The road to WrestleMania picks up momentum this evening, as the final pay-per-view stop before “The Grandest Stage of Them All” goes down tonight at WWE Fastlane.
WWE Fastlane is scheduled to emanate from the ThunderDome inside of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida tonight, streaming live via the WWE Network and Peacock Premium.
On tap for tonight’s special event is a seven-match card headlined by the high-stakes showdown pitting Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Universal Championship, with Edge serving as the special guest enforcer of the match that will determine who he challenges for the title at WrestleMania 37.
The show kicks off at 7pm Eastern Time / 4pm Pacific Time, with a one-hour Kickoff Show pre-show starting at 6pm Eastern Time / 3pm Pacific Time across all of WWE’s digital platforms.
Featured below are complete WWE Fastlane results from Sunday, March 21, 2021.
WWE FASTLANE RESULTS (3/21/2021)
The Then. Now. Forever. traditional signature vignette plays, officially getting things started for the WWE Fastlane 2021 broadcast, which kicks off with the WWE Fastlane Kickoff Show.
WWE FASTLANE KICKOFF SHOW
The pre-show for tonight’s show is officially underway, as we shoot inside the ThunderDome and get our first glimpse of the set for tonight’s special event.
We hear the official WWE Fastlane theme song playing as the camera pans around the building, settling over at the pre-show panel area as Kayla Braxton welcomes us to the Kickoff Show for Fastlane.
Braxton then introduces her fellow pre-show panelists for tonight’s event, starting with WWE Hall Of Fame legend Booker T, followed by fellow WWE Hall Of Fame legend Jerry “The King” Lawler and finally, HOT 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg.
After some quick back-and-forth introductory-style banter among the panelists, Kayla Braxton begins running down the lineup for tonight’s show, with Peter Rosenberg chiming in with some commentary on the stories behind the bouts.
They wrap things up and then send us to the first video package for the 20 years in the making match between friends turned enemies Drew McIntyre and Sheamus.
Opening Match For Tonight’s Main Card Announced
We are informed that the WWE Women’s Tag-Team Championship match pitting current title-holders Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler against the team of Bianca Belair and SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks will be kicking off the main show at 7pm EST. / 4pm PST. sharp.
The video package for the women’s tag-title bout airs and then the panelists discuss the match among themselves. We then send things to our next video package, which tells the story leading up to tonight’s Randy Orton vs. Alexa Bliss match. Jerry Lawler compares the vignette for the match to the first time he saw The Exorcist.
From there, we shoot to yet another package, this time telling the story behind tonight’s WWE Intercontinental Championship match pitting Big E. against Apollo Crews.
Sonya Deville Joins Panel For Credit One Bank: One To Watch Segment
After the video package wraps up, we shoot back to the panel, who set up their “Credit One Bank: One To Watch” segment.
They introduce Sonya Deville, who joins them for this promotional segment, as he helps break down the I-C title bout scheduled for tonight’s show. She eventually gives her prediction for the match, picking Big E. to retain his title when things are all said-and-done.
Once they wrap up their special promotional segment, the panelists move on to discuss the next match, which is the Shane McMahon vs. Braun Strowman match. Deville is still with the panelists for this discussion.
They show highlights of the slime segment from last Monday’s Raw and then give their personal opinions on things that have transpired between the two leading up to their showdown this evening.
Sarah Schreiber Gives Medical Update On Shane McMahon
They finally get to the controversy surrounding the match possibly not taking place tonight, as they show a photo of Shane McMahon clutching his leg and screaming in pain.
Now the panelists send things to Sarah Schreiber, who is outside the doctor/trainer room in the backstage area. She informs us that Shane is being seen by the doctors now, and notes that she can not confirm or deny Shane McMahon’s status for tonight, and whether or not the match will even take place.
We return to the panel and Booker T notes that Shane looks to be clutching his leg in a way that indicates he may have torn something serious, pointing out that he had a similar experience when he tore his ACL, PCL and did other damage to his knee throughout his career.
Kevin “The New Guy” Interviews Seth Rollins
The panel shifts gears to talk about the Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match on tonight’s card and they talk us through some highlights of their recent interaction on TV leading up to tonight.
We then shoot backstage where Kevin “The New Guy” is standing by with Seth Rollins. Rollins has some fun at the expense of Kevin the new guy and then talks about his fancy attire.
Now Rollins gets down to business and talks about his bout with Nakamura tonight. He talks about Nakamura being just as bad as Cesaro, trying to be a big, bad tough guy who stands up for his friends, noting Cesaro can’t stand up himself right now.
He says he hopes Cesaro is home icing his dumb, bald head and vows to do the same to Nakamura. He mocks Kevin the new guy one more time and walks off to end the segment.
WWE United States Championship
Riddle (c) vs. Mustafa AliAfter the Rollins interview segment we shoot to a quick commercial break and then we return at the commentary table at ringside where Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Samoa Joe welcome us to the Kickoff Show.
Then they send things to the entrance area where the entrance theme of Riddle plays. The WWE United States Champion makes his way out and heads down to the ring for our first of four title matches scheduled for tonight’s show.
As the U.S. champ settles into the ring, some highlights of the action on Raw that led to tonight’s bout. From there, the RETRIBUTION theme plays and Ali makes his way out accompanied by members of the group.
As he makes his way to the ring, a WWE Network Exclusive from last Monday’s Raw is shown where Ali challenged Riddle, setting up tonight’s title match and being critical of his RETRIBUTION members.
The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with our first match of the evening. Ali immediately rolls out to the floor before anything happens. When he re-enters the ring, the two finally collide and this match is now underway. Riddle establishes the offensive control coming out of the gate, grounding Ali and then blasting him with kicks.
