Fastlane (2016)

Background

The professional wrestling matches at Fastlane featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.

At the Royal Rumble, Triple H won the Royal Rumble match by eliminating Dean Ambrose to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the following night on Raw, Stephanie McMahon scheduled a triple threat match featuring Ambrose, the previous champion Roman Reigns, and Brock Lesnar at the event, with the winner facing Triple H at WrestleMania 32 for the title.

At the Royal Rumble, Kalisto defeated Alberto Del Rio to win the WWE United States Championship. Del Rio then invoked his rematch clause to face Kalisto for the title at the event. The match was later moved to the Fastlane pre-show, with Del Rio challenging Kalisto to a two-out-of-three falls match.

On the February 1 episode of Raw, Brie Bella defeated WWE Divas Champion Charlotte in a non-title match, earning a title match against Charlotte at the event.

On the same episode of Raw, Sasha Banks split from Team B.A.D., causing her former teammates Naomi and Tamina to attack Banks during her match against Becky Lynch. Lynch assisted Banks, setting up a tag team match between the two teams for the event.

Kevin Owens won his second Intercontinental Championship on the February 15 episode of Raw in a fatal five-way match also involving Tyler Breeze, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust and then-champion Dean Ambrose. Ziggler, who had defeated Owens in the previous two weeks on Raw, then challenged Owens to an Intercontinental Championship match at the event, with the match being confirmed for the event despite Owens refusing the challenge.

On the February 15 episode of Raw, an installment of the The Cutting Edge Peep Show, hosted by Edge and Christian, was announced for the event, with The New Day as their special guests.

The Wyatt Family began feuding with Big Show, Kane and Ryback, with The Wyatt Family attacking the trio, after Bray Wyatt's victory over Kane on the January 25 episode of Raw, Big Show's victory over Erick Rowan on the February 1 episode of Raw and Wyatt's victory over Ryback a week later. On the February 15 episode of Raw, Big Show defeated Braun Strowman by disqualification after the Wyatt Family attacked Big Show. During the post-match, Ryback and Kane came out to assist Big Show, setting up a six-man tag team match for the event, with Big Show, Kane and Ryback facing Rowan, Strowman and fellow Wyatt Family member Luke Harper for the event.

AJ Styles made his WWE debut during the Royal Rumble match. On the following night on Raw, Styles defeated Chris Jericho. Jericho then defeated Styles in a rematch on the February 11 episode of SmackDown. On the following episode on Raw, Styles challenged Jericho to a third match at Fastlane, which Jericho accepted on the following episode of SmackDown.

Pre-show

During the pre-show, Kalisto defended the United States Championship against Alberto Del Rio in a Two-out-of-three falls match. Kalisto won the first fall by disqualification after Del Rio hit him with a chair. Del Rio won the second fall after a Double Foot Stomp on Kalisto, who was hanging on the middle rope. Kalisto pinned Del Rio with a roll-up to win the third fall and retain the title.

Preliminary matches

The event opened with Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks facing Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina). The match ended when Sasha applied the Banks Statement on Tamina whilst Becky applied the Dis-arm-her on Naomi, who both submitted simultaneously.

Next, Kevin Owens defended the Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler. Owens executed a Pop Up Powerbomb on Ziggler to retain the title.

After that, The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman) faced Big Show, Kane, and Ryback. Ryback executed Shell Shocked on Harper to win the match for his team.

In the fourth match, Charlotte defended the Divas Championship against Brie Bella. Charlotte forced Brie to submit to the Figure Eight Leglock to retain the title.

In the fifth match, AJ Styles faced Chris Jericho. During the match, Jericho applied the Walls of Jericho on Styles but Styles reached the ropes, forcing Jericho to break the hold. Jericho executed a Codebreaker on Styles but Styles's arm being under the bottom rope voided the pinfall. Styles executed a Styles Clash on Jericho for a near-fall. Styles forced Jericho to submit to the Calf Crusher to win the match.

Edge and Christian hosted the Cutting Edge Peep Show, with WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day, who first insulted Edge and Christian but then began to insult The League of Nations. When The League of Nations appeared, The New Day left the ring with Edge and Christian.

In an unnannounced match, Curtis Axel faced R-Truth. Axel won the match by pinning R-Truth with a roll up.

Main event

In the main event, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Brock Lesnar fought to determine the #1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 32. During the match, Lesnar executed an F5 on Reigns but Ambrose broke up the pinfall. Lesnar executed three German Suplexes on Ambrose and attempted an F5 but Reigns executed a Spear on Lesnar for a near-fall. Lesnar attempted an F5 on Reigns but Ambrose hit a low blow on Lesnar, which was followed by Reigns and Ambrose executing a double Powerbomb through a broadcast table on Lesnar. After fighting among themselves, Reigns and Ambrose stopped Lesnar from re-entering the match by executing another double Powerbomb on Lesnar through another broadcast table. Ambrose executed Dirty Deeds on Reigns for a near-fall. After Reigns executed a Spear on Lesnar, Lesnar applied a Kimura Lock on Reigns but Ambrose attacked both men with a chair. Reigns executed a Spear on Ambrose to win the match.

