Thumbs down
Best Match: Neville vs Jack Gallagher
Worst Match: Goldberg vs Kevin Owens
Wanted to be nice and give this a ‘thumbs in the middle’ but the long impromptu WWE Main Event matches and other segments stalling for time made waiting for the inevitable squash main event unbearable. I wonder if Bryan’s turned the corner on Roman now that they had him pin Strowman clean.
– Lee
**********
Thumbs way down
Best match: Neville/Gallagher
Worst match: Cesaro/Jinder
Just an absolutely terrible show. Dull and boring, building to an uninspiring WrestleMania card. This company has nothing going for it at the moment.
– Bart Beaty
**********
Thumbs down, worst show in some time in my opinion. Opener was what it needed to be; everything else until the Roman/Braun match was sleep inducing. Jinder should never, ever be on my TV. Finish of the women’s match, to me, makes Charlotte come off way too sympathetic. The main event finish was what it should be but I didn’t really like the Jericho music distraction.
Best Match: Roman vs Braun
Worst Match: Cesaro vs Jinder
– Erin Hotovy
**********
Thumbs down
Best: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
Worst: Anderson/Gallows vs. Cass/Enzo
The show was a like a below average Raw with a cool angle at the end. On the plus side, everything feels perfectly set up for Mania.
– Nick Randall
**********
Best Match- Neville v. Gallagher?
Worst Match- Goldberg v. Owens.
Best Performance: Roman Reigns.
Thumbs Down.
I’ve never submitted a “thumbs down” for a PPV before because there was usually SOMETHING that made me glad I watched. Not the case tonight.
I hope someone has a tally of how many times the word “distraction” was used during this PPV. I hate distractions in matches. I really hate them repeated on the same card. I really really hate them repeated on a PPV. No excuse for that.
We had a main event that didn’t really occur.
We had a women’s match with a main event feel — and then it had a run-in (which wasn’t a DQ) which turned INTO a “distraction.”
The rest of the card involved under-utilizing talent. Rusev, Cesaro, Zayn. I’m not arguing with the wins/losses they received. But these were poorly constructed matches that didn’t make the most of them. Zayn, for instance, could have done a lot more for Joe.
Lastly, I’ve got to give credit to Roman Reigns (again). He built a match with Strowman. I did not expect that, but I should by now.
– Nick Garcia
**********
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Neville vs Jack Gallagher
Worst Match: Rusev vs Big Show
There’s supreme irony in WWE refusing to put over Ric Flair, arguably the greatest wrestler of his time, when he was over the age of 50. And then giving its Universal title to 50 year old Bill Goldberg, barely a professional wrestler even during his heyday.
WWE also destroyed most of its booking logic of the Raw Women’s title. First Bayley started a quest to become champion and beat Charlotte on Raw, ruining her chance at winning the title and being coronated at WM. Then Charlotte was undefeated on PPV for 14 months, leading most to believe Sasha would cost Bayley the title at Fast Lane. Instead, Sasha’s help backfired and Bayley retained — meaning Charlotte’s streak is broken, Bayley is still champ, Sasha is still a babyface, and Nia was even beaten for good measure to leave everything muddled.
Hey I didn’t even mention that Braun Strowman was beaten and the Undertaker didn’t make an appearance to challenge Roman Reigns.
– Jeff Cohen
**********
Not only was it incredibly boring, the booking was terrible. Every character on the show came off worse than before the show. Goldberg got booed. Owens was weak. Strowman lost for no reason. Roman was booed even worse than the start after winning. Charlotte’s ‘streak’ was broken for…
No reason.
– Jonathan Gerwald
**********
Thumbs Down
Best Match: Neville vs. Jack Gallagher
Worst Match: Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks
I didn’t enjoy this PPV very much. Hopefully we’ll see Okada and Ibushi go more than 21 seconds in the main event of the New Japan 45th Anniversary show.
– Lou Pickney
**********
Thumbs in the Middle
Best Match:Neville vs. Gallagher
Worst Match: Goldberg vs. Owens (even though it was what I expected)
This show was fine, but not great and not terrible and really did nothing for me as it relates to WrestleMania minus putting the title on Goldberg. There was no tease of Balor or Undertaker (well Lawler hinted of something about it with it’s my yard stuff on the post-show). So I guess everything should get going tomorrow on Raw.
Pre-show match with the Cruiserweights was fine for what it was. Basically like watching a 205 Live match. Faces go over. Tozawa has his grunt getting him over to some of the crowd. Wish they get could get more of the crowd into the Cruiserweight stuff. The Milwaukee crowd was actually pretty good with a few exceptions.