Back up, Riddle puts Ali right back down by sweeping his legs out from underneath him. Riddle goes for a follow-up spot, but Ali hits a nice counter to shift the offensive momentum in his favor. He quickly shouts over to his RETRIBUTION members at ringside, telling them that this is how it’s done.
Ali turns the violence level up a few notches, smashing Riddle’s arm into the steel ring post. Ali beats Riddle down for a few moments until finally the U.S. champ shows signs of life, catching Ali off-guard. He goes for the Bro Derek, however Ali avoids it and re-establishes his offensive control of the match, taking it to Riddle with relative ease thus far, which the commentators have pointed out multiple times.
We see Riddle hit a nice move that seemed to be the shifting point in the match going back into his favor, however a distraction by RETRIBUTION members at ringside helps Ali cut his comeback attempts short once again. Ali’s time in the offensive driver’s seat isn’t long-lived this time, however, as Riddle is on fire now, making his big comeback.
Riddle catches Ali with a wide-variety of strikes, culminating with a big Pele kick. The Original Bro is all over the place, blasting Ali with everything in his offensive arsenal. He catches Ali with the Final Flash right to the face and covers him, however the RETRIBUTION leader manages to kick out before the count of three. Riddle heads to the top rope and comes flying off with the Floating Bro, however Ali gets his knees up at the last second.
Samoa Joe on commentary questions how much that may have hurt Ali as well, as Riddle’s weight came down on his bad knee. Ali sells the knee but gets up first and heads to the top-rope. He waits for Riddle to get up, and when he does, Riddle catches him by surprise and hits a fisherman’s suplex. Ali surprises Riddle with a submission hold that looked super close to finishing Riddle off, however the U.S. champ finally dumps Ali to get his arm free — but not before a ton of damage was done to the limb.
Ali asks the RETRIBUTION members at ringside if they saw what he just did, again bragging and showing them how it’s done. Riddle heads to the top-rope and hits a Super Bro Derek. Wow. He makes the cover and gets the three count. Riddle gets the win and retains his U.S. title. Excellent match.
Winner and STILL WWE United States Champion: Riddle
After The Match: RETRIBUTION Breaks Up?
Once the match wraps up, we see RETRIBUTION join Ali in the ring as Riddle exits and heads to the back, celebrating with his U.S. title still in tact.
The camera shoots back to the ring where Ali is pushing the RETRIBUTION members off of him as they try to help him up. He begins scolding them, asking when have they ever pulled their weight around here.
One-by-one we see the RETRIBUTION members exit the ring, except for two — MACE & T-BAR — who hit their double-team chokeslam finisher on their former leader and then exit the ring.
Final Check-In With Kickoff Show Pre-Show Panel
We return to the pre-show panel, as the Kickoff Show wraps up with coverage of the main event. We shoot to one final video package for the WWE Universal Championship match and then we shoot to a quick clip of Paul Heyman talking about tonight’s Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan title match from this week’s edition of Talking Smack.
After the Heyman package wraps up, we shoot back inside the ThunderDome where Rosenberg gives his final thoughts and predictions for the main event of the evening. Booker calls this his Shucky Ducky Quack Quack moment of the night and gives his breakdown of the bout. Lawler weighs in with his final thoughts and then Braxton wraps up the Kickoff Show.
The pre-show is over and it’s time for the WWE Fastlane 2021 main show.
WWE FASTLANE PAY-PER-VIEW
The pre-show is in the rear-view mirror and now we’re live on the WWE Network and Peacock Premium, as the bad-ass, extensive opening video package airs to officially start the WWE Fastlane 2021 main card broadcast.
We shoot inside the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL. where the camera pans around the building, settling over at the commentary table where Michael Cole and Corey Graves welcome us to the show and greet those watching for the first time on Peacock Premium.
WWE Women’s Tag-Team Championship
Bianca Belair & Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c)From there, the familiar sounds of Bianca Belair’s theme hits and the only woman in WWE with EST makes her way down to the squared circle for our second of four title matches scheduled for tonight’s show.
As Belair settles in the ring, highlights of recent interaction she had with Sasha Banks on SmackDown after coming up short in their match due to Banks and Reginald is shown as Cole and Graves talk about their recent issues and upcoming match at WrestleMania.
The theme for SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks hits and “The Boss” makes her way down to the ring. She joins Belair inside the squared circle and they await their opponents.
Now we hear the theme of Nia Jax and out she comes accompanied by Shayna Baszler and Reginald. More highlights from SmackDown are shown and when we return to the ring live, we see Jax and Baszler arguing on one end of the ring, as well as Banks and Belair bickering among themselves on the other side.
The bell sounds and it’s time for our first match here on the PPV card at WWE Fastlane. Banks and Baszler kick things off for their respective teams. Banks immediately goes at Baszler and fires away, backing her into the corner with punches and then tagging in Belair. Belair hits some backflips and spears Baszler in the corner.
She tags Banks right back in and “The Boss” gets in some brief offense and then Belair is tagged right back in. Cole and Graves point out how well Banks and Belair are working as a unit thus far tonight. Finally, Baszler gets in the offensive driver’s seat and starts taking it to Belair. As she works over Belair in her own corner, Jax tags herself in to the dismay of Baszler.
They argue as Jax enters the ring, only for Belair to shift things back in her favor. This doesn’t last long, however, as Banks tags in and Jax starts taking it to the SmackDown Women’s Champion, using her size and strength to take it to her smaller foe. She hoists Banks up but ends up in the corner of “The Boss,” and Belair tags in. Belair hits the ring and starts taking it to Jax, as the commentators again point out how well she and Banks are working together.
Finally, Jax blasts Belair with a big shot that knocks her out to the floor. Baszler tags back in and goes to work on Belair on the floor. She rolls her back into the ring and starts punishing her with vicious ground-and-pound, stopping her from making any progress towards her side of the ring, where she wants to make a much-needed tag to Banks at this point. Belair tries punching herself free from the grasp and control of Baszler, but to no avail, as Baszler gets Belair in her own corner and tags Jax in.
