5 Takeaways From Fastlane 2019

We're going to hear the pun many times, but we are officially on the "Fastlane" to Wrestlemania (yes, I hate the joke too). What appeared to be nothing more than a throwaway pay-per-view ended up being pretty solid from an in-ring perspective.

A couple of turns and storyline progressions helped to make this show more memorable than it had any right to be.

Let's take a look at five takeaways from the final pay-per-view before Wrestlemania 35.

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Winning the U.S. title on this week's Smackdown was a huge deal for Samoa Joe. Since his main roster debut, Joe has been a bit of a disappointment. Many thought (myself included) he'd be used as a dominant heel who would quickly take a world championship for himself.

Losing feud after feud against the likes of Roman Reigns, John Cena and AJ Styles are a major reason why the Samoan Submission Machine is looked at as a man who "can't win the big one".

While beating R-Truth, Andrade and Rey Mysterio doesn't necessarily hold the same weight as the WWE or Universal title, it's a step in the right direction.

In this rematch, we saw an excellent bout with the champion retaining by choking out Mysterio. Any time we can watch the exact same match twice within five days, it's obvious there is something special about those involved. I am looking forward to who will challenge Joe at Wrestlemania.

Most of us expected the "Best Tag Team in the World" to implode at Fastlane. It happened... but in a different way than we thought. The Uso's managed to score the win after The Miz was countered off of a top rope attempt. The pair consoled each other along with The Miz's father after the match.

In a pretty surprising twist, it was Shane who betrayed his partner. A beat down of the A-Lister and his dad ensued, as McMahon unloaded his frustration.

It looks like we will be getting The Miz vs Shane McMahon at Wrestlemania. A babyface Miz as a singles superstar will be something very interesting to see.

This storyline has become too convoluted for it's own good. It's still quite intriguing of course, but WWE managed to over complicate things. We pretty much went in loops and circles rather than a straight line to get from point A to point B.

Heading into the show there was almost no doubt that Becky Lynch was going to win it. The only variable was whether or not the current Raw Women's champion was going to get involved.

Rousey ended up deciding the match, as she punched Lynch causing a disqualification and a victory for the Royal Rumble winner. This match was completely unnecessary in my opinion, as the finish seemed pretty pointless. We could have had a segment on Raw to add Becky to the match.

The momentum of Kofi Kingston isn't going anywhere and we saw that here. After some badgering by Big E and Xavier Woods, Vince McMahon told Kingston that the WWE title match will become a triple threat... only the third was Mustafa Ali instead.

The crowd wasn't having it at first, as "we want Kofi" chants echoed throughout the arena. As the match went on they eased up on the combatants in the ring. The three put on a great title match, which ended with Ali taking the running knee from Bryan for the win.

If we learned one thing from this match, it's that the WWE Universe won't be satisfied unless we see Kofi Kingston fight for the WWE title at Wrestlemania 35, and I am with them.

Closing the show was the reforming of The Shield. The trio took on Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley. While there was nothing necessarily special about the match itself, it was a great feel good moment to close the show.

This match was more of a "love letter" to The Shield rather than being based on an actual story. It was great to see the three men back on the same side and of course seeing Roman Reigns return to action was a great moment as well.

Speaking of Reigns, it will be plenty interesting to see how the Big Dog is utilized come Wrestlemania.

Those were my thoughts on the Fastlane pay-per-view. What are your thoughts? Did you enjoy the event? Be sure to let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading and have a stellar day!