Aftermath

On the following night's episode of Raw, Brock Lesnar attacked Dean Ambrose in the Joe Louis Arena parking lot in Detroit for costing him the match at Fastlane. The attack sent Ambrose to a hospital. Later on Raw, Lesnar and Paul Heyman issued a challenge to anyone in the locker room to face Lesnar at WrestleMania. The still-injured Ambrose drove an ambulance back into the arena to challenge Lesnar in a No Holds Barred Street Fight at WrestleMania 32. Lesnar attacked Ambrose with an F-5 and accepted the challenge.

Ryback, Big Show, and Kane faced The Wyatt Family in a rematch on the following night on Raw. During the match, Ryback walked out of the match, allowing The Wyatt Family to take advantage and win the match when Bray Wyatt pinned Kane. Ryback later explained that he was sick of being in tag team matches.

On the following night's episode of Raw, Chris Jericho called out AJ Styles and told him he finally earned his respect. The Social Outcasts then interrupted them, leading to Jericho and Styles teaming up and defeating Heath Slater and Curtis Axel of The Social Outcasts. After defeating The New Day in two consecutive matches, Jericho and Styles faced The New Day in a title match on the March 7 episode of Raw, in which Jericho was pinned by Big E. After the match, Jericho attacked Styles with three Codebreakers, turning heel in the process.

After Sasha Banks defeated Naomi the following night on Raw, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch faced each other on the February 29 episode of Raw to determine who would face Charlotte for the Divas Championship at WrestleMania 32. The match which ended in a draw after both women's shoulders were pinned. A rematch on the March 3 episode of Smackdown ended in a double disqualification after Charlotte attacked both women. After Charlotte insisted that no one deserves a title match, she was scheduled to defend her championship against both women in a Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania.

Reception

Like the previous year's event, Fastlane received generally mixed reviews from critics. Aaron Oster of The Baltimore Sun reviewed the pay-per-view as "solid", but noted that the show was "received so poorly" by fans that it led to "#CancelWWENetwork trending on Twitter once again". Regarding the main event, the fan "response has been instantly negative" despite a result "many expected". While the "match itself was good for the most part", the finish was questioned by Oster: "Why was Reigns able to jump right up after he got hit several times with a steel chair?" Styles-Jericho was "great" but Oster also questioned "why Chris Jericho was kicking out of the Styles Clash so early into Styles' WWE career." For the women's title match, "Brie looked OK" but was not on the level of Charlotte's previous opponents, Paige and Becky Lynch. Both the women's tag match and Owens-Ziggler were "good", with praise for Owens' "short-arm pop-up powerbomb". Meanwhile, Del Rio's disqualification was a "great piece of psychology that added to the match" for the U.S. title. Lastly, the Wyatt's loss was a "mistake" because "if they can't beat this thrown-together group, who can they beat?"

Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net "felt letdown by the overall show until the main event". This was in spite of "some good matches", because the entire Fastlane event failed to leave Powell "anxious to see WrestleMania", with "the Hunter vs. Reigns match just doesn't feel main event worth". For the matches, Powell was high on the main event ("very good" and without "a dull moment"), Jericho-Styles ("good drama down the stretch... Jericho did a really nice job of acting like he was in agony as he sold the Calf Crusher") and the Divas Championship bout ("an entertaining match with Brie using a lot of her husband’s moves"). Additionally, the Wyatts losing was "very surprising". For the negatives, Powell suffered network streaming issues for the women's tag match and the Intercontinental title match, Edge and Christian's segment "was terrible", and for Axel-Truth, Powell said, "I watched a pay-per-view and a Superstars match broke out".

James Caldwell of PWTorch.com reviewed the event, with three matches being rated 3.5 out of 5 stars: the main event, Jericho-Styles and Owens-Ziggler. The main event match was described as "WWE main event-style roller-coasting with ups-and-downs and twists and turns playing off the TV, but it was inevitable Reigns was winning, taking some of the steam out of the match". Caldwell criticized the "tone-deaf", "Super Cena booking" of Reigns as WWE failing to change the "presentation for a non-main-eventer masquerading in a main event role". Styles-Jericho had "few slip-ups on big spots", but a "very good, clear story" and "a very strong finish". Owens-Ziggler and Brie-Charlotte (2 stars) were both described as bouts where "the audience didn't really buy the babyface challenger having a shot to win". Del Rio-Kalisto was rated 3 stars and the women's tag match 2.5 stars. The six-man tag match was rated 2.25 stars, with Caldwell questioning if the Wyatts needed to resort to "another promo/sneak-attack trying to save face after another big loss". Caldwell was also negative on Edge and Christian's segment as "none of this made any sense from a character alignment perspective", as well as the Axel-Truth match for even happening, writing that "the PPV has gone off the rails, like a third hour of Raw".

Dave Scherer of PWInsider.com praised the main event match as "really, really good", but criticized the match result as Vince McMahon ignoring "the voice of the people... especially when the crowd made it really clear that of the two, they wanted Dean" over Roman Reigns. Scherer was most positive regarding the Styles-Jericho match, describing it as "freaking awesome. AJ did what AJ does and WWE let him do it... And kudos to Jericho for being a veteran stud here". For the women's matches, Scherer wrote that the title match "could have been the best match I have ever seen Brie have", while the tag bout was "good, solid". The Intercontinental title match was "great", as was Kevin Owens' performance in it. The United States title match was "solid", but Scherer criticized "how they are booking ADR" as "wasting him". Lastly, Scherer dismissed Edge and Christian's segment as an "in show ad".