Jax picks up where Baszler left off, taking it to Belair as Cole and Graves now point out that the women’s tag champs appear to be working as a cohesive unit for the first time in the bout. Baszler tags back in moments later and goes to work on Belair, blasting her with kicks in the corner of the ring. Finally, Belair makes it to her corner and gets the much-needed tag to Banks. “The Boss” takes the hot tag and comes into the ring like a woman possessed, hitting and taking out any-and-everything that moves.
Belair tags back in and hits a crazy 450 splash off the top-rope. Reginald hops on the ring apron and interferes, only for Banks to jump to the scene. A big brawl ensues and then in the midst of the chaos, we see Banks back in the ring and she slaps her Bank Statement finisher on Baszler. It looks like she’s about to tap and then things backfire on Belair, as she is bumped into Baszler and Banks, which breaks the hold. Banks and Belair argue with Banks claiming Belair just ruined her chance to win right there.
Banks tells Belair to leave and she’ll just do this on her own. Instead, out of nowhere, Banks is rolled up by Baszler for the 1-2-3. The champs retain.
Winners and STILL WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
After The Match: Sasha Banks Slaps The Rookie With EST
Once the match wraps up, the champs exit with Reginald, leaving Banks and Belair in the ring alone to argue among themselves some more. Banks starts shouting in Belair’s face that she is just a rookie and to remember that.
She pie-faces her, shoving her head back with her hand. As Belair says Banks isn’t going to do her like that, while in mid-sentence, “The Boss” smacks the holy hell out of her and drops her. She shouts in her face about being a rookie again and then exits the ring.
Belair holds her face and eventually turns and points to the WrestleMania 37 sign and says it’s ok, she’ll get her then.
Elias Approaches An Injured Shane McMahon Backstage With An Idea
After another look at the photo of Shane McMahon clutching his apparently injured leg is shown and then we see another shot of the doctor/trainer office in the back.
The door finally opens and Shane-O-Mac emerges on crutches with his knee heavily wrapped up. He hobbles with the crutches down the backstage area as he is approached by two familiar faces.
Elias and Jaxson Ryker walk up and confront Shane McMahon about an idea they have for a musical performance for Elias at WrestleMania 37. Elias claims it’ll put Bad Bunny in his place. He keeps bugging Shane until finally Shane says he thinks he has an idea.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Apollo vs. Big E. (c)We shoot to a video package for our next match of the evening, which will be our third of four championship bouts scheduled for the show.
The story leading up to tonight’s WWE Intercontinental Championship bout between current title-holder Big E. and Apollo is told in the package and then we head back inside the ThunderDome where it’s almost time for these two to clash.
Once the video package wraps up, we hear “Apollo!” as the theme song for “the real Apollo Crews” plays as the man from Nigeria is introduced. Apollo settles into the ring as Michael Cole reads a quick Old Spice ad for the sponsor of tonight’s show.
Apollo’s music cuts off and then the theme of Big E. plays. The reigning and defending I-C champ makes his way down to the ring as the commentators point out that while Apollo may have embraced his true self, it is Big E. who has also shown a new, serious, violent side of himself as a result of the actions by Apollo.
The referee calls for the bell. The bell sounds and we see Apollo and Big E., in complete Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama PRIDE FC style, slugging it out back-and-forth with rights and lefts. Big E. gets the better of the exchange, hits the ropes and spears Apollo through the ropes and out to the floor.
Big E. shouts in Apollo’s face, saying this is what he wanted, before going back on the brutal attack, stomping away at Apollo on the ring apron. Now the former New Day member hits a running splash onto Apollo while he is laid out on the hardest part of the apron. He hits another one and then shouts in his face about begging for this version of Big E. to be shown.
He tells the referee that Apollo begged for this and then runs and hits another jumping splash onto Apollo on the hard part of the ring apron. Back into the ring, Big E. shouts more as he continues his onslaught, hitting a nice belly-to-back release suplex that launches Apollo across the ring. He hits the same spot a second time in a row.
Finally, as Big E. is running across the ring, Apollo trips him up and takes advantage by capitalizing and taking it to Big E. He completely shifts the offensive momentum in his favor, hitting three German suplexes on Big E. before he starts shouting in Big E.’s face in the same fashion Big E. was doing to him just moments ago, as he starts a prolonged violent onslaught of his own on the defending I-C champ.
Apollo heads to the top-rope where he connects with a flying splash on the champ for a near fall. Despite his inability to finish the champ off there, Apollo continues his one-sided beatdown of the champ. We get to the finish which sees both guys reversing each other during a pin attempt. In the midst of the confusion, the referee hits the mat for the count of three, but it isn’t at all clear who was considered the one that was pinned.
Regardless, Apollo is first to his feet and he immediately picks right back up where he left off, continuing his vicious assault of Big E., launching him with German suplexes and beating the crap out of him before shouting in his face in his Nigerian accent and slapping the holy hell out of him several times in a row. He yells at him to get up and hits his finisher on him again. He puts his boot on him and talks trash to the camera as his music plays and Michael Cole informs us that Big E. retained his championship tonight — so apparently he is the one who won!
Winner and STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion: Big E.
Joseph Savage Gives Out Free Samples Of Old Spice Wild, Wins 24/7 Title
We shoot to an Old Spice sponsored segment, which shows “Joseph Savage” handing out free samples of Old Spice Wild. He hands one out to one person and then we see R-Truth appear behind a wall of Old Spice sticks.
In walks another wrestler, who yells for Truth. Truth stays hidden behind the Old Spice sticks and tries putting his arm through to give a stick of it to him to go away. Instead, he is pulled through the set and a brawl ensues.
