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WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN AT FASTLANE- THE TIP SHEET IS NOW ONLINE

WWE will present the 2021 WWE Fast Lane PPV on the WWE Network and Peacock this Sunday.  Here's our take on what will happen.

WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman vs. Daniel Bryan.  With Edge as the special enforcer.

Dave: Well, they can have Roman retain, which he should, or they can have Bryan win and then probably turn the Mania match into a three way, which they shouldn't.  Would it surprise me if they did that?  Not at all because, well, it's Vince.  But Roman should retain here.  Bryan needs a spot at Mania.  How about he's in Edge's corner to combat Jey being in Roman's?

Mike: I really wonder if the angle here will be that Uso tries to interfere, Edge goes to take him out but accidentally takes out Bryan, setting up Roman wiping out Edge with the Superman Punch and getting the pin.  Then, that leaves enough storyline room for Bryan to be added to the Universal title bout at Wrestlemania if that's the direction they want to go.  There is zero logical reason for Bryan to be crowned champion here.  Roman wins.

Rich:  This is a no win situation for Bryan.  If Jey had won on Smackdown to be the enforcer, he knew that Jey was going to help Roman.  With Edge as the enforcer, does he really help Bryan?  Edge wanted to face Roman, even when Roman told Edge that Edge didn't want to face him after Roman kept telling Edge to face him at Mania because that is the match that Edge wants.  I can see this match end up like the Lesnar/Bryan match where Bryan gets a few legitimate chances to win, but he will fall short.  What if at one point Jey tries to get involved and Edge stops Jey, but from out of nowhere, Jimmy gets involved and helps Roman retain (credit for this goes to Andrew, who brought it up on the Preview Audio).  If I am thinking about a Triple Threat for the WWE Championship, why not go Fatal Four Way and add Bryan and Jey to the mix in Tampa?

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Smackdown Women's Champion Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair.

Dave: I don't see a change here.  The story is about Sasha and Bianca one-upping each other.  We don't need them as uneasy champions too.

Mike: Remember when The Quebecers defended against Owen and Bret Hart and when Bret lost, Owen turned on him?  While I don't see a direct Xerox of that angle, I think the best story would be that Nia and Shayna end up victorious because Banks and Belair are out for themselves and the champions can use that to their advantage.  In the end, this has to lead to the babyfaces mad at each other getting pulled apart by officials so we can add some juice to their title bout.

Rich:  Remember when all of the talk was about Sasha and Bianca main eventing one night of Wrestlemania.  Can we get this match over with so they can do the hype for Bianca/Sasha for 3 weeks.  Neither team likes each other and we saw Natalya and Tamina attack Shayna and Bianca on Smackdown.  Let Nia and Shayna retain on Sunday and then you can have them lose the titles at Mania (or sooner and then do Shayna vs Nia at Mania).

WWE Intercontinental Champion Big E vs. Apollo Crews.

Dave: It's WAY too soon for Big E to lose.  He needs to get revenge on Uhaa Crews (and wouldn't it be wild if he went back to being Uhaa Nation?).

Mike: I feel like WWE is missing a massive potential pairing by not having Malcom Bivens with Apollo, so if it was me, he pops up from under the ring and trips Big E and causes a DQ.  Crews then lays out E and we have a big stip match at Mania with Bivens in the Bobby Heenan role of running interference for his client.

Rich:  This has the potential to 'steal the show'.  This is only the first step in the feud.  Big E turned up the heat with his promo and search of Crews through Tropicana Field.  This should be a battle and I wouldn't mind a non-finish to set up a bigger match at Wrestlemania.  Then you can have Crews win the title on the biggest stage in Sports Entertainment.

Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus.

Dave: This will be great, like their other matches, but Drew needs to win and go on and face Lashley at Mania.  This PPV is all about a test run for Peacock and not much else.

Mike: The booking of Sheamus to lose this week was asinine, especially since he and Drew have had such awesome physical confrontations the last few weeks.  If we are lucky, they get to continue the great series we've seen of late on Raw and then we can see Drew really fight to get a meaningful win over Sheamus to win a kickass brawl.  Then, Drew goes onto Mania and they can have a pissed off Sheamus Brogue Kicking everyone in the face every week and perhaps even winning something significant, perhaps even the Andre Battle Royal next month to build to him continuing to chase Drew as a potential challenger.

Rich:  If there was ever a match that didn't need to happen because there is no 'booking' justification for it, you are looking at it.  This should be a great match, but why not add some reason for Sheamus to care about winning or make sure that Drew wants to win the match.  Will they suggest that if Sheamus wins, he can get into the title match at Wrestlemania (so Drew doesn't have to take the pin against Lashley).  Since it is No Holds Barred, we can see outside interference and maybe Bobby Lashley or other members of the Hurt Business get involved and help Sheamus get the win.

Alexa Bliss vs. Randy Orton.

Dave: Last week on NXT UK, we had a match where the women couldn't face off against the men.  This week, we get this from WWE.  Ugh.  Obviously it won't be a match.  This has to be where The Fiend returns to set up his Mania match with Randy.

Mike:  This smells like an angle where Randy won't touch her and then when he finally is about to, Papa Shango voodoo makes him puke and Alexa tells him as he's writhing around that The Fiend will see him at Wrestlemania.  Lots of special effects with Fiend coming to fill the role that The Undertaker used to have.

Rich:  I think we will see a lot of teases of some sort of physical interaction.  Eventually, Alexa says the magic word that gets Randy to try to do something.  As he is about to kick or RKO Alexa, the lights go out and we hear the sound of the move.  The lights come back on and Bray Wyatt is standing over Randy Orton so we can finally get this match to happen at Wrestlemania.

Shane McMahon vs. Braun Strowman.

Dave: The stuff they have done so far is embarrassing.  If Shane has the match, Dad feels the need to book him to win.  It's wrong, on every possible level.  So Shane wins and we get a rematch at Mania.  Lucky us.

Mike: I don't know about you guys, but this has replaced Flair vs. Steamboat in the pantheon of pro wrestling.  I will just predict the silliest thing that could happen.  Shane wins and Braun challenges him to Hell In A Cell at Wrestlemania, because, why not?   

Rich:  We do not deserve this match on a show like Fastlane.  This is a Wrestlemania match.  Something has to happen so this match does not take place on Sunday.  If it does happen, Braun should win, but with a McMahon in the match, all bets are off.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins

Dave: They are building to Rollins-Cesaro so Shinsuke does the job here and maybe Rollins attacks him afterward, leading to the save from Cesaro.

Mike: If Cesaro vs. Rollins is the destination and it's meant to hopefully bring Cesaro to the next level, that means Nakamura needs to be sacrificed here.  Let them have a good, competitive bout and then Rollins gets the win, perhaps thanks to a new follower.

Rich:  I like that they are not rushing into Cesaro and Seth for Fastlane and are probably holding it off for Mania.  This has the potential to be a really good match.  Nakamura has had his best run on the main roster and Seth is Seth Rollins.  I wish they would have brought him back as something other than his Monday Night Messiah character in a different suit and on a different night.  Nakamura had the advantage on Smackdown so that means that Rollins should win the match.

WWE United States Champion Riddle vs. Mustafa Ali

Dave: Why?  Retribution has been booked as a clown show.  Ali berated all of them and said he would show him how it was done on Raw, and he lost....just like they did.  It would make zero sense to take the Title off of a guy who has a chance of getting over to put it on a guy that's ice cold.

Mike: Retribution is obviously towards the end of its run, but that doesn't mean that Ali, despite the terrible booking, couldn't win the title here.  The match should be good as long as they give it time but Ali truly needs a big win here.  So, that probably means Riddle will retain, especially since my guess is this ends up on the Kickoff Show.

Rich: If Ali lost on Monday against the United States Champion, why is he facing the United States Champion for his title?  If you want to save Retribution, give Ali the title.  If you want to destroy Retribution, you could have Ali win the match and then tell the others that since he is the champion and the others cannot win, so Retribution is done.

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