WWE Fastlane Review - October 7, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso def. The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest) to Win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship

The tag titles have been involved in plenty of excellent matches this year (this one being no exception), but they've lost some of their focus as of late. I don't know that they'll get them back even with Rhodes and Uso (who aren't an actual team) holding the gold as I don't expect this reign to last long. With all of that said, this was a really fun opener. The action was chaotic and the crowd was invested. I figured Judgment Day would only lose the belts if there was a Money in the Bank cash-in at the end of the show, but evidently not.

Carlito and The LWO (United States Champion Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar) def. Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits

I assumed Carlito was a dark horse to team with The LWO here when this match was announced on last week's SmackDown, and while it would have been a nice spot for Dragon Lee, Carlito made the most sense, especially since he's reportedly been signed since the summer and has been waiting on Creative to come up with something for him. The match wasn't anything special and Carlito didn't come in until the end, but it was solid stuff. I'm not thrilled with Lashley and the Profits losing their first match as a trio, but it was cool (pun intended) to see Carlito back finally. He'll be a full-time member of the SmackDown roster going forward.

WWE Women's Champion IYO SKY def. Charlotte Flair and Asuka in a Triple Threat Match

I had higher hopes with this given the level of talent involved. It was still pretty good on the whole, but there were a handful of sloppy spots and mistimed moments. The three simply lacked chemistry despite them having great chemistry in singles matches. SKY retaining the title was my top takeaway as it was the right result. Unfortunately, they might be telling the story that Flair was "screwed" out of the win, so her time in the title picture isn't over yet. Ugh.

LA Knight and John Cena def. Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa

Indianapolis native Pat McAfee (who also did the voiceover for the intro) popped in to do commentary for this alongside Michael Cole and Corey Graves (I'd still like to see Graves vs. McAfee at some point, by the way). This was your average house show-style tag team main event, but it was what it needed to be and the crowd was very much behind the babyfaces throughout. The heat segment didn't need to last as long as it did, but this was enjoyable otherwise. Knight continuing to get the rub from Cena is a massive positive and clearly an Undisputed WWE Universal Championship opportunity is in his immediate future.

World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins def. Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing Match

Judgment Day made it clear in a backstage segment beforehand that they didn't want the "injured" Priest cashing in his contract, but I still expected the event to end with Priest becoming champion. That didn't happen. Nakamura winning would have been awesome, but the company clearly doesn't see him in that role. I'm curious what they have in mind for Rollins going forward. Last Man Standing matches have a tendency to drag, and this definitely did at times, but it was a terrific piece of business overall, especially down the stretch. Personally, I'm not getting tired of Rollins' reign, but I am ready for it to become a bigger focal point on Raw.

​Overall Show

For what it's worth, Jade Cargill technically made her WWE debut in a clip of her arriving to the building that aired on the Kickoff show. I assumed she'd pop up again at some point, but no such luck. At any rate, this was a quality pay-per-view. It'll definitely go down as one of the weakest of the year, but that's just because all the other events were so strong. It's hard to complain about a straightforward five-match card with a surprise title change, entertaining wrestling, and a notable return. The three hours flew by.

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