IWE Fastlane (2021)

From Iwe

Fastlane is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event and IWE Network event produced by IWE for their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It is scheduled to take place on March 21, 2021, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It will be the sixth event under the Fastlane chronology and feature IWE's virtual fan viewing experience called ThunderDome.

Production

Background

Fastlane is a pay-per-view event first produced by IWE in 2015. The name of the event is a reference to its position on the "Road to WrestleMania," being held between the Royal Rumble and IWE's flagship event; the first two Fastlane events were held in February before moving to March. The event was held annually until 2020 when it was replaced by Super ShowDown, but Fastlane was brought back for 2021. The sixth event in the Fastlane chronology, it will feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, IWE had to present the majority of its programming for Raw and SmackDown from a behind closed doors set at the IWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida beginning mid-March 2020, although in late May, the promotion began using Performance Center trainees to serve as the live audience, which was further expanded to friends and family members of the wrestlers in mid-June. On August 17, IWE announced that all future shows and pay-per-views would be held at Orlando's Amway Center for the "foreseeable future," beginning with the August 21 episode of SmackDown. Furthermore, the shows now feature a new fan viewing experience called the "ThunderDome," which utilizes drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections. Approximately 1,000 LED boards were installed to allow fans to virtually attend the events for free and be seen on the rows and rows of LED boards. Arena audio is also mixed with that of the virtual fans so that chants from the fans can be heard. After their contract with the Amway Center expired, IWE relocated the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, which began with the December 11 episode of SmackDown.

Storylines

The show will comprise matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by IWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

Results

Notes

1. ^ The event was held without a paying audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, though it featured a live crowd of virtual fans via IWE's ThunderDome viewing experience.

References

External links