Matthew Roberts takes a look at the latest release from WWE Home Video, Fastlane 2023.
Although not a “stacked” card in terms of numbers (only five matches), Fastlane did have abn intriguing line up on paper. Things kicked off with the Tag Team Titles match between The Judgment Day and Cody Rhodes & Jay Uso. If this all felt a little like giving Rhodes something to do to kill some time before he unseats Roman Reigns at some point next year you can at least say that, as ever, he has thrown himself into things. This was given twenty minutes and made the most of it, working its way into a climactic final stretch. The win for the challengers was well received by the fans and all in all this was a cracking opener.
The LWO against Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits couldn’t hope to match that opener in terms of emotion but it was an enjoyable enough match, built around the return to our screens of one Carlito. Who doesn’t appear to have aged in the past two decades.
The Smackdown Women’s Title match promised a lot more, pitting as it did the champion Iyo Sky against Asuka and Charlotte, three of the best workers on the roster. Like the opener this built up as it went along and delivered it’s hottest moments in the final third. It kept you guessing as well before the champion ultimately retained.
Up next was John Cena and LA Knight against the Bloodline duo ot Solo SIkoa and Jimmy Uso. I wasn’t feeling this one going in, what can I say other than I’m not a fan of LA Knight, but even if it felt more like a TV main event than a PLE must see, it was entertaining enough and didn’t really outstay it’s welcome.
Things wrapped up with the Last Man Standing rules match for the World Title as Seth Rollins defended against Shinsuke Nakamura. In some ways it was your formulaic WWE style LMS match but it was no less entertaining for that. And it’s fair to say that both men brought out the hard-hitting action. There was never any REAL doubt over the outcome, but Rollins nevertheless looked like a star as he won.
This was one of those entertaining WWE PLE’s that never quite felt like something truly special but still delivered where it needed to do.
7 out of 10
Photographs courtesy of Fetch and WWE. Thank you to WWE Home Video for our review copy of WWE Fastlane 2023 which is out Monday 20 November 2023 on DVD. You can buy your copy from WWEDVD.co.uk by clicking here.