldust told a decent story of two brothers at odds settling things in the ring. Dusty, their dad, looked on concerned and it added a nice touch. The issue is that the match was terrible. That’s it. There ain’t no sugar coating it. What I got from it, though was that Cody is slowly backing away from Stardust and returning back to regular Cody. Maybe saying he did the change to try and gain his brother’s respect? Goldust won and seemed sad he had to do pin his younger brother. They shook hands, but later in the back Cody snapped and Goldust was left lying on the floor with paramedics surrounding him. Hopefully they won’t screw this up.

The six man tag between Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, and Ryback vs. Big Show, Seth Rollins, and Kane was passable. It had its moments for sure, but it was Randy Orton’s return that got the crowd hyped. He RKO’d like a madman and this sets up what will probably be Rollins vs. Orton at Wrestlemania. Dolph Ziggler continues to be buried by WWE and his talent is wasted as his years pass him by as marketable.

Tyson Kidd and Cesaro defeated the color coordinated millennial version of the Rockers aka Jimmy and Jay Uso. Tyson Kidd’s career resurgence is a breath of fresh air. He has talent, charisma, and a desire to be the best. Like Daniel Bryan before him, Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler currently, and countless other WWE superstars he was buried. Cesaro was the hottest thing going for a moment and they buried him, too. WWE booking sucks, but at least we all know these two are getting a chance and they became the new tag team champions.

Paige vs. Nikki Bella is a classic study in raw talent vs. hard work. Nikki has to earn her abilities, whereas Paige is just naturally talented in the ring. It was okay and it should set up Paige’s Wrestlemania moment if WWE has any brains – and right now that’s iffy at best. Paige is a natural at the top of the Divas ladder so make it happen WWE.

Finally, Roman reigns vs. Daniel Bryan. Reigns better be thanking Daniel Bryan for carrying him and holding back. He could have had the crowd in his hand the entire match, but he chose to perform a borderline heel act that kept Roman as much as possible in fan favor. Roman is green, bad on the mic, bad in the ring, and because he looks good he will be jammed down our throats. Once again WWE picks who we should like and does not listen to us. After the match Daniel shook the hand of Reigns and told him to beat Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. Bryan buried, Reigns pushed. HHH’s shovel: 1, Daniel Bryan: 0.

RUMOR: The rumor is that Daniel Bryan was told very sternly to make sure he made Roman look great. There were reportedly consequences should he have chosen not to.

All in all this felt like a good edition of a RAW program, but didn’t feel like a PPV. Hopefully Wrestlemania will deliver, but this time they won’t sit back and pat themselves on the back for the entire year not caring about their TV product.

Please change the announce team of Cole, Lawler, and JBL to something that doesn’t speak to us like kids waiting for Santa Claus. “There he is boys”. “Oh my. Look who it is kiddies”….

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