Joe vs. Zayn was good, but not the outstanding match I was hoping for. Joe winning was the obvious choice. My guess is for Balor to return tomorrow or shortly to put those two together for Mania cause otherwise I’m not sure where they fit into things.
Tag Team Title match was entertaining. Glad to see the Champs retain. I’m guessing a multi team match at Mania. Really still weird that the most promoted team the New Day won’t be wrestling at Mania, just hosting and talking about ice cream.
Banks vs. Jax again not a bad match. Was surprised with the outcome however. Again probably the multi person match at Mania. Have a feeling it’s going to be a lot of multi matches at Mania to try and squeeze everyone in.
Cesaro vs. Jinder was fine, basically a Raw match although usually Mahal doesn’t get that much time. Cesaro wins as he should. Not really sure the point of this and does anyone want to see Rusev vs. Mahal feud? Don’t think so.
Big Show vs. Rusev was also fine. Show wins and I guess all these guys are headed for the Andre Battle Royal.
Neville vs. Jack Gallagher to me was the best match on the show. It was a lot of fun and it had the right outcome. So Neville vs. Aries at Mania? Or will it be another multi person match?
Reigns vs. Strowman was a good match although again I did think Braun was going to win, but again Reigns should be strong if he is facing Taker. Not sure what happens to Braun again other than maybe the Battle Royal.
Bayley vs Charlotte was good, but I would have saved Charlotte’s big loss until Mania. Banks didn’t turn heel here, but assuming she probably still will soon.
Kevin Owens vs. Goldberg was what I expected especially since it started at two minutes to 8. Would have liked to at least let them have a few minutes, but I get it. I still would have opted for Owens vs. Jericho for the title at Mania. Goldberg having the title for one month with no title defenses and then losing it makes no sense to me. Then it goes back to Lesnar who won’t defend it much either, but I guess he’ll drop it to Strowman or Joe maybe.
Well onward to WrestleMania which will hopefully be more exciting.
– Robb Block
**********
WWE Fastlane gets a gigantic thumbs down.
Best match: None.
Worst match: The entire card, including the preshow.
Thoughts: The show was practically telegraphed long before the PPV, with minor details telegraphed during the actual event. There were no real surprises or true swerves. This PPV is not at a December to Dismember 2006 level, but the consistently bad writing of Raw as a whole since the brand split really came through tonight. For one example of many, they had a perfect WrestleMania moment brewing with Bayley pinning Charlotte clean to end her unbeaten individual PPV streak. Instead those were ruined on a ho-hum Raw and this PPV, respectively. I fear for WrestleMania if this PPV is any indication.
– Devin Shultz
**********
Thumbs in the middle show
Best Match: Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman
Worst Match: Sasha Banks vs Nia Jax
I thought I was watching the Woodley and Thompson fight during the Owens and Goldberg match. The only difference was when it ended, the crowd was cheering for Goldberg.
Can we not get Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles or Balor vs Styles? Do we really have to see Shane McMahon vs AJ Styles at WrestleMania.
– Eric Poon
**********
Big Thumbs Down.
All I gotta say is once all of the part-timers of yesteryear are gone and Cena moves on, WWE is going to have an extremely difficult time building new stars given the horrible job they’ve done capitalizing on today’s up and coming guys. A bloody shame.
– Shawn Maggles
**********
Thumbs in the middle
Best match: Bayley vs. Charlotte
Worst match: Big Show vs. Rusev
Show wasn’t great, but not terrible. Putting the belt on Goldberg seems foolish bc all it does is essentially make it a hot potato between him and Lesnar who won’t be at shows. Owens has been the only thing worthwhile on Raw and now he’s lost the big belt before the big show to a guy who won’t be there in three months, you’ve hot shotted every title in the company in two months, storyline it makes zero sense to make Owens into super bad ass and have him lose, especially after he turned on Jericho bc of HHH and then you have him lose the first time he doesn’t have help, so he looks like a chump and a fool for essentially a match people wanted to see anyway.
It’s a waste of everyone involved. I understand they want to make the biggest match they can for Mania, but this is why their belts mean nothing — they change all the time, the only people who matter when they hold them are the ones who won’t be there long, and the ones who hold it for a while are never booked to look strong. It’s just sad.
– Jonathan Beckner
**********
Thumbs Down
WTF was that? They build Braun for a year and he loses clean. The only true babyface, Bayley, needs cheating to win to breaks the heel’s long streak. Cesaro needs distraction to beat Jinder Mahal? They need to fill time so Joe and Sami get 10 minutes so we can get Jinder on the show. They actually protect Owens but at the expense of the only match that matters at WM, making Goldberg look like an opportunist, rather than a killer.
Best Match: CW Title
Worse: Sasha/Nia Jax
– Russell Griffiths