Joseph Savage ends up making the cover and winning the WWE 24/7 Championship. He argues with Akira Tozawa some more and then reveals a t-shirt that reads panther or something. It was as bad as it sounds.
WWE Network Exclusive: Shane McMahon Injury Footage
We then are shown some WWE Network exclusive video footage of Shane McMahon training for his match at tonight’s Fastlane PPV against Braun Strowman, when he injured his leg, which resulted in the still photograph that has been making the rounds on social media heading into tonight’s show.
Shane McMahon Announces Replacement For Tonight
After the WWE Network exclusive wraps up, we hear the voice of Shane McMahon introduce Elias, and then we hear the familiar sounds of Elias’ guitar strum.
Elias goes to start doing his thing, but instead, Shane-O-Mac surprises him with the news that he is going to be his replacement tonight for his match against “The Monster Among Men.”
Elias vs. Braun Strowman
On that note, the theme of Braun Strowman hits and pyro explodes as the big man makes his way down to the ring as Shane exits the ring and Elias takes in the fact that he’s about to compete without notice against the dangerous Strowman right now.
As Strowman makes his way down to the ring, we are shown highlights from Raw of Shane McMahon attacking Strowman with a camera and dumping slime all over him.
The highlights wrap up and the camera shows a close-up of Strowman’s face reacting to watching that over again. The commentators note that Elias now has to deal with the consequences of Strowman being forced to live through that again.
We hear the bell sound and this match is now officially underway. Strowman immediately goes to work on Elias, manhandling his smaller opposition with complete and total ease in what is nothing more than a squash match thus far. He sends Elias flying out to the floor, crashing into Ryker, who is at ringside after coming out with Elias.
Back in the ring, Strowman continues his very one-sided attack of Elias, pounding on him with big forearms. He sets him up in the corner where he prepares for a running splash. Instead, Ryker yanks Elias out of the ring to make the save for him. Strowman exits the ring and charges after the two. He takes him out again and then heads back into the ring.
Once he’s back in the ring, Strowman is distracted by Ryker on the floor, which allows Elias to sneak attack him from behind. He grounds the big man and heads to the top-rope. He comes flying off with a big high spot for a near fall, however Strowman hangs on. Elias goes back to work on him, kicking away at him, however Strowman then gets up and immediately takes back over control of the contest.
Within seconds he scoops Elias up and dumps him down to the mat with a huge chokeslam. He picks his lifeless body back up and hits his running power slam for the pinfall victory.
Winner: Braun Strowman
Riddle Confronts Shinsuke Nakamura With Business Proposition
After a quick commercial break, we see highlights from the Kickoff Show of Riddle hitting a top-rope Bro Derek to defeat Mustafa Ali and retain his U.S. title, and Ali flipping out and being attacked by RETRIBUTION members.
We return live to see U.S. Champion Riddle backstage with Shinsuke Nakamura. Riddle is on his scooter and he talks to Nakamura about a business idea he has to trick out scooters. He goes on to talk some more and notices Nakamura isn’t even standing beside him anymore.
Riddle can’t find him so he leaves, and then we see Nakamura was hiding behind some production equipment waiting for Riddle to shut up and leave.
Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
We head back inside the ThunderDome where the theme song of Seth Rollins hits and he makes his way down to the ring for our next match of the evening.
As he settles inside the squared circle, we are shown highlights from the recent interaction on SmackDown between Rollins and Nakamura that led to tonight’s match being made.
When we return live, we see Rollins was watching the highlights in the ring and he starts flipping out, questioning why he had to watch that again. As he continues his tantrum, the theme for Shinsuke Nakamura hits.
Nakamura begins making his way down to the ring as Michael Cole reads an ad for the presenting partner for this year’s WrestleMania — Snickers. Afterwards, Nakamura is in the ring and he does his famous pose as pyro explodes.
The music cuts off, the bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with this one-on-one contest. Rollins immediately slaps a side-head lock on Nakamura and laughs, saying Nakamura isn’t going to disrespect him. Nakamura hits the ropes and pushes Rollins off, catching him with a knee to the mid-section before following up with another knee to the grill of Rollins.
Rollins quickly rolls out to the floor to recover and regroup. He re-enters the ring and walks right back into another kick to the bread-basket from Nakamura. Finally, Rollins catches Nakamura with a good shot that shifts the offensive momentum into his favor for the first time in the bout.
Seth Rollins punishes Nakamura from one side of the ring to the other. He sends him out to the floor and follows him out, bouncing his head off of the announce table before sending him back into the ring to deliver further punishment. He catches Nakamura with some knees to the gut and then goes for the cover but only gets a one-count. He complains to the referee about only getting a count of one for that pin attempt.
We hear Rollins complaining about being swung 22 times by Cesaro. He shouts it out to the announcers, prompting Corey Graves to calmly respond, “Unacceptable.” Gotta love it. Now Rollins focuses his attention on Nakamura, telling him that he’s going for a ride as he hooks his legs, apparently preparing to hit the Cesaro Swing on Nakamura. He smacks Nakamura in the face a few times and again tells him he’s going for a ride.
This leads to Nakamura quickly throwing his legs up, turning his hips and slapping a straight armbar on Rollins. The armbar is released and now Nakamura goes to work on Rollins, getting in his first offense for the first time in several minutes. Nakamura heads to the top-rope, but is pushed all the way down to the floor behind him by Rollins, who follows up with a suicide dive through the ropes, splashing onto Nakamura.
Rollins brings Nakamura back in the ring and he hits a big shot on him and then stalks him, waiting for him to get up. He charges at him when he finally does and connects with a Sling Blade. He goes for the cover but Nakamura hangs on. Michael Cole speculates that Rollins is wondering to himself what he’s got to do to put Nakamura away.
