The fog lifted on the Road to WrestleMania after Sunday night despite a WWE Fastlane pay-per-view that left much to be desired

In possibly the most disappointing pay-per-view card since WWE’s most recent brand extension last July, Goldberg capped off a head-scratching night of finishes by pinning Kevin Owens in 22 seconds to become the third WWE universal champion.

At 50, Goldberg’s comeback has garnered huge nostalgic buzz for the WWE, and he’ll enter a WrestleMania 33 showdown against Brock Lesnar on April 2 in Orlando, Florida, wearing the gold. (The combined age of the main-event participants is 89.

The victory also raised Goldberg’s in-ring time to a combined 5: 07 in three matches, including his initial return at Survivor Series against Brock Lesnar and follow-up appearance at the Royal Rumble.
Putting the title on the line in Goldberg’s rematch with Lesnar at WrestleMania certainly adds prestige to a marquee match with crossover appeal. But one has to question the worth of the means it took to get there.

The rumors of Goldberg’s sudden victory, which have swirled for months online, did nothing to soften the impact of how much seeing him with the belt threatened both the credibility of the title and Owens’ 188-day reign, which began one week after inaugural champion Finn Balor relinquished the belt due to injury after winning it at SummerSlam.

Sadly, the Goldberg-Owens booking decision on Sunday was one of just a handful that left viewers taking to social media with disdain. Both Charlotte Flair’s 16-match PPV singles unbeaten streak and Braun Strowman’s 18-month unbeatable build came crashing down on an in-between PPV that didn’t appear to warrant such headlines.

Fastlane also suffered from the fallout of what happens when your main event is less than 30 seconds long. A pair of last-minute (and meaningless) matches were added that only bogged down the show, making it feel much more like an episode of Raw.

The night wasn’t without a few highlights, including Neville’s spectacular cruiserweight title defense against Jack Gallagher and Samoa Joe’s physical dismantling of Sami Zayn. But the bad far outweighed the good on this night.
The WWE’s television structure quite often allows for the sins on Sunday night to be fully repaired 24 hours later with a big reveal on Raw. This week, for all we know, that may be the case.

But even though Sunday’s results likely did a lot to connect the dots in WWE’s larger plan that is currently unseen, the ho-hum show failed to leave a satisfied audience so close to WrestleMania.
Check out full results and highlights of Fastlane below and see what else went down Sunday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

WWE Fastlane results
Rich Swann & Akira Tozawa def. The Brian Kendrick & Noam Dar via pinfall in 9: 25 (Kickoff Show): A pair of individual cruiserweight feuds were combined in this high-energy tag team match. Early on, Dar’s girlfriend, Alicia Fox, used her body as a shield for the heel duo outside the ring and successfully prevented a tandem aerial spot from Swann and Tozawa. But the babyfaces would not be denied late in the match as, simultaneously, Tozawa landed a suicide dive as Swann flipped head-first over the top rope. Swann then cleared out the ring with a pair of super kicks and hit an incredible Phoenix Splash from the top rope, securing the pin and victory.

Samoa Joe def. Sami Zayn via submission in 9: 45: Joe’s main roster build as an unrepentant hitman continued with a dominant victory that ended when he put Zayn to sleep with the Coquina Clutch. Joe, making his WWE pay-per-view in-ring debut, was physically dominant throughout, quickly shutting down Zayn’s attempts at rallying with stiff comebacks. Zayn did well to play possum late in a spot that was well handled as he rolled up Joe for a two count moments after it appeared the referee might stop the match. But in the end, Joe put the proper bow on his showcase of destruction by mouthing the words, “I told you so, ” to Zayn’s lifeless body. more click here