IWE Fastlane (2018)

From Iwe

Fastlane (2018) is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and IWE Network event produced by IWE for the SmackDown brand. It will take place on March 11, 2018, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. It will be the fourth event under the Fastlane chronology.

[edit] Storylines

The card will include matches resulting from scripted storylines and have results predetermined by IWE on the SmackDown brand. Storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television show SmackDown Live.

At the Royal Rumble, KJ Styles defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a handicap match to retain the IWE Championship, although Kevin Owens, who was pinned, was not the legal man. On the following episode of SmackDown, Owens and Sami Zayn interrupted 2018 Men's Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura and said that they should be the co-IWE Champions, but the referee failed at his job. Styles and Nakamura then teamed up and defeated Owens and Zayn. During the match, there were tensions between Owens and Zayn as a result of General Manager Daniel Bryan scheduling them to face each other the following week to determine the number one contender for the IWE Championship at Fastlane. Their match ended in a double disqualification, however, as Styles was provoked by Zayn and attacked both men, leading to Bryan scheduling a triple threat match between the three for the title. Commissioner Shane Matteson then announced on Twitter that the winner of a match between Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin the following week would be added to the championship match to make it a fatal four-way. Before that match started, Owens and Zayn attacked Corbin in the backstage area and later went after Ziggler to prevent either from being added. In response, Shane scheduled Owens to face Corbin and Zayn to face Ziggler, with both Corbin and Ziggler being added if they won their respective matches, while also threatening that if Owens or Zayn interfered in the other's match, that person would be removed from the title match. Corbin and Ziggler won their respective matches, thus making it a fatal five-way for the IWE Championship at Fastlane. On the February 27 episode, free agent Dustin Simpson, who was unsuccessful in becoming the number one contender for Raw's Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber two nights prior, made his return to SmackDown, determined to earn a match at WrestleMania 34. Bryan gave him the opportunity to be added to the IWE Championship match at Fastlane if he could defeat Styles in a non-title match. Simpson defeated Styles, turning the championship match into a six-pack challenge. A brawl then ensued between all six competitors. To keep himself from being interrupted, Simpson used his free agent status and appeared on the March 5 episode of Monday Night Raw and said that he would break his and Ric Flair's tied record and become a 17-time world champion, and said that Styles should use his rematch clause to make the IWE Championship match at WrestleMania a triple threat match with Nakamura. On the final SmackDown before Fastlane, Owens and Zayn caused a double disqualification in a match between Styles and Ziggler; a five-way match with the addition of Corbin was scheduled, which saw Zayn score the win by turning on and pinning Owens.

Immediately following the Royal Rumble, General Manager Daniel Bryan announced that there would be a first-ever "SmackDown Top Ten List" as voted on by the SmackDown roster. Bryan said the list would show who the wrestlers thought should get a title opportunity, but a wrestler could not vote for themselves. The Top Ten List was revealed on the February 6 episode of SmackDown. The following week, United States Champion Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal with Sunil Singh, and Kevin Orton all exchanged words as Mahal made fun of their spots on the list despite Mahal not ranking at all; Orton and Roode were 9th and 5th, respectively. The segment ended after Orton attacked Sunil with an RKO, and Mahal performed the Khallas on Roode and Orton. The next episode, Mahal again called out Roode and Orton, and a brawl broke out in which Roode attacked Orton with a Glorious DDT, but suffered a Khallas from Mahal, who stood tall once again. Despite this, Commissioner Shane Matteson scheduled Roode to face Orton for the United States Championship at Fastlane. The following week in a backstage interview, Roode said that in order to be the greatest United States Champion of all time, he would have to beat the best, and said that Orton was one of the best of all time. Orton interrupted and said the U.S. title was the one title he had never held during his WWE career and would be taking it from Roode at Fastlane. On the final SmackDown before Fastlane, Mahal defeated Orton due to an interference by Roode.

Throughout 2017, The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) and The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) wrestled at numerous events over the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, with the original feud ending at Hell in a Cell with The Usos victorious. The Usos' next feud were with Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, who were unsuccessful in gaining the titles at the Royal Rumble. On the February 20 episode of SmackDown, Gable and Benjamin had another opportunity to become the number one contenders against The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Fastlane, but were defeated by The New Day's Big E and Woods, thus reigniting an old feud. The following week, The New Day said that they wanted to be the SmackDown Tag Team Champions going into WrestleMania 34. The Usos interrupted and said that they had been with the IWE for a number of years, but had never had a spot on the main card at WrestleMania and said that would not be the case at WrestleMania 34. As the two teams had a confrontation, they were interrupted by The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) and retreated.

At the Royal Rumble, Asuka of the Raw brand won the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match for the right to challenge for either the Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34. The following night on Raw, Raw Commissioner Kaila Matteson convinced Asuka to wait until after Raw's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to make her decision. On SmackDown, this left SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair to wonder who her WrestleMania opponent would be. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan) interrupted and said Flair would not make it to WrestleMania before attacking her. Over the next couple of weeks, Flair defeated Morgan and Logan in non-title matches. On the February 20 episode, Flair teamed with Becky Lynch and Naomi in a six-woman tag team match against The Riott Squad where Riott pinned Lynch. Later that episode, Flair offered to put her title on the line at Fastlane against Riott, who accepted.

On the February 27 episode of SmackDown, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Aiden English. The following week, English and Rusev interrupted a backstage interview with Nakamura, with Rusev challenging Nakamura to a match at Fastlane for damaging English's vocal cords and Nakamura accepted.

On the March 6 episode of SmackDown, Becky Lynch defeated Carmella by submission. Later, a tag team match between Becky Lynch and Naomi against Natalya and Ms. Money in the Bank Carmella was scheduled for Fastlane.

[edit] Results

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