We see Rollins drag Nakamura back to his feet. He hooks his arm looking for a suplex but Nakamura fights out of it. He hooks it again and Graves speculates that Rollins is looking for the Falcon Arrow. Again, however, Nakamura fights his way out of it before Rollins can do anything. The two exchange punches back-and-forth. Rollins gets the better of the exchange and hoists Nakamura up looking for the buckle bomb.
Nakamura escapes and sends Rollins into the corner. He hits a sliding German suplex follow-up and amps himself up, only for Rollins to cut off his momentum. He hooks Nakamura’s arm again and this time he finally connects with the Falcon Arrow. He goes for the pin, but again Nakamura avoids being put away. Rollins yells out in frustration as the announcers talk about his inability to finish Nakamura off thus far.
Rollins scoots back into the corner and stalks his opponent, waiting for him to get up. As Nakamura starts to get up, Rollins runs looking for the Stomp. Nakamura sees it coming and counters with a Landslide. He goes for the pin, but Rollins kicks out. Nakamura hits the reverse exploder and now stalks Rollins, looking to hit the Kinchasa. Rollins avoids it and then hits a crazy move that the announcers don’t even know what to call. They talk about how different that move was. Rollins follows up with a Stomp and covers Nakamura. 1-2-3. He finally finishes him off and picks up the win. Good match.
Winner: Seth Rollins
20 Years In The Making No Holds Barred Match
Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyreAfter a quick commercial break, including a video hyping the Raw debut of Rhea Ripley on the post-Fastlane episode of the weekly red brand main roster show on USA Network tomorrow night, we head back inside the ThunderDome for our next match of the evening.
The commentary trio of Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Samoa Joe are shown on camera as they set up our next bout — which is the No Holds Barred match that is 20 years in the making. With that said, the video package for the Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre match airs.
Once the video package wraps up, we hear the familiar sounds of Drew McIntyre’s theme song. The Scottish Warrior finally emerges wearing the war paint of his people, as he has the Mel Gibson in Braveheart-style blue-and-white Scottish war paint on. He makes his way to the ring with a super-serious look on his face.
He settles in the ring and his pyro explodes one more time. He stares at the entrance area with a scowl on his grill awaiting his former longtime friend turned bitter rival. With that said, the lights go out and the sounds of Sheamus’ theme plays. Pyro explodes and the lights come back on as The Celtic Warrior emerges and begins walking down to the ring with an equally serious look on his face.
Sheamus enters the ring and gets right in Drew McIntyre’s face. McIntyre is emotionless in his facial expression, while Sheamus is shouting that Drew asked for this. He steps closer to Drew as he continues shouting about 20 years all coming to this and again repeating that McIntyre asked for this, just as The Scottish Warrior finally comes out of the former WWE Champion, and the fight is on!
The bell sounds to officially kick this No Holds Barred match off. McIntyre is firing away at Sheamus with lefts and rights, backing his former friend into the corner and pummeling him. Sheamus fights back in starts to take over briefly, as the action exits the ring and continues at the ringside area on the floor. McIntyre shifts the offensive momentum back in his favor, as he whips Sheamus face-first into the ring post.
From there, McIntyre begins taking apart the set at ringside — removing padding off the guard rails, the cover off of the announce table and then reaching under the ring for some weaponary to beat down his former friend with. Instead, Sheamus charges at him and decks him. Now he goes under the ring and pulls out a kendo stick. Drew charges at Sheamus and spears him.
He sends Sheamus crashing into the steel steps at ringside. He sets his hand on the top-half of the steel steps and then jumps and stomps on it. McIntyre blasts Sheamus with a loud chop and then he sends him back into the ring. He stops to pick up a kendo stick after several were thrown in the ring earlier in the chaos. He enters the ring and walks right into a big shot from a kendo stick by Sheamus. Sheamus goes for the cover, but McIntyre hangs on.
Sheamus picks back up another kendo stick and now he begins pounding the living hell out of McIntyre with ruthless shots to the back and body as he again starts shouting out at his former longtime pal. He jams the kendo stick into the previously injured jaw of McIntyre. Finally, McIntyre fights back and hits a Glasgow Kiss headbutt that decks Sheamus. He stomps away at him and now he stops and begins making a crazed look on his face.
He sizes up The Celtic Warrior, stalking him and waiting for him to get up. Now a chilling smirk and gaze comes over McIntyre’s face as we see that he has picked up a kendo stick. Yes, it’s McIntyre’s turn to take some swings now. McIntyre swings away at Sheamus, blasting him with repeated shots. The camera shows a close-up of the brutal welts and bruising on the back and body of McIntyre from the kendo shots he took from Sheamus earlier in the bout.
Now he’s taking full advantage of his turn, whacking the hell out of Sheamus with the kendo stick before shoving the end of the stick into Sheamus’ eye with authority. We see a close-up shot of Sheamus’ back as he is out on the floor now reaching under the ring, and he too has sickening bruises and welts all over him from the kendo stick shots. He begins taking over control of the offensive momentum in the match again, bringing Drew out to the floor and beating him down.
Sheamus takes everything off of the announce table, completely clearing it off before grabbing McIntyre and looking for the Future Shock DDT through the table. Instead, McIntyre avoids it and counters, going to work on Sheamus. He sends him crashing through a part of the ringside barricade. Now the brawl is making its’ way throughout the seating area of the ThunderDome, and as the announcers point out, nothing is off-limits in this match — and these two are taking full advantage of that fact.
McIntyre beats up Sheamus as they make their way closer to the ThunderDome screens and production equipment. Sheamus starts to take over the brawl and he slams McIntyre down on the solid, unforgiving concrete. The cameras show close-ups of McIntyre’s bloody fingers as the announcers point it out on the broadcast. Drew starts coughing and yelping, struggling to breathe. Sheamus goes back to work on him and starts beating Drew up the ThunderDome set, as they are several feet off the ground now, about half-way up the screens in the background.
We see Sheamus hit a rolling senton on McIntyre, who again starts gasping for air and screaming out in pain. Sheamus continues to be unrelentless, and as Saxton points out on commentary, isn’t content on just beating him, but instead looking to obliterate his path to WrestleMania. Sheamus hoists McIntyre up over his shoulders, but McIntyre escapes out the back door and sends Sheamus crashing way down below where he lands and takes out a ton of production equipment as sparks fly.
McIntyre lets out a Scottish war scream as he stares down at the carnage he created down below before heading down to continue his assault on his former friend. McIntyre lays Sheamus’ lifeless body on a giant rolling road case. He climbs on top of it and hits a superplex on Sheamus down on the hard floor right on the other side of the ringside barricade. McIntyre hoists Sheamus’ lifeless body up on his shoulders and re-enters the ringside area. Sheamus finally comes to life as they near the ring apron. He charges at McIntyre and kicks him right back over the barricade and into the ThunderDome screens with a huge Brogue Kick.
Sheamus takes some time to recover as the announcers point out that despite being a No Holds Barred match, the only way it can end is via pinfall or submission — and one or the other must take place inside the ring. Sheamus is now finally recovered enough to continue his attack, so he walks over and stomps away at McIntyre’s lifeless body on the concrete floor. Sheamus gets on top of the barricade and picks Drew up with him. He points at the WrestleMania sign and tells Drew that he stole that opportunity from him. He says he should be in the main event at WrestleMania.
The Celtic Warrior now hoists McIntyre over his shoulders as he stands on the top of the barricade in front of the announce table that was completely cleared off for a spot that never took place earlier in the bout. He comes flying off with an insane jumping White Noise off of the top of the barricade that puts McIntyre through the table. The fans break out in a loud “This Is Awesome!” chant as Sheamus struggles to drag the lifeless body of Drew McIntyre back into the ring to finish him off. The chants of “This Is Awesome!” get even louder as Sheamus finally rolls McIntyre back into the ring. He stops before following in behind him to grab a broken piece of the announce table that he just put McIntyre through to bring in the ring with him.
We see Sheamus stand over McIntyre as he is struggling to recover and looks down at him with disgust while the broken piece of the announce table lays next to him. Sheamus talks some trash to McIntyre and then the two start trading shots. McIntyre ends up firing up a big comeback and he hits a Future Shock DDT on Sheamus on the broken piece of announce table that he brought into the ring. He follows that up with a Claymore Kick. 1-2-3. Drew McIntyre wins an absolutely excellent No Holds Barred match.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
Randy Orton vs. Alexa Bliss
The video package airs telling the story leading up to our next match of the evening, which is an interesting one, as “The Viper” Randy Orton will go one-on-one against … Alexa Bliss … next here at WWE Fastlane.
Once the package wraps up, we shoot back live inside the ThunderDome where the sounds of the familiar entrance theme of Orton plays as the future WWE Hall Of Fame legend begins making his way down to the ring as the commentators talk about the intensity in the face of “The Apex Predator” this evening.
As the announcers speculate as to how Orton is even going to approach this match, Orton does his famous out-stretched arms pose on the top rope as his music continues to play, when suddenly he starts choking out of nowhere and spitting up black stuff out of his mouth again. He starts getting angry and he exits the ring asking for a towel.
Now that he has cleaned himself up, Orton re-enters the ring and demands that Bliss get out here, claiming this is enough games. Finally, her music hits and she emerges at the top of the entrance ramp. She makes her way down to the ring looking and acting as nutty as ever as her equally nutty theme song plays and cuts in-and-out.
The bell sounds and while still standing in opposite corners under the special Fiend-style lights in the ThunderDome, Orton, still wearing his vest, stares at Bliss at the opposite corner of the ring. Out of nowhere, a big explosion happens as fire shoots out behind Orton. Bliss laughs. Orton finally charges at Bliss, who side-steps him at the last second, resulting in him sailing through the ropes in the corner and smashing his shoulder into the steel ring post.
From there, Bliss continues walking around the outside of the ring, laughing and acting nutty, as Orton recovers and eventually starts following her around outside of the ring. Bliss stops and just stares at Orton, turning her head side-to-side and making faces as Orton stops and stares at her. Out of nowhere, a giant piece of production equipment for the lights hanging above the ring falls down and crashes inches away from Orton’s face.
Bliss again breaks out in laughter as Orton yells out asking if she’s trying to kill him. Bliss walks over and hops onto the ring apron. She sits on the middle ropes and leans back like they are a tire swing or something. She tells Orton to come on. Orton slowly gets back on the ring apron himself and after contemplating for a moment, eventually re-enters the ring. Orton stares at Bliss from the opposite corner of the ring, hesitant because of everything that has happened already.
It turns out he is smart in doing so, as we hear another giant explosion as fire and sparks shoot out in front of Orton this time, again freaking him out. Bliss again finds humor and enjoyment out of this, as she chuckles once more. Now we see a hand pop up through the ring from underneath it as another explosion goes off. Finally, an even more hideously ugly and demented looking version of The Fiend emerges from the hole his hand just tore through the ring. While distracted by this new, sicker version of The Fiend — who has a completely new Swamp Thing style look — Bliss hits Orton from behind and gets the pin.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
After The Match: Take In The New Version Of The Fiend …
Once the match wraps up, as Orton remains lifeless on the mat, Bliss kneels down and poses over him as the new, super demented Swamp Thing-looking version of The Fiend stands behind her.
The camera slowly closes in on the duo as the commentators are literally dead silent, save a few gasps and utters of the phrase, “Oh my god!” Pretty wild stuff.
WWE Universal Championship (Special Enforcer: Edge)
Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns (c)After a quick commercial break, we return inside the ThunderDome where the commentary duo of Michael Cole and Corey Graves are re-introduced. The two begin running down the current lineup for the two-night WrestleMania 37 extravaganza that is just 20 days away, as the official graphics for each match flashes across the screen.
As they get to the WWE Universal Championship match, they switch gears to focusing on the main event for tonight’s show, which will determine who Edge challenges for the title when he gets his guaranteed opportunity in the main event of WrestleMania following his victory in this year’s Royal Rumble match.
The two quickly show the same segment from this week’s Talking Smack that was shown during the Kickoff Show earlier in the evening. The segment features Heyman talking about tonight’s Universal Championship match.
Once that wraps up, we see the video package that tells the full story leading into tonight’s match, which features Daniel Bryan challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship with Edge serving as the special guest enforcer of the bout.
With all of that in the rear-view mirror, we shoot back live inside the ThunderDome where the familiar sounds of Edge’s theme music plays and “The Rated-R Superstar” makes his way out in street clothes. He heads down to the ringside area.
Now that the special guest enforcer for the match has made his way out, the theme for Daniel Bryan plays and the challenger emerges as the fans break out in passionate “Yes!” chants as he makes his way to the ring for tonight’s main event. He leads the fans in some more “Yes!” chants on the ropes and then looks down at Edge at ringside.
Bryan’s music fades down and cuts off, as do the “Yes!” chants echoing over-and-over again from the fans in the background. Finally, the theme for The Head of the Table hits, as WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns makes his way out at the top of the entrance area accompanied by his special counsel, Paul Heyman. The two stop momentarily as pyro and fireworks explode while Reigns holds his Universal Title high above his head.
Finally in the ring, Reigns poses with the title held high above his head again as pyro and fireworks explode one final time before his theme music fades down and off, and the ring announcer begins his formal pre-match ring introductions for this, our main event of the evening here at WWE Fastlane.
The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with our featured attraction of the night, the one-on-one bout pitting Daniel Bryan against Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship, with Edge on the floor at ringside as the special guest enforcer of the match. The two lock-up and Bryan looks to grab the leg of Reigns for a single-leg takedown attempt. however The Tribal Chief avoids it. Bryan smiles and says something out loud to him as they circle each other and lock-up again.
This time, Reigns backs Bryan into the corner of the ring, showing off his obvious strength and power advantage over his smaller opposition. Reigns taunts Bryan and talks trash to him before they lock-up again and this time Bryan does get hold of Reigns’ leg and does take him down. Bryan starts taunting Reigns, talking trash to him as he closes in on him, closing the gap between them and clutching to Reigns’ body like a Greco Roman wrestler.
Bryan drops down and grabs at the legs of Reigns like a Sambo or Jiu-Jitsu expert now, looking for a heel hook or something of that nature, as Reigns backs out of it and avoids being tied up in a pretzel by the leader of the “Yes!” movement. This just angers the champ, who manhandles Bryan and starts trash-talking him, only for Bryan to escape his clutches and roll into an armbar attempt. Reigns pulls his arm out and gets it free, but holds it like Bryan yanked on it pretty good with the attempt.
Reigns slowly gets back to his feet, looking disgusted at Bryan. Graves on commentary calls this a tremendous psyche job by the challenger, as he appears to be toying with his much larger, stronger opposition. Bryan is using foot-work and speed now, peppering away at the legs of The Tribal Chief with low-leg kicks, the big craze in the MMA world lately, only for Reigns to eventually simply bull-rush him and take him down with pure, brute strength.
Reigns grounds his challenger, however he doesn’t do a good job of controlling him and following the position before submission method, as Bryan escapes his clutches again and reverses into a submission attempt. He gets close to locking Reigns up but eventually the champ escapes. Reigns headbutts Bryan and stands up, kicking and stomping away at him. He picks Bryan up and decks him with a single shot to the dome with his mighty fist. He picks him up and does the same thing again. Corey Graves points out how there’s no technique involved there.
The Head of the Table hoists Bryan up over his shoulders, however the former five-time champion escapes out the back door and starts kicking away at the champ again. Reigns slows Bryan’s momentum down and backs him into a corner, however Bryan escapes and kicks away at The Tribal Chief some more. He hits the ropes but Reigns catches him coming off of them with a huge tilt-a-whirl that nearly puts Bryan through the ring mat.
Reigns is starting to widen the offensive gap, pulling ahead into a comfortable lead over the challenger for the first time in the match. He slowly picks Bryan up and executes a powerful suplex. He goes for the cover but Bryan kicks out. As Reigns gets up, the camera shows a close up of Reigns massaging his leg muscles, trying to work out the kinks from the leg kicks delivered to him by Bryan earlier in the match. Bryan tries firing up and fighting back, but Reigns keeps him grounded, stomping away at him. Bryan keeps trying to get up, but Reigns keeps stomping him back down.
He settles in on top of him with a tight chin-lock. He tells Bryan that when he latches on, you don’t get out. He claims to have a vice-like grip as he tightens the grip around the throat of the challenger. Bryan slowly works his way back to his feet, blasting the champ in the bread-basket with some elbows to escape the grasp of The Tribal Chief. Reigns sends Bryan out to the floor and then talks some trash as he stares down at him from the ring. He takes his time heading out after Bryan. Once on the floor, Reigns sends Bryan down with authority.
The camera keeps cutting over to show the special guest enforcer at ringside, Edge, who has yet to be involved in this match in any form-or-fashion. Reigns grabs Bryan on the floor and sends him into the ring post. He rolls Bryan back in the ring just in time to break the count from the referee. He covers Bryan, however he doesn’t get the three count. He picks Bryan up, hits a big suplex and tries covering him again, only for Bryan to once again kick out at two.
Reigns walks around arrogantly as Bryan scoots himself back into a corner, using the ropes to help himself back to his feet. Reigns is overheard asking Bryan if he’s really going to try and stand up. Reigns runs over and takes Bryan out again, leveling the challenger with a vengeance. Bryan ends up firing up out of the blue and making a comeback, putting the champ on the total defensive. In the corner of the ring, he drop-toe holds Reigns face-first into the middle turnbuckle. He follows that up with a couple of kicks, however it isn’t long before Reigns has Bryan grounded once again.
Bryan escapes and makes it back to his feet, firing up and hitting the ropes, only to crash into Reigns just as The Tribal Chief was charging at him as well. The two each landed their attempted blows as they met in the middle of the ring and knocked each other down. Both are slow to get back up, but each guy makes it back to their feet at the same exact time. They begin trading punches. Bryan mixes in some leg kicks. Reigns mixes in a big knee to the gut that backs Bryan up. Reigns hits the ropes but Bryan pulls the ropes behind him down as Reigns charged at him, which resulted in The Head of the Table flying over the top rope and crashing out to the floor down below at ringside.
We see Bryan charge over and dive onto Reigns, but Reigns catches him. Bryan escapes his grasp and runs off the ring apron, decking Reigns on the floor with a cool running high spot. He rolls Reigns back into the ring and climbs up to the top-rope. He comes flying off behind Reigns from the top-rope with a leaping knee to the back of his neck. With Reigns laid out, Bryan heads up to the top-rope on the other side of the ring as the fans break out in a “Yes! Yes! Yes!” chant. Bryan waits for Reigns to stand up and then launches himself off the top-rope, connecting on the champ with a beautiful missile drop kick. He covers him for a long two count, only for Reigns to hang on.
The fans rally behind Bryan, who fires up on offense now and starts blasting a kneeling Reigns with repeated “Yes!” kicks over-and-over-and-over again. Bryan continues to work over the champ, only for Reigns to turn the tables on him, sending him crashing into the corner with raw power. Bryan won’t stay down, however, as he fires up again literally seconds later. He starts blasting the champ with repeated “Yes!” kicks again as the commentators point out that Edge is pacing back-and-forth on the floor at ringside every time that Bryan fires up on offense on Reigns.
Bryan yells down at Reigns. He asks if Reigns likes to talk before telling him that he’s going to get broken. Bryan grabs both arms of Reigns and starts stomping away at his unprotected face with wide-open shots. He drops down to the mat and gets Reigns in his “Yes!” lock submission finisher. He yanks back on the hold tighter and tighter as Reigns struggles to try and make it to the ropes to break the hold. As he gets close, Bryan reverses to a different submission, circles around the champs body and then re-applies the “Yes!” lock now that he has Reigns back in the middle of the ring. He pulls back with everything he has as Reigns appears close to tapping out.
Instead, Reigns uses a last-ditch effort to reverse Bryan, before following up with some ground-and-pound and hoisting him up for an enormous power bomb directly into a pin attempt. Bryan still kicks out before the count of three. This match isn’t over yet, folks!
Both guys are shown struggling to get back to their feet, with each showing the wear of this physical contest all over their bodies with bruises and bumps visibly appearing on camera. The ref ends up getting bumped as Reigns side-steps Bryan’s running knee attempt, leading to Bryan blasting the ref out of the ring, crashing on the floor at ringside directly next to the special guest enforcer himself.
Edge looks down at the referee, who is completely knocked out, before jumping to action and fulfilling his duties as the special guest enforcer. He heads into the ring and makes the count as Reigns covers Bryan following a spear, but Bryan kicks out. Reigns bickers with Edge afterwards, but Edge tells him to focus on doing his own job. He says he’ll do his.
The action continues but as it does, Bryan springs to life and fires away at the champ, blasting him with a wide variety of strikes and sending him down to the mat with authority. He re-applies the “Yes!” lock and yanks for all he’s worth as Edge takes a close look at Reigns, waiting to see if he taps.
Right at the moment it seems like Reigns might tap out, out of completely nowhere, Jey Uso hits the ring and blasts Edge with a super kick that knocks him out. Uso exits the ring and grabs a steel chair. He re-enters the ring and picks up Edge, throwing him into the corner. He grabs the chair and looks to take out Bryan, however he springs to life just as he was about to attack him, and he turns the tables and takes out Uso, beating him down with the chair and knocking him out of the ring.
Bryan, still holding the chair, looks down outside the ring to make sure the ref is still out. He is, so Bryan goes to swing at Reigns with the chair, only to accidentally blast Edge with a chair shot instead. Reigns tries to capitalize on the distraction after Bryan’s attention is on Edge following the accidental chair shot, but instead, Bryan reverses Reigns and somehow gets him in his “Yes!” lock again. As Heyman screams from ringside at Reigns, telling him to think of his family and hang on, the camera shows a close up of Reigns finally seemingly giving up and doing a very faint, very light tap on Bryan’s arms around his neck.
Just as he does, however, Edge had recovered and he baseball swings the steel chair, blasting Bryan and then Reigns as well. He says this is his, referring to the title and the WrestleMania main event, before exiting the ring as the fans boo. Reigns is first to recover. He rolls over and puts an arm over Bryan’s body just as a new referee sprints down and slides into the ring. 1-2-3. Reigns wins and retains the Universal Championship.
It will apparently be Roman Reigns vs. Edge for the Universal Championship on “The Grandest Stage of Them All” at WrestleMania 37 next month.
Winner and STILL WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns
WWE FASTLANE OUTRO
That will do it for the final pay-per-view event leading up to next month’s two-night extravaganza, as the WWE Fastlane 2021 special event goes off the air as Heyman joins Reigns in the ring while his music plays to celebrate the victory under shocking circumstances.
Thanks for joining us here at eWrestling.com throughout the evening for our live results coverage of the WWE Fastlane 2021 show. Make sure to stop back by again tomorrow night for live coverage of the post-Fastlane edition of WWE Monday Night Raw.
WWE FASTLANE REACTION & DISCUSSION
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