Flashback To WWE Fastlane 2016: Reigns vs. Ambrose vs. Lesnar

Ambrose, Lesnar and Reigns at Fastlane 2016
Image Source: WWE

If we were still in the age where a pay-per-view like Fastlane cost thirty to forty bucks, it would be must-skip TV for me. Last year’s main event was a bit of a hidden gem, though, so it was worth whatever portion of my $9.99 per month fee I ended up paying for it minus the 1,000 hours or so I spent watching Total Divas. Who knows if that will be the case this Sunday when Kevin Owens takes on Goldberg, a weird nostalgia act whose run will hopefully be over after Wrestlemania.

The betting money is on Goldberg taking the title away from Owens to sweeten the pot for the Lesnar vs. Goldberg rematch at Wrestlemania. In order to protect Goldberg and his many, many, limitations as a wrestler, there are two probable outcomes of the Owens vs. Goldberg match: a squash or shenanigans. I’m hoping for shenanigans involving Chris Jericho. I’ll be quite disappointed if Goldberg squashes Owens, but who the hell knows at this point? We got a good main event at last year’s Fastlane, so it might happen again.

Goldberg and Kevin Owens
Image Source:
The Inquisitr

Last year, of course, fanboys and girls such as myself were hoping against hope that Ambrose would win the triple threat match against Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar and go to Wrestlemania to face Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I think we knew it wasn’t going to happen, but I’ll be damned if the WWE didn’t at least make us think that Ambrose was going to pull off a win. When the bizarre stipulation was added to the 2016 Royal Rumble that Roman Reigns would have to defend his title against everyone in the match and Triple H, of all people, ended up making a surprise entrance as the 30th participant and taking the title, well, we all knew what was on the cards. Triple H was going to face Roman Reigns for the title at Wrestlemania in a predictable yawner of a match and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. Still, there was a touch of hope.

The Fastlane match was a never-dull thirty minutes long. Dean came out to a huge pop, of course. For some reason, the WWE network seemed to have some, uh, audio problems as Roman Reigns made his entrance, so you could barely hear the deafening chorus of boos that accompanied his walking to the ring. Jesus, Roman Reigns in 2015 and most of 2016 was a weird phenomenon. Vince McMahon – err – the WWE creative staff thought they could get this guy over as a main eventer despite his being overwhelmingly rejected by the fans. It was one of the weirdest cases of creative hubris I’ve ever witnessed in all of entertainment, not just professional wrestling. Personally, I like Roman Reigns. I generally find his matches to be fun. But like a lot of other people, I just didn’t feel like he was ready for the top spot.

Ambrose, Lesnar and Reigns at Fastlane 2016
Image Source:
WWE

Predictably, Lesnar came out to a flurry of cheers. I’ve really dug the whole Brock Lesnar as part time special attraction thing. Heightens the mystique. And the guy really does look like some kind of monster that Paul Heyman lets out of a cage every now and then, in between eating raw meat and raiding nearby villages. And he still feels like a titan, even after his squash loss to Goldberg at Survivor Series last November. I’m sure he’s going to perform well at Wrestlemania and do something to recover his reputation. It was time for the Beast to be humbled anyway. But did it have to be Goldberg that did it? Yech.

And Paul Heyman is a gem. I love how he insisted on introducing Lesnar himself, saying, “Fighting out of the winner’s corner…”. Good stuff.

After getting Roman Reigns out of the ring for a while, Brock Lesnar started the match with a series of German suplexes on Dean Ambrose. Ambrose sold those suplexes like a champ, lying on the mat like a wet noodle. He just looked completely destroyed. Reigns saved his old Shield partner with one of his spears “out of nowhere,” giving Ambrose time to recover. Reigns is a pretty limited wrestler, sure, but what he does he does well. I don’t care how many times he Superman punches someone during a match. It’s always exciting. Anyone who disagrees with me obviously doesn’t like having fun.

Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar at Fastlane 2016
Image Source:
Daily Motion

Outside the ring, Ambrose and Reigns teamed up to deliver a powerbomb to Lesnar. Well, Reigns did most of the lifting. Brock sold that powerbomb like a freaking champ, looking like an ogre that’s been taken down but not defeated because, after all, it’s just pain. Later, when Brock was heading toward the ring where Ambrose and Reigns were fighting each other, JBL said, “Last thing you want is an angry, injured Brock Lesnar.” Yup, and that’s about the crux of it. And when Brock finally got back into the ring and German suplexed Reigns and Ambrose at the same time, it was impressive as hell but also kind of believable.

The odd thing about a triple threat match is that you really can’t have three guys fighting each other at the same time for too long. Things would get too chaotic and weird. So you have to find ways to make the match a series of one-on-one encounters while the third person rests. Sometimes this doesn’t work out so well, but putting Brock Lesnar into the mix makes it somewhat believable. Brock can destroy Reigns or Ambrose while the other recovers. And it takes not one, but two powerbombs through two different announce tables to leave Brock Lesnar incapacitated enough for Reigns and Ambrose to fight among themselves. It really is a neat match.

Though Roman Reigns eventually won the match by pinning Ambrose, this might have been the match that made WWE creative (Vince McMahon) realize that Ambrose was a marketable personality. For the longest time, it seemed as though he was going to be the only former Shield member not to hold the biggest title in the company. As it turned out, he ended up winning the title at Money in the Bank last June, after Roman Reigns had a dismal run as world champion following Wrestlemania. Reigns finally, mercifully, lost to Seth Rollins at MITB before Ambrose cashed in the briefcase he’d won earlier in the night to take the title from Rollins. Things turned out pretty well for Ambrose, and a lot of it might have had to do with his showing at Fastlane